More Indians keen on investing in Dubai

More resident Indians are now keen on investing in properties in Dubai with close to 88 per cent of consumers, primarily from Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad, looking to invest ₹3.24-6.5 crore in the Gulf city.

A study conducted by Dubai Property Show said Indian investors are quite willing to shell out big sums. It also said that at least 8 per cent of consumers would like to seal the purchase within the budget of ₹65 lakh-3.24 crore while the rest were looking to buy properties above ₹6.5 crore.

Apartments emerged as a popular choice with 33 per cent consumers opting for it while villas came close second with 17 per cent.

Commercial property and land stood at 9 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. Around 35 per cent were undecided at the time of answering the survey questions.

Asanga Silva, General Manager, Dubai Property Show, said: “The data reflects Indian investors’ faith in Dubai’s highly lucrative real-estate industry, both in terms of rental and resale. As astute investors, Indians understand that they are getting their value for money, since Dubai offers a bright economic future, stability, affordability, class and comfort. Dubai is also among the most affordable property destinations, and the strengthening of rupee further nudged investors in this direction”.

According to data, Indians have consistently been the most prolific non-GCC buyers of Dubai real estate. From January 2016 to June 2017 alone, they bought property worth more than ₹42,000 crore in the Emirate.

Data from the Government of Dubai’s Land Department record say Indians alone contributed to AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham) 12 billion towards property transactions compared with an overall contribution of AED 91 billion. Meanwhile, a recent report by Knight Frank and IREX said almost one out of four resident Indians prefer to spend more than $1 million for a house overseas.

Knight Frank said the share of funds spent on buying homes aboard through the Liberated Remittance Scheme dwindled from 8 per cent in FY2006 to 1 per cent in FY2017. But the quantum of investments rose almost 59 folds from $1.9 million in 2005-06 to $111.9 million in 2016-17.

The report said residential property buyers in Dubai have benefited the highest with an overall return of 49.3 per cent followed by Australia at 38.7 per cent.

Dubai offered dual returns as the Indian Rupee depreciated versus the local UAE currency and property prices in the Gulf destination appreciated between Q2 2012 and Q2 2017. Knight Frank said strengthening of the Indian Rupee against several global currencies has made investments in overseas homes more affordable than a year ago.

Resident Indian buying homes in the UK, Cyprus, Malaysia and Dubai today (as of end of Q2 2017) will find it cheaper compared with a year ago. This is despite property appreciation in residential markets across Cyprus, the UK and Malaysia. Buying a house in Malaysia is the cheapest, followed by Dubai.

Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India, said: “Our ideas of homes have clearly travelled beyond the native frontiers of imagination synonymous with the concept. Today, resident Indians investing in residential properties overseas are mostly sound investment decisions. Buyers must be well informed about price trends, taxations and duty structures of respective international markets, repatriation of funds, currency movement, etc, to make informed decisions. “

A data by the National Association of Realtors indicated that between April 2016 and March 2017, Indians invested $7.8 billion in US real estate.

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