TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Indians have been ranked first among foreign investors in Dubai’s real estate sector, making a total of 4,417 transactions worth nearly $3 billion in the first half of the year, according to an official report.
Indians, British and Pakistanis ranked top three foreign investors in Dubai’s real estate market with a combined share of Dh20.83 billion for 9,739 transactions in the first half of the year, according to the report by the Dubai Land Department (DLD).
The DLD’s list included the amount of real estate transactions conducted by foreign nationals, with investors from India, Pakistan, Britain, Canada, Russia, China, USA, France and Afghanistan involved in 14,231 property deals worth a total of Dh 30.533 billion for the first half of 2014.
Indian nationals were ranked first for foreign investment, making a total of 4,417 transactions worth Dh 10.523 billion (USD 2.865 billion). Inquiries by this paper as to whether the list contained any people of Goan origin or Goans working in Dubai buying property did not reveal much. Atul Parwatkar who has lived in Dubai for over thirty years says that there is a distinct possibility that there could be Goan investors who have purchased plots.
He said “ Goans living in Dubai may not be able to purchase properties because most of them belong to the service class. These flats cost over 500,000 dirhams at the lower level and can go way beyond two million dirhams or more. It is quite possible that rich Goan businessman based in Goa may have purchased flats”.
He said it would be very difficult to get names for the simple reason the authorities needed a copy of the passport and nothing else. They he said would not look where the passports were given ie city. He said it should be remembered that it is essentially a lease that is purchased which may amount to 99 years. With regards to residents of Goa who have purchased property there are individuals many of whom who do not wish to be talk about this matter which they consider an investment.
British investors were in second place with 2,258 transactions worth Dh5.811 billion, followed by Pakistani investors with 3,064 transactions worth Dh 4.5 billion.
Iranian and Canadian investors came in at fourth and fifth place, with transactions worth Dh2.7 billion and Dh1.9 billion respectively.
Citizens from Russia, US and China occupied sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively, creating more than one billion dirhams worth of property invested in each category of national.
“We are extremely proud of these positive results, as they reflect a building momentum in Dubai’s real estate market which has now reasserted itself on both the regional and global stage. We are certain that the future will see even more demand, especially in light of the government’s declaration of forthcoming major projects,” said Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General of DLD.
The government organisation accompanied their announcement with a breakdown of nationalities making property investments in the first six months of 2014, which reported that Jordanians topped the list of Arab investors, with Indian nationals ranked first for foreigner investment.
