The popularity of the mid-market property segment across Dubai, UAE, is on the rise, thus leading to a spurt in mortgaged residential property purchases, according to a report.

The most popular of the apartment communities are Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Village Circle and International City, stated dubizzle Property, a leading online property platform in the UAE, in its latest report providing insight into the Dubai residential market and recent trends.

Akoya Oxygen, Mira Reem and The Villa are the most searched villa communities in Dubai apart from the more established upmarket communities Arabian Ranches and The Springs, it stated.

Overall, the rise of the mid-market property segment indicates a shift from a predominantly cash-based investor market to one of the mortgaged end-users. The Dubai Land Department has announced an increase over the years as the demand and supply for mid-market housing has been on the rise for the past two years.

The top five searched villa communities for sale in 2017 were Arabian Ranches with almost 2 million searches, The Springs with 1.3 million searches, Akoya Oxygen with 1.3 million searches, Mira, Reem Community with 1 million searches and The Villa with 795,000 searches, according to dubizzle.

Commenting on the findings, Ann Boothello, the senior product marketing manager for property at dubizzle, said: "We can deduce that mid-market apartments are making their way into the Top Five searched communities on dubizzle by observing search volume data of buyers browsing our property for sale section."

"The demand for these properties is further proven through our data identifying an increase in price per sqft. in Jumeirah Village Circle and International City. Furthermore, the data shows that apartment communities such as Jumeirah Lake Towers are preferred by young couples or business people, based on the increase and demand for one-bedroom apartments as opposed to larger units," she explained.  

On the prime areas' sales prices, Boothello said: "While Dubai Marina and Downtown Dubai experienced a drop in rates, areas such as Jumeirah Village Circle and International City experienced an increase of one per cent and three per cent respectively."

"Overall, the prices in Jumeirah Lake Towers remained unchanged; however, one-bedroom apartments in the same area saw a five percent increase while three- and four-bedroom apartments saw a decrease," she added.-TradeArabia News Service