Indians top property buyers in Dubai

Between January and June 2014, Indians, British, Pakistanis and GCC investors accounted for around four-fifths of all real estate transactions in Dubai.

Property consultant Knight Frank, citing data from Dubai Land Department, said in the first half of 2014, a number of key nationalities including India dominated real estate investment activity in the emirate.

During January-June 2014, Indians invested close to 10.5 billion dirhams in the emirate, while British and Pakistani nationals spent 5.8 billion dirhams and 4.5 billion dirhams, respectively.

Meanwhile, UAE nationals purchased 12.6 billion dirhams worth of property in H1 2014 -- almost double the amount spent by Saudis (3.4 billion dirhams), Qataris (1.5 billion dirhams), Kuwaitis (839 million dirhams), Omanis (482 million dirhams) and Bahrainis (247 million dirhams) combined.

Overall, the total amount invested in the emirate's property market in the first half of 2014 was 50 billion dirhams, equivalent to 44% of the sum spent in 2013 as a whole, suggesting that, by last year's standards, real estate investment activity has softened in the first half of 2014.

However, the mainstream residential market is outperforming the prime segment in Dubai, mainly because these segments are very popular among western expatriates and continue to see healthy demand, Knight Frank, in its autumn 2014 Dubai residential insight report said.

Secondly, the new mortgage caps had a lesser impact on the mainstream segment and demand situation continued to be robust because of Dubai's strong economic conditions and buoyant labour market.

"We expect demand to outstrip supply in the short-term," the report said, adding that "the mainstream residential segment is anticipated to outperform prime over the next 12 months".