Indians have become the top homebuyers in Dubai, purchasing properties worth Rs 35,500 crore in the emirate in 2022, a report said. The amount is almost double the money spent by Indians to purchase homes in Dubai in 2021. In 2022, Indians made up a large chunk, 40 per cent, of all the homebuyers in Dubai.
According to the Times of India report, most such homebuyers come from Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Punjab. The average cost of houses bought by Indians ranges from Rs 3.6 crore to Rs 3.8 crore. Apart from Indians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis and the British are the other top buyers of Dubai properties.
The report added that Indians are also increasingly avoiding Indian metro cities and renting high-end apartments in Dubai. The emirate’s rental market saw a dip of 30 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now bounced back to 2015-16 levels, a peak period for its real estate sector.
A reason for the rush of Indians to Dubai can be attributed to an expansion in the Golden Visa programme in 2022. The long-term visa allows foreign nationals to live, work and study in the UAE with special benefits. Its scope was increased to include more workers, skilled professionals, scientists and researchers. Other reasons are convenient travel from Dubai to India and the UAE being a global financial centre, providing more tech and finance jobs.
