Pakistanis remained in pursuit of real estate in Dubai in the first quarter of 2015 as third biggest amount of foreign property transactions $379 million came from Pakistani nationals, media reported on Sunday.
Pakistanis purchased properties worth over $4.3 billion (16bn dirhams) in 2013 and 2014 in Dubai. According to data released by Dubai Land Department in April 2015, Pakistani nationals made transactions worth $379m (1.392 billion dirhams) during the first quarter of 2015. In terms of investor numbers, however, Pakistanis stood second with a total of 953 investors, only behind Indians with over 1,000 investors. Pakistanis also make up the second largest non-Arab nationality in the UAE.
In a January market sentiment survey by Zameen.com, a Pakistan’s property portal, a large number of respondents said they only wanted to invest in Pakistan. However, 49pc of participants who wanted to invest abroad wished to buy property in Dubai.
Bayut.com, a Dubai-based property portal, shared some insights from its UAE real estate market database.
The figures divulged by Bayut.com registered a quarter-on-quarter (Q1’14 to Q1’15) hike in searches originating from Pakistan regarding buying property in Dubai. Pakistanis’ searches for buying property in Dubai went up to 87.29pc in Q1 2015 from 85.40pc in Q1 2014, suggesting an increased intent of buying rather than renting property.