Indians Invest Dhs8bn In Dubai’s Property Market In H1 2013

Indians contributed to the biggest bulk of foreign investments in Dubai’s real estate market with transactions worth Dhs8 billion during the first half of this year, latest figures from Dubai Land Department (LD) revealed.

Indians were closely followed by investors from the UK and Pakistan whose investments were worth Dhs4 billion and Dhs3 billion respectively.

According to LD’s semi annual report, the emirate’s real estate market attracted investments worth Dhs53 billion in total during the first half of the year, a 49 per cent year-on-year increase.

Foreign investors contributed up to 32 per cent of the total investments with an increase of 73 per cent from the same period last year.

“Dubai’s real estate market is a lucrative one for its stability, diversity and promise of high return on investment,” said Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, director general of LD.

“These factors continue to inspire confidence in local, regional and international investors alike, whose transactions in turn contribute to sustained momentum of the market’s growth – signifying complete recovery from the global financial crisis,” he said.

The report also found that Gulf nationals invested around Dhs16 billion in Dubai’s real estate market, up 57 per cent from last year, while other Arab investors injected Dhs5 billion, an increase of 111 per cent from H1 2012.

Among Gulf investors, UAE citizens invested the most with transactions worth Dhs12 billion, investors from Saudi Arabia bought property worth Dhs2 billion, and Kuwaiti investors conducted transactions worth Dhs360 million.

In terms of the wider Arab region, Jordanians spent Dhs1 billion on Dubai property, followed by investors from Lebanon and Egypt with transactions worth Dhs884 million and Dhs753 million respectively.

Bin Mejren credited the surge of investments in Dubai’s real estate to the efforts of the government to promote the emirate to investors looking for a safe haven for their investments.

The department expects to see an “unprecedented amount of spending” in the future, he added.