The Dubai Land Department (DLD) yesterday said the total amount of GCC investment in Dubai’s property market for the first half of the year had exceeded Dh19 billion.
Emirati investment formed the lion’s share, according to the DLD’s research and real estate studies department report, with UAE nationals making transactions worth Dh12.5bn in Dubai’s property sector in the first six months.
“UAE investors … were placed at the GCC top spot well above all other investors in Dubai’s real estate market,” said Sultan Butti, the director general of the land department.
“The figure indicates the great demand from UAE nationals in investing in property in Dubai, and sends out a reassuring message to all other categories of investor. In addition to strengthening confidence in the market, it provides solid foundations that will ensure its sustainability and long-term stability,” he added.
DLD’s report revealed citizens of Saudi Arabia were in second place on the list of GCC property investments after completing 1,121 transactions worth Dh3,371bn in the first half. Qataris had 113 transactions worth Dh1,463bn, Kuwaitis made 263 purchases worth Dh839 million and Omanis were in the fifth spot with deals worth Dh482m.
Bahrain citizens bought property worth a total of Dh247m in the first six months of the year.
The volume of residential sales in the emirate, particularly in existing villas, was slowing down along with the asking price, according to the consultancy JLL’s second-quarter report.
The number of villa sales in May, for example, were half of that during the same period last year.
The average growth in sales price also slowed, down four percentage points from the first quarter, the JLL report said.
However, new projects continued to come on to the market. Construction projects worth US$5.4bn were announced in the first half, according to JLL.
Last week, Dubai’s SKAI Holdings reported it had sold out all its 234 hotel rooms, 234 one and two-bedroom serviced apartments, and 33 penthouses at its Dh1.2bn Suites in the SKAI project in Jumeirah Village Circle since launching it in June.
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