According to experts, the property market in Dubai is seeing Chinese buyers return in huge numbers. This is after China finally opened up its borders after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, the country’s property crisis has also driven investors to look for safe havens for their capital all over the world.
Chinese investments
The biggest property developer in Dubai is Emaar Properties and its projects saw their Chinese investments almost double in the first half of 2023.
The company disclosed that a year earlier, Chinese investments had been about 3% to 4% of total sales, but in the first of this year, this increased to 7%.
A market expert said that Chinese investors were making a return to the property market in Dubai after travel restrictions in their country had been relaxed and the Chinese property market was under pressure.
Dubai has an investor friendly environment and it generates about 6% to 7% residential rental yields, which are quite attractive.
The international flows into the property sector in Dubai are also because of the low rental income and transaction cost, zero capital gains and a currency pegged to the US dollar.
The property market
Due to robust economic growth and strong demand, the property market in Dubai is booming. Initiatives from the government helped the recovery of the sector after the pandemic.
These initiatives include residency permits for remote workers and retirees. In addition, the property market boom is not expected to lose steam anytime soon.
This is because of a rise in incoming expats, including wealthy Russian investors and crypto executives. According to analysts, the global economic climate, minimal taxes and a rising population are all driving optimism.
There was a 17% rise in the residential property prices in the emirate in the second quarter annually, which is the 10th straight quarter to see an expansion.
More investments
The CEO of Dubai-based Driven properties, Abdullah Alajaji, revealed that in the first half of the year, the value of property sold to Hong Kong and Chinese investors was around Dh1.25 billion.
Last year, the figure had stood at Dh351 million, which means it has seen a three-fold increase. The border reopening of China is one of the factors that have contributed to it.
Secondly, the property debt crisis in Beijing has also resulted in fears amongst local investors who consider property to be a safe haven for investing their capital.
Therefore, they have chosen to do the same in markets abroad. Mr. Alajaji said that more Chinese visitors and tourists were coming to Dubai for making investment decisions.
He stated that while Dubai had always been an attractive destination, the condition in China was also driving up the numbers.
He added that they were expecting Chinese buyers to invest almost Dh2 billion in this year, while the total investments last year had been Dh721 million.
Mr. Alajaji said that they had not yet scratched the surface because Dubai’s property market’s most liquid is the last quarter of the year and sees the highest number of transactions.
Hence, the next year is likely to be called the ‘year of Chinese investors’ for the property market in Dubai.
