Egyptians Second top Arab Investors in Dubai Real Estate Market

Egyptians ranked as the second top Arab investors in Dubai’s Real Estate Market with an amount of AED 1.37 billion during the first half of 2016, a statement by Dubai’s Land Department (DLD) announced.

According to the release by DLD, the overall Arab investors of different nationalities out of the GCC contributed with investments worth AED 7 billion in the announced period through 7,577 investments.

In a press release, the DLD report showed that Jordanian investors came in first with 765 investments worth more than AED 1.5 billion, followed by Egyptian citizens who pumped a total of AED 1.37 billion stemming from more than 710 investment transactions.

Lebanese investors came in third place with investments worth more than AED 1 billion, stemming from 423 transactions.

The transactions report, issued by its Real Estate Research and Studies Department, has revealed that the sum total of real estate investment transactions for the first half of 2016 reached AED 57 billion, which was invested by 26,000 investors comprising of 149 nationalities.

The report included details about non-Arab foreign investors as well as from the GCC, with total investments worth AED 28 billion and AED 22 billion AED, respectively.

In the release, the director general of the DLD Sultan Butti Bin Merjen said that Dubai's real estate market was able to maintain its appeal, describing it as "one of the foremost property investment destinations in the world, bolstered by the decline in some regional economies and serious challenges faced by other countries around the globe."

Commenting on the results, HE Sultan Butti Bin Merjen, Director General of DLD, said: "The Dubai real estate market has managed to maintain its robust appeal this year and is now emerging as one of the foremost property investment destinations in the world, bolstered by the decline in some regional economies and serious challenges faced by other countries around the globe. The diversity of the investor base reflects the extensive range of different products offered by the real estate sector in Dubai, along with the quality and trust that investors place in its national economy."

Real Estate commentator Mahmoud Ibrahim spoke to Ahram Online where he said that he wasn't surprised by the amount of investments from the Egyptians.

"The Egyptian real estate market is no longer appealing, and it is not regulated like the Emirati market," Ibrahim told Ahram Online.

According to Ibrahim, prices in Dubai's real estate market have been in decline since September 2014, therefore attracting investors through the now better regulated and organised market by UAE's government.

Ibrahim added that Egyptians might foresee better investment opportunities in Dubai "because there would not be a "currency risk" like in Egypt, especially with the dollar craze that has made people believe that there were no longer investment opportunities in Egypt."

"The Egyptian real estate should be more organised so the market becomes attractive again, there has to be laws introduced by the government that regulate the investment operations," Ibrahim concluded.