Top 10 nationalities of property investors in Dubai

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) has revealed a list of the top 10 nationalities of property investors in Dubai between January 2016 and the end of June 2017.

Overall, people from 217 nationalities invested a total of Dhs151bn through 71,000 transactions in Dubai’s real estate market in the 18 months to June.

While Emiratis made close to 12,000 investment transactions worth Dhs37.4bn, they were followed by Indian, Pakistani, Saudi Arabian and British investors respectively for the number of registered transactions.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director general of DLD, said: “This list has been unveiled at a time when our real estate market is preparing for a new phase of growth in the run-up to Expo 2020. We are pleased to have witnessed such a high level of interest from global citizens in Dubai.

“This demonstrates the confidence that the world has in our real estate environment, which is characterised by a strong regulatory system that provides safety and security for all parties.”

Excluding investors from the top 10 nationalities, others registered in the DLD’s database made a total of 23,318 transactions amounting to a total value of Dhs48.665bn.

Top 10 nationalities of property investors in Dubai (in the last 18 months)

1. UAE

Transactions: 12,000

Value: Dhs37.4bn

2. India

Transactions: 10,628

Value: Dhs20.42bn

3. Pakistan

Transactions: 5,398

Value: Dhs7bn

4. Saudi Arabia

Transactions: 5,366

Value: Dhs12.51bn

5. UK

Transactions: 4,188

Value: Dhs9bn

6. Egypt

Transactions: 2,439

Value: Dhs4bn

7. Jordan

Transactions: 2,235

Value: Dhs4.21bn

8. China

Transactions: 2,177

Value: Dhs3.14bn

9. Lebanon

Transactions: 1,313

Value: Dhs2.66bn

10. US

Transactions: 1,119

Value: Dhs2.87bn

Last month, the DLD revealed that the emirate recorded a 16.8 per cent increase in the total value of real estate transactions in the first half of 2017, compared to the same period last year.

The value of transactions for the first half totalled Dhs132bn compared to Dhs113bn in the first half of 2016. This was also 2.3 per cent more than the Dhs129bn recorded in H1 of 2015.

Read more: Dubai sees 16.8% increase in real estate transaction values in H1 2017

The figures for the first six months of 2017 will be seen as a sign of market recovery for property owners and developers, who have endured more than a year of stagnant or declining rental and sales rates.

Read: Areas in Dubai that saw the biggest drop in rents in Q2