- About Dubai
- History
- Property Ownership
- Market Report
In a relatively short period of time, alert investors have been quick to pick up on the great potential of opportunities in the UAE market. Dubai and the wider Gulf region present many, as yet unrealised, opportunities that might potentially yield high profit returns, but only to the informed investor with extensive knowledge of the region and the benefit of established relationships.
The Directors believe that there are many exciting and potentially very lucrative opportunities now emerging in the Gulf region. Land and property are still relatively inexpensive, yields are high and the prospects for substantial capital appreciation are good.
Media commentary has reported that in recent years, Dubai has provided many opportunities for international investors to reap exceptional returns, and whilst there will continue to be excellent opportunities in Dubai, there are also substantial benefits in investing in other lesser known parts of the region, such as the GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, the UAE and Yemen. These are newly emerging leisure destinations that have generally been 'off the radar' of mainstream companies or have been simply unavailable to individual UK investors.
The Gulf area has strong and dynamic economies, buoyed by high oil prices, and is politically stable. The Gulf is also at the hub of the international trading zones between East and West, and borders on trading block of some 1.6 billion people with combined economies of USD 10 trillion.
The oil-producing countries are now keen to utilise their current liquidity to diversify and re-invest in high quality tourism and leisure projects, aiming to attract millions of the emerging, aspirational middle classes of the Middle East and the huge Indian sub-continent market nearby.
Increasing liberalisation and the creation of new land laws that allow freehold ownership for foreign nationals have opened up property markets to international investors.
Many developers are government backed, or are linked to the government in some way or another, and projects are thus underwritten. This provides investors with a degree of comfort in that, whatever happens to the global tourism and financial markets, developments will proceed as planned.
Oil wealth aside, the key driver behind the rise in property values is Dubai's vision to create a new global tourism and financial capital, to rival those of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and New York. In comparison to these cities, prices in Dubai are still relatively inexpensive. For example, the most expensive residential property in Dubai today retails for USD 500/sq.ft., which compares to USD 2500/sq.ft. in the heart of Manhattan, London and Tokyo.