ABU DHABI: The value of real estate investment transactions made by overseas buyers in Dubai in 2015 exceeded AED135 billion, up 24 per cent from AED109 billion of transactions reported in 2014, the Dubai Land Department said in its annual report.
Investments by nationals of the Cooperation Council for Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) members in 2015 stood at AED44 billion (2014: AED32 billion), with Emiratis accounting for AED26.1 billion. Investments by Saudis jumped by 73 per cent according to the Department’s figures – up to AEED9 billion (2014: AED5.2 billion), with the number of investors leaping by 86 per cent to 3,259 (2,745 in 2014).
The total number of overseas non-Emirati investors who come from 150 countries and pumped grew to around 56,000- a 33 per cent climb on the 41,475 reported last year. They account for than half of the total investments in the sector in 2015 (AED74 billion), the report shows. Indians topped the list of non-Arab foreign investors in terms of numbers (8,756) with more than AED20 billion of real estate purchases in 2015, followed by Britons (4,889) who spent AED10 billion.
Pakistanis came third, buying AED8 billion (2014: AED7.6 billion) worth of properties. Non-Gulf Arabs also increased their investment by a third to AED16 billion (2014: AED21 billion), with Jordanians topping the list in 2015 (1,516 investors buying AED3.5 billion worth of properties), followed by Egyptians (1,390 investors, AEDAED2.6).
Director-General of the Dubai Land Department, Sultan Butti bin Mejren said Dubai enjoys an extremely high degree of acceptance from international investors because of its attributes and its return on investment. Bin Mejren noted that investments pumped by Gulf nationals provides Dubai’s property market with a strong protection from seasonal fluctuations.
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