DUBAI 10 September 2020: Property prices in Dubai are attracting overseas investors who are willing to snap up a well priced property quickly. In some cases this happens without viewing the property physically and proceeding with the sale from overseas via a remote transfer.
With property prices in Dubai comparing favourably with markets globally, supply reducing and a sharp increase in activity in the property market, investors are looking at properties in the city and forming the opinion that they need to act now. At times, if an investor is overseas and unable to travel, this means buying a property virtually.
Recently Allsopp & Allsopp have had a client who has purchased a holiday home for his family with the intention of also marketing the property for short-term lets.
Sherie Wilde, Palm Jumeirah Sales Consultant says “The property is the first property in Dubai for the UK investor. He saw the attractive prices in the city and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. After his initial enquiry on an apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence and getting more insight into what he was looking for I discovered his budget was around AED 1.5 million and he wanted an apartment in a popular tourist location with great facilities close to the beach. With this information I gathered a few properties that would suit his needs.”
The investor narrowed his search down to a few different buildings and preferred the apartments in Dubai Marina.
Ryan Hudson, Associate Director and Dubai Marina Consultant says “I had an apartment that I knew the investor would be interested in. I sent him the virtual property tour and the 360 images and he loved it. He offered on the property but another client I had was also very interested and ended up outbidding the investor.”
Losing out on the apartment reconfirmed to the investor that the Dubai property market was moving fast.
Sherie Wilde continues “After further discussions with my client, I suggested a property which was slightly over his budget which he was very interested in and wanted to put an offer in, but was apprehensive about the cost. I suggested that he have a call with our in house international currency exchange consultant from IFX.
From this call, my client discovered his budget could stretch further than he thought as the dollar was low and the rate that IFX offered was a better exchange rate than he had calculated himself and was offered by his bank. As a result, he was able to purchase the property.”
The UK property investor signed the contract electronically and transferred funds via IFX to secure the property.
Sherie continues “The process for overseas buyers is simple as we have everything available electronically. The virtual viewings give a very real representation of a property and with virtual video calls being easy and efficient as well as documents being available to sign electronically, all bases are covered. This method works well for investors who are looking to take advantage of the market prices and are comfortable buying a home without physically viewing because they are unable to travel for one reason or another.
Lewis Allsopp CEO of Allsopp & Allsopp says “We are now living and working in a digital world and things will only advance more as we move forward in the real estate industry. With our clients being more receptive to committing to buying and renting homes virtually, there is a whole new avenue opening up into how the market operates. Another trend that we are seeing an awful lot of is clients utilising the virtual viewings to narrow down their property search before going out to physically view a property, saving them a lot of time and effort.”
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