Dubai: Developers continue to unveil luxury real estate projects in Dubai, but a significant number of the region’s ultra-rich are looking elsewhere to park their money.
Knight Frank’s Middle East Capital Tracker, which monitors real estate investors’ preferred destinations, showed that nearly six in ten (58 per cent) of property investors from the GCC prefer to acquire new assets in the UK.
“A broad look at the results shows that the UK remains a firm favourite for almost three-fifths of investors from this region,” said Knight Frank in its report.
In comparison, nearly two in ten (19 per cent) of the investors prefer to put their wealth in GCC real estate. Countries in Continental Europe account for 12 per cent of the demand while US is not far behind, at 5 per cent.
“Although the US currently makes up five per cent of overall demand, we have seen an increasing number of enquiries for this market.”
A number of high-profile developments have recently been launched in Dubai, including the luxury floating villas on The World islands, the mansions by Italian luxury fashion brand Bvlgari and Meraas on Jumeirah Bay island and the dozens of restaurants, cafes and retail outlets on the Palm Jumeirah by Nakheel.
However, it’s mostly foreign buyers who are interested in Dubai’s real estate. According to Christie’s International Real Estate, 75 per cent of Dubai’s prime property buyers are from overseas.
These investors come primarily from the UK, Germany, Russia and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
