A total of AED151 billion was invested by foreigners in Dubai property market in 18 months, according to the Dubai Land Department.

The DLD revealed the figure while announcing a list of the top10 nationalities that invested in the emirate's realty market between January 2016 and the end of June 2017. The new list confirms that UAE nationals are in the lead, outperforming all other nationalities.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General of Dubai Land Department, commented: "Up to 217 nationalities have invested a total of AED151 billion in Dubai’s real estate market. This demonstrates the confidence that the world has in our real estate environment, which is characterised by a strong regulatory system that provides safety and security for all parties."

The recent research found out that Emiratis made close to 12,000 investment transactions worth AED37.4 billion, while Indian, Pakistani, Saudi Arabian and British investors ranked second, third, fourth and fifth respectively in terms of the number of registered transactions.

Bin Mejren added, "This list has been unveiled at a time when our real estate market is preparing for a new phase of growth in the run-up to Expo 2020. We are pleased to have witnessed such a high level of interest from global citizens in Dubai, who have invested over AED151 billion across 71,000 real estate transactions in just 18 months."

Indian investors made 10,628 transactions worth more than AED20.4 billion, while Pakistani nationals made 5,398 real estate transactions worth approximately AED7 billion. Saudis led the Gulf nations with 5,366 transactions worth AED12.5 billion and UK citizens took poll position among the European nationalities with 4,188 transactions worth AED 9 billion.

Besides investors from Saudi Arabia, citizens from three other Arab countries appeared on the list, with investors from Egypt, China, Jordan, Lebanon and America placing in sixth to tenth places respectively through 2,439 transactions worth over AED 4 billion. Egyptians came in sixth place, followed by Jordanians who made 2,235 transactions worth AED4.2 billion.

Chinese investors ranked in eighth place after concluding 2,177 transactions worth AED3.1 billion, while Lebanese nationals came in the ninth place with 1,313 transactions worth AED2.6 billion and Americans ranked tenth with 1,119 transactions worth close to AED 2.9 billion.

Combined, all of the other nationalities registered in the DLD’s database made a total of 23,318 transactions amounting to a total value of AED48.665 billion.

Source: WAM