Three quarters of Dubai real estate is sold to foreign investors

New data released by Dubai Land Department sheds light on who can be called the most active buyers of residential and commercial real estate in Dubai among the representatives of different countries.

According to latest data revealed by Dubai Land Department recently, Dubai real estate brokers’ main foreign clients come from India, Saudi Arabia, Britain and Pakistan. These data are given for the last 18 months.

DLD report says foreign investors of 217 different nationalities have invested AED151 billion in the Dubai real estate during the mentioned period.

A little less than a quarter of all real estate transactions over 18 months, namely 12,000 transactions or 24.8 percent from the overall number, were conducted by emiratis having invested AED37.4 billion in Dubai real estate sector.

Indians made up the second largest group of property buyers having spent about AED20.4 billion (13.5 per cent) on 20,420 apartments, villas and other Dubai real estate units during this period.

Pakistanis made up 5,398 real estate transactions having invested slightly more than AED7 billion (4.6 per cent) in residential properties, but in terms of the value of deals conducted, high-end property buyers from Saudi Arabia (AED12.5 billion, about 11 per cent) and Great Britain (AED8.9 billion, 5.9 per cent) still outpace this foreign investors’ group.

Other major and most active groups among foreign real estate investors were represented by expats from Egypt (2,439 transactions), Jordan (2,325 deals), China (2,177 deals), Lebanon (1,313 deals) and the United States (1,119 deals).

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of Dubai Land Department, said the rating "demonstrates the confidence that the world has in our real estate environment, which is characterized by a strong regulatory system".

According to the information given, 71,000 real estate transactions have been registered in Dubai over the last 18 months. About a third of transactions were made by representatives of other nationalities, who spent AED 48.7 billion on Dubai real estate.