Sales transactions in Dubai’s housing market have fallen 70% since their peak in mid-2008, with only 1,700 property deals completed in the first ten months of 2011 according to government data from the Dubai Land Department.

Although there was a 37% increase in transactions compared to the same period in 2009.

The current average number of monthly residential property sales in 2011 is 160, an increase from 117 in 2009 but significantly well below the average of 536 property transactions seen per month in 2008.

Analysts remain concerned that the estimated 33,000 new homes scheduled to hit Dubai’s market by end-2012 could cause fresh declines in rental and sale prices.

Andrew Goodwin, director of DTZ Dubai, said: “We receive significant interest from investors looking at the Dubai market but in many cases there is a discrepancy between the purchasers and sellers valuations which keeps volumes low. Those sales that do go through are where the purchaser has a long-term confidence in the Dubai market.”