Indians emerge as the top real estate buyers in Dubai

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Dubai, often described as the “shopping centre of Middle East”, has become the one of the prime hunting grounds for rich Indians who have toppled the British as the top buyers of real estate in this West Asian market crowded by shopping malls and premium brands.

The Economic Times has reported quoting Betterhomes Residential Market Report that Indians have emerged as the top buyers in the June-September quarter. In the process, they have knocked off the British from the number one position in the buyers list, which they dominated for a long time. This list is a compilation of buyers of new homes in Dubai, which might be for residential purposes or exploring better yields.

Indians have traditionally featured in the top five of the real estate buyers list. Incidentally, Russians, constrained by weakening rouble, have exited the top three for the first time in the past six quarters.

“Whether driven by end-user demand or investors seeking higher yields, Indians have been instrumental in new home purchases. Russians dropped out of the top three buyers for the first time in 18 months, with the declining ruble weighing on affordability,” said Richard Waind, CEO of Betterhomes, a Dubai-based property consulting firm. Dubai has emerged as one of the hotspots in the world where the rich flock to buy real estate. It attracts a diverse array of investors who a safe haven, tax efficiency and handsome investment returns.

One of the features of Dubai that has attracted Indians and other nationalities is the Golden Visa. It offers investors and their families automatic five-year residency in Dubai that can be stretched up to 10 years if the real estate one invests in exceeds 20 lakh dirhams or Rs 4.5 crore in current exchange rates.

The CEO of Betterhomes admitted that the vacuum created by the drop in Russian buyers was more than compensated by rising demand from Indian and British nationals and many of them use the property investment clause as a path to the Golden Visa.

The expanding demand for real estate has triggered a surge in property prices and rentals in Dubai. According to different estimates, the price of luxury homes has surged nearly 50% in the year ending June 2023. The report states it clocks a 225% increase since the lows of the pandemic in the third quarter of 2020.

Data from the land department in Dubai, 28,249 transactions were recorded in the third quarter of this calendar year, which marks a 4% increase from the second quarter and 23% higher than in the year earlier. Maximum growth (34%) was witnessed in villa and townhouse transactions, while apartment deals fell by 4%.

The trend is clearly towards premium properties, which is almost a reflection of that witnessed in the Indian real estate market recently. “Dubai continues to attract expats from across the globe, with the population growing by almost 100,000 in the year to July. With the UAE expected to attract 4,500 millionaires in 2023, rapid growth persists in the luxury segment,” said Waind.

Turkey has dropped out of the top 10, which might be a reflection of the recent economic condition of the country. There has been an increase in buyers from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE (of which Dubai is a part). There are also buyers from Middle East North Africa region.