Foreign investors tend to choose Dubai for relocation and real estate investment

The first nine months of 2021 have proved to be very productive for the Dubai property market since a total of 43,299 real estate transactions worth AED 104.3B (USD 28.3B) were recorded by the DLD. Meanwhile, the value rose by 45.15% compared to 2020 as a whole. According to developers participating in the city’s primary real estate exhibition, Cityscape Global, the boost in property demand in 2021 was provoked by international investors. Cityscape Global took place in the Dubai Exhibition Center within the Expo 2020 site on 9-11 November and featured more than 70 consultancies, architecture companies and real estate developers.

As stated by Farhad Azizi, CEO of Azizi Developments, the number of Chinese buyers has increased significantly, as well as investors from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Additionally, despite travel restrictions, Dubai real estate has been in high demand among Saudi and European nationals. According to Nasser Amer, Vice President of Sales at Deyyar, the pandemic has changed the way investors are looking at real estate, as the UAE government’s handling of the pandemic has been very efficient. The lockdown period in the UAE was very short compared to the likes of Europe, and this factor has attracted numerous buyers from France, Russia and the UK.

Nasser Amer also added that buyers are particularly interested in luxury, upmarket properties. In fact, in Q3 2021, Dubai’s prime residential market witnessed sales transactions of 4,827 apartments and 506 villas, worth AED 16.1B (USD 4.4B) in total. Dubai-based developer Omniyat has been especially popular in terms of luxury properties, as it has sold three of the most expensive penthouses in the region in 2017, 2019 and 2021 for a total of AED 260M (USD 71M). These residences are located in the Omniyat’s One at Palm Jumeirah, the Dorchester Collection development.