More Indians evincing interest in investing in Dubai

More people from India are now looking to invest in Dubai properties, with nearly 88 percent of them belonging to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Pune wanting to invest around INR32.4 million to INR65 million.

Dubai Property Show conducted a study, which showed that Indian investors are eager to spend huge sums of money. The study also showed that around eight percent of clientele would like to buy properties within the budget of INR0.65 million-32.4 million, with the rest looking to invest in properties worth over INR65 million.

Most of the clientele (33 percent) were opting for apartments and villas were their second choice (17 percent). The proportion of buyers showing interested in commercial properties and land make up about nine and six percent, respectively. On the other hand, 35 percent were yet to decide where to invest in during the survey.

Asanga Silva, Dubai Property Show’s General Manager, was quoted by the Hindu Business Line as saying that the data demonstrates the faith reposed by Indian investors in the highly attractive real-estate market of Dubai, both with the idea of renting or reselling them. Indian investors with foresight have understood that by investing in Dubai, they are assured of good returns on investment as this city has tremendous economic prospects, besides affordability, stability and comfort, he added.

According to Silva, Dubai is one of the most affordable destinations for a property, and with the rupee improving its value, investors are more lured by this city.

Data has also shown that for quite some time, Indians have always been one of the largest buyers of real estate outside of the GCC in Dubai. Between January 2016 and June 2017, property purchased by Indians is worth over INR420 billion in this city.

Moreover, Government of Dubai’s Land Department’s data from its record shows that Indians alone contributed AED12 billion, or INR212.4 billion, towards transactions of properties in this Emirate in its total contribution of AED91 billion, or 1,610.78 billion. On the other hand, Knight Frank and IREX in its recent report said nearly one out of four Indians would choose to spend over $1 million for a house in a foreign country.

Knight Frank said that although the share of funds expended on buying homes overseas through the Liberated Remittance Scheme fell from eight percent in fiscal 2006 to one percent in fiscal 2017, the number of investments increased almost 59 times to $111.9 million in 2016-17, up from $1.9 million in 2005-06.

The report said Dubai’s residential property buyers have profited the most with a total return of 49.3 percent, with Australia following at 38.7 percent.

In addition, Indians got dual returns as the rupee depreciated compared to the currency of UAE and as property prices in Dubai increased in the period between the second

quarter 2012 and the second quarter 2017. The firming of the Indian Rupee recently against several foreign currencies has made investments in homes more affordable for Indians than in 2016, added Knight Frank.

Resident Indians who want to buy homes in Malaysia, Dubai, the UK and Cyprus (at the end of Q2 2017) will find them much more affordable than a year ago. This is notwithstanding the hike in home markets across the aforementioned countries. Currently, Malaysia has the most affordable houses overseas with Dubai following it.

Shishir Baijal, Knight Frank India, CMD, said that our concepts of houses have changed with times, as resident Indians are now investing in housing properties abroad more due to considered investment decisions. He added that home investors now must be abreast of duty structures and taxations of respective foreign markets, price trends, currency movement and repatriation of funds and so on to make sound investment decisions.

Meanwhile, data released by the National Association of Realtors showed that investments made by Indians in the US real estate during April 2016-March 2017 were $7.8 billion.

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