Sales of ready villas and townhouses in Abu Dhabi climbed 72% year-on-year, marking their highest level since 2021, according to real estate advisory firm Cavendish Maxwell.
In the first half of 2025, around 700 ready villas and townhouses were sold, fuelled by demand from end-users looking for larger family-oriented residences and investors seeking strong rental returns and long-term capital appreciation.
Overall residential sales values across ready and off-plan properties reached AED8.9 billion (USD2.4 billion) from 3,300 transactions during the same period. This represented a 33% decline in value and a 37% fall in transaction volumes compared to the previous year.
The consultancy attributed this contraction to limited new project launches, which redirected investor demand towards completed properties.
During the first six months of the year, Abu Dhabi’s residential market saw the delivery of 2,400 new units, while an additional 10,400 remain under development. Apartment prices rose 14% year-on-year and villa prices increased by 11%. The average transaction value for ready homes stood at AED2.5 million, up from AED2.1 million a year earlier.
Apartments accounted for 73% of sales activity, a marginal decline from 76% in the same period last year. Mortgage lending increased by 12% year-on-year to AED3.5 billion across 1,700 loans, with villas and townhouses contributing AED2.5 billion. Rental rates also recorded growth of 14% compared to the first half of 2024 and 6.7% higher than the second half of last year.
Andrew Laver, Associate Director at Cavendish Maxwell Abu Dhabi, said overall sales activity has moderated compared with a year ago, but demand for completed projects remains resilient. He noted that this ongoing strength continues to drive price growth across both apartments and villas, underlining healthy appetite from end-users and investors.
