Indians topped the list of
first-time property buyers in Dubai last year, acquiring AED2.1bn (US$571.8m)
of real estate in the emirate, the Dubai Land Department said.
New buyers from India
made up 927 out of a total 35,297 transactions worth AED143bn last year, the
property registration agency said.
“Indians topped the list of
new investors in Dubai properties and conducted 927 transactions worth
AED2.1bn. This represents 16 percent of the overall value of transactions
carried out by new investors,” DLD said in a statement.
Dubai’s battered real estate
market is starting to show some signs of a recovery after seeing prices drop by
nearly 60 percent in the wake of the economic downturn. House prices in the
emirate increased by an average 0.5 percent in 2011, property consultants Knight Frank said
last month.
Property prices increased 0.4
percent between the second and fourth quarters of last year and 2.3 percent in
the last three months of 2011, according to its Global House Price Index.
DLD in January said sales of
land and property increased 20 percent in transactions worth AED143bn last
year. “The 2011 results demonstrate Dubai’s ability to fully recover from the
challenges of the international crisis and prove once again the strength of its
economy,” the department said in a statement.
DLD did not confirm the
nationality of the second largest new group of investors but said UAE nationals
ranked third. Emirati buyers invested AED1.57bn, representing 12 percent of new
buyers last year.
Asian investors were the
largest buyers of real estate in 2011 while British citizens topped the list of
European investors, it said.
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