Indians lead Dubai realty surge, deals touch US$ 14.4 bn in H1

The first six months of the year witnessed almost 20,000 investors spending more than AED53 billion (US$14.4 bn) in Dubai's real estate, according to the Dubai Land Department (DLD). In a statement the DLD further revealed that approx 19,848 investors from 142 nations had engaged in property transactions in the emirate during the first half of this year.

Leading this surge in realty investments in the emirate were Indians who were the most prolific foreign investors in H1, with a total of 3,017 transactions worth approx AED7.8 bn, followed by UK investors with deals worth AED 4.7 bn while investors from Pakistan grabbed the third spot.

A combined total of about 13,166 property investors from India, Pakistan, Britain, Canada, Russia, China, US, France and Afghanistan were involved in inking realty deals worth an estimated AED 30 bn during this period.

The DLD report further adds that investors from the GCC region contributed approx AED 17 bn in property transactions with Emiratis grabbing the top spot with about 2,130 deals worth AED 11.494 bn followed by KSA nationals with 999 realty transactions worth an estimated AED 3.174 bn. The third spot belonged to Kuwaiti nationals with investors from Qatar, Bahrain and Oman bringing up the rear.

As per the report, approx 2,756 investors from 16 Arab nations completed transactions worth more than AED 6 bn in the first half of 2015. While Jordanians inked deals worth AED 1.4 bn, Lebanese nationals were second on the list of Arab investors with deals worth AED1.2 bn, followed by investors from Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Algeria, Palestine and Morocco respectively.

The H1 report further revealed that sales accounted for AED 53 bn of the deals, with mortgages accounting for more than AED 65 bn. For unit sales, Business Bay was the most preferred destination with the value of its transactions reaching AED 2.5 bn while the upmarket Dubai Marina grabbed the top spot for mortgages of units with deals totaling AED1 bn.

Sales and mortgages relating to land transactions recorded more than AED 106 bn from 8,240 transactions. The commercial lands (already built on) acquired the lion's share in terms of value for the type of land with 47 percent of the total.

According to the report, the Al Yafra 2 area of Dubai was the top venue for sales transactions with the value of deals reaching AED 2 bn, while Al Barsha South 1 topped the list for mortgages with approx 348 property transactions worth an estimated AED 360 mn.

Buoyed by the strong performance, Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, director general of DLD opined that the market was expected to sustain this momentum over the next five years leading to the prestigious Expo 2020, which will be hosted by Dubai.

"This can be ascertained from the continual increases from one quarter to the next, which have been a feature of the market over the last two years. In light of the report's findings, investors and developers can have realistic expectations and can formulate effective strategies in the short and medium-term to meet the needs of the sector", he said.

Expressing confidence that Dubai's real estate was now on the path of sustainable growth, he further added that the diversity in investors' nationalities revealed by the report showed that the Dubai market is international and that investor confidence was on the rise.