As the prices of rent in the United Arab Emirates are rising, a greater number of expatriates and locals are looking towards purchasing property, as it also makes for a sound investment.
The same trend has also been adopted by the Russians, as almost 72% of the expats from Russia reported that they had purchased property in the UAE within the last year.
Redseer, a consulting firm, conducted a market research survey and came to these conclusions.
Russian expats
One of the Associate Partners at the consulting firm, AkshayJayaprakasan, said that the stable politics and economy of the UAE had made it an attractive destination for Russians.
Therefore, high-net-worth individuals have begun to regard it as a safe haven and are coming to the UAE to seek refuge from regions that are exposed to conflicts.
The citizens in Russia have had to face sanctions from a number of Western countries in light of their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Things have become immensely difficult due to economic obstacles and this has prompted Russian oligarchs and other wealthy citizens to look for other places that may still be open for business.
The real estate market
While Russian expats will continue to fuel short-term growth, the report said that it would be local buyers who would drive long-term growth in the real estate market.
Not only are the rent costs rising, but government deregulation is also a factor and with more affordable properties available, these factors will be responsible for long-term growth.
Villa-style properties are more popular amongst Russian buyers as opposed to apartments, with almost 67% of the Russian respondents in the survey said that they bought a villa.
Meanwhile, only 30% of the other buyers went for this more luxurious option. The survey further showed that nearly 64% of the Russians were buying real estate in the UAE as a second property.
As for people from other nationalities, they were mostly buying it as a primary property. The data is helpful in characterizing the type of average Russian client in the UAE.
They are apparently wealthy and ready to invest a large sum of money. As a matter of fact, data shows that real estate purchases by Russians were 98% higher than that of other buyers.
The report
A trend that was highlighted in the report was that of social media ads of real estate properties. It also mentioned that agents who shared exclusive deals, market trends and investment information instead of only listing were also more effective.
The largest expatriate population in the world can be found in the UAE. Only 10% of the population of UAE makes up of Emiratis, with the rest made up of other nationalities around the globe, especially South Asians.
There have been concerns from the US Treasury Department about the UAE as well as other countries, such as Turkey, enabling Russian oligarchs to buy expensive assets for stashing their money.
In some cases, they consider this as sanction evasion. But, the UAE, along with some other Gulf States have refused to implement Western sanctions on Russian citizens and banks.
