Dubai realty investments exceed Dh158b in 2oo8

Dubai: Investments in Dubai's real estate sector have exceeded more than Dh158 billion so far in 2008, based on the number of registered sales, leasing and mortgage transactions.

At the recently held Urban Waterfront conference, reports showed that the global market value of waterfront developments will cross $500 billion in the next five years.

With three Palm projects, Waterfront and The World in the pipeline, Dubai is set to be one of the most active locations in terms of waterfront development. Even though parts of these projects may be on hold for the time being, investments in Dubai are still growing.

"The global financial crisis notwithstanding, Dubai remains one of the most attractive destinations for investors from all over the world with over Dh158 billion invested since the beginning of 2008 to date. [This is] in comparison to total investments of Dh151 billion last year," said Ahmet Kayhan, chief executive of the website Reidin.com.

Figures show that the top investor-countries channelling funds to the property sector in Dubai are India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UK, Oman, Iran, Canada, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Other Asian investors include Dh6.09 billion from Pakistan, Dh1.7 billion from Afghanistan and Dh150 million from Singapore, in the first three quarters of this year.