Expats buy Dubai property mostly for keeps
DUBAI 19 December 2018: Though Emiratis were the top buyers of property in Dubai over the past five years – a little ahead of Indians – they were also by far the largest sellers.
It appears that expatriate buyers – led by Indians, Saudis, Brits and Pakistanis – have mostly kept the properties they bought over the past five years, according to a report, Deraya 2018, issued by the Dubai land Department (DLD).
The report is in two parts – critiqued by JLL for institutional investors and by Cavendish Maxwell for individual investors.
Another key finding was that readymade homes are by far the choice of both institutional and individual investors.
Institutional investors made some 79,000 transactions in the period 2013 to 2017, valued at Dh475 billion, said JLL.
Some 90 per cent was in finished property. Their favourite buy areas were Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Business Bay and Downtown Dubai, it added.
Meanwhile, Maxwell Cavendish said individual investors bought 73.4 per cent ready property. However, off-plan properties were favourites with Indians and Pakistanis. It said off-plan showed a compounded annual growth rate of 12.3 per cent due mostly to generous developer incentives.
Top areas of interest to individual property buyers were:
- Dubai Marina
- Business Bay
- Jumeirah Lake Towers
Top Individual Buyers (2013-2017)
- Emiratis (Dh117 billion)
- Indians (Dh85.2 billion)
- Saudis
- British (Dj45.5 billion)
- Pakistanis
- Canadians
- Jordanians
- Egyptians
Top Sellers were:
- Emiratis
- Indians
- British
- Pakistanis
- Saudis
In 2013, investment in Dubai property stood at Dh268 billion which rose to Dh284 billion by end of 2017.
However, the umber of transactions declined from 77,402 in 2013 to 69,044 in 2017.
It appears that efforts to promote property buys among expats is a priority given that remittances in 2017 stood at Dh164 billion and in the first half of 2018, they have already crossed Dh88 billion.
New measures such as long term residence visa are expected to impact on property buys by expatriates, the report said.
