Buying intent rose to 71 per cent in August as median price per square foot climbed to AED1,301, even as most respondents continued to expect prices to fall, says Property Finder.
September 22, 2026 | Tripti Mehta | UAE | Real Estate | 2 Min Read
Seven in 10 Dubai property seekers surveyed by Property Finder in August said they planned to buy within six months, up from 68 per cent in July, even as a majority of prospective buyers continued to expect prices to fall. The company's latest Market Pulse report gathered responses from 4,113 active property seekers across July and August. Around 69 per cent of respondents across the two months intended to purchase within six months, with the August reading reaching 71 per cent. The increase extends the improvement recorded in Property Finder's July market assessment, when buying intent rose from 66 per cent in June to 68 per cent in July. Among respondents planning to buy, around 53 per cent expected prices to decline across July and August, down from a March high of 73 per cent. Responses from those who said they were unsure were excluded from the price sentiment analysis.
The latest findings follow the May-June Market Pulse, which recorded a fall in expectations of price declines from 63 per cent in May to 56 per cent in June. Property Finder said the share anticipating lower prices rose towards the end of August as regional tensions returned to the headlines, describing this as a short-term response to the news. The announcement did not quantify the late-month increase.
The median price per square foot cited by Property Finder rose from AED1,271 in July to AED1,301 in August. The announcement did not specify whether the figures reflected asking prices or completed transactions, or provide a breakdown by location and property type. Cherif Sleiman, Chief Revenue Officer at Property Finder, said the real test came in August. "Regional tensions returned to the headlines, expectations reacted, and demand did not," he said. "Buying intent rose to 71% and the median price per square foot climbed to AED 1,301 over the same period. When a market takes a geopolitical knock and buyers keep moving, the demand underneath is structural, not speculative. That is the signal for anyone weighing an entry into Dubai real estate today," he added.
Source: Property Finder; The Gulf Pulse
