Indians are increasingly investing in the Middle East’s real estate market with the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia being the preferred destinations of choice; industry analysts expect Saudi Arabia’s real estate industry to flourish as the country’s inches towards achieving Vision 2030, with expectations that the kingdom will parallel that of the UAE’s real estate market. 

 

As per Dubai Land Department (DLD) data credits, Indians had last year pumped in AED15.9 billion ($4.32 billion) into Dubai’s real estate sector, thus accounting for the second-highest investment by any nationality.

 

Snapping up nearly 12% of the total 97,398 property deals inked last year, they came second after the Britishers who accounted for 21.2% of the deals, said a key real estate developer.

 

Indians have been among the leading nationalities to buy real estate in Dubai since 2015, and in 2023, the emirate has continued attracting this investor demographic at a strong rate, remarked Madhav Dhar, the COO of ZāZEN Properties, a leading sustainable property developer in Dubai.

 

As it stands today, the UAE remains far and away the most appealing location for real estate investment in the GCC, stated Dhar, citing the factors attracting a continuous inflow of Indian and International investors.

 

"Indians have long been intrigued by the prospect of investing in Dubai’s real estate market due to the high investment rental yields that come with it; the cosmopolitan city offers a gross rental yield ranging between 6-10%, and an average return of around 7.5% to provide greater appeal than that of prime locations such as New York, Hong Kong, and London," explained Dhar. 

 

"With India reportedly having prepared to quadruple taxes on outward remittances at the start of October, many investors from the South Asian country injected their capital into Dubai’s real estate sector during the first half of 2022 to save substantially," he added.

 

On the KSA scenario, Dhar said Indians make up around 19% of the country’s expatriate population.

 

"With the kingdom striving to fulfil a variety of ambitious objectives, Indian investors appear poised to target real estate investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia over the coming years," he explained.

 

However, the UAE will maintain its leading position in the Middle East with developers innovating to reach net zero 2050 mandates, among other goals.

 

According to him, this trend was noticeable throughout the sales cycle of ZāZEN Properties’ latest development, ZāZEN Gardens in Al Furjan. 

 

“ZāZEN products attract a wide range of buyers and investors alike. We had 24 different nationalities purchase in our ZāZEN One project in JVT and now have 22 different nationalities with ZāZEN Gardens. The UAE is home to 10 million-plus people, and Indians account for more than 25% of the country’s total population," he explained. 

 

"LEED Gold-rated and Well-Being integrated, the first-of-its-kind project in Dubai got sold out in less than six months with Indian investors representing the highest-buying demographic," stated Dhar.

 

"Out of 155 units available for sale, Indian-origin investors bought 70%, Eastern European investors accounted for 8%, Pakistani buyers purchased 6%, and 4% of the inventory was purchased by various EU nationals," he added.-TradeArabia News Service