Indians are making heavy investments in Dubai’s real estate sector, which has bounced back from the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Dubai has emerged out of the deep financial recession and is back on the growth path. The city, home to lakhs of NRI workers and businessmen, is now one of the fastest growing cities in the world and a major tourism destination, apart from being a top global financial hub.
According to a study by the Research and Real Estate Studies Department of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), Indians topped foreign investors in the desert city’s real estate sector. Quoting the DLD study, media in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported last week that Indians invested 10.5 billion dirhams in over 4,400 real estate deals in the first half of this year. Britain, Pakistan, Iran and Canada, in that order, were the other leading investors. Gulf Cooperation Council countries together invested 19 billion dirhams.
The rising Indian investment in Dubai’s real estate sector augurs well for job opportunities for Indians. Indians make up the largest expatriate community in the UAE, which comprises seven semi-independent emirates. Dubai is one of the seven emirates and currently, more than 85 per cent of Dubai population are expatriates, mainly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Construction employs the largest number of Indian workers in Dubai and the increasing investment in the real estate sector promises that the job scene is widening.
NRI workers arriving from UAE on their annual vacations told BusinessLine that economic activities were picking up fast in Dubai, especially in the construction sector. They also said employment opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled were on the rise.
The financial crisis has halved real estate prices in Dubai, which had witnessed a mad boom in construction of multi-storeyed buildings and huge projects. After the bubble burst, hundreds of projects were abandoned or left half-built. The Western media had written off Dubai as a lost city in terms of economic growth. However, the city regained its financial health by 2011 and is now almost back to its pre-crisis level.
Observers have pointed out that rebellions during the Arab Spring and continuing disturbances in many West Asian countries helped Dubai to regain its health. Because of these troubles, investors in these countries poured their money into Dubai’s real estate, helping the sector rev up. Indians, who have already invested heavily in the UAE and other Gulf countries, are now more eager than before to put in their money in Dubai’s economy.