They are likely to reclaim their spot on UAE’s list of top property purchasers after Covid-19 border restrictions

Chinese buyers look set to reclaim their spot on the UAE’s list of top property purchasers this year after they slipped out of the rankings during the Covid pandemic.

Driven Properties, a Dubai-based company with offices in China, said investments were starting to pick up.

The company handled more than Dh64 million in Dubai property sales to Chinese buyers so far this month and said this barely “scratched the surface” of transactions expected.

In 2018, the Chinese were among the top four foreign nationalities who invested in Dubai property, alongside Indians, Britons and Pakistanis, according to Dubai Land Department data.

The pandemic and Ukraine war, however, have altered the current pecking order.

Russian buyers held the top spot in 2022, followed by buyers from the UK, India, Germany and France, according to the latest figures.

“There are obvious absentees from the recent list, the Chinese, and we have seen signs that the Chinese are coming back,” Abdullah Alajaji, chief executive of Driven Properties, told The National.

The company has offices in Beijing and Shenzhen and will increase the number of seminars across China and tours to theUAE for prospective buyers.

This comes after China ended Covid-19 quarantine rules earlier this month.

“We are positive about Chinese investments coming back and that is what is giving me hope that the 2023 market will still be strong,” he said.

“We believe that China is the new Russia.

“By far the largest group of investors now are Russians and buyers from Europe.

“But the trend we are seeing, and this is data only of the last two months, is that we will see Chinese investors come in.

“It will create a balance in the market because Russian liquidity will wane at some point.”

Scratching the surface

The Dubai Land Department had announced plans to increase promotional activity in China a year before the pandemic shut national borders.

Investments from China were put on hold as strict quarantine rules prevented travellers from visiting the UAE to inspect properties.

“The transaction volumes we were used to seeing, the hundreds and thousands of Chinese buyers were just not in the market then,” Mr Alajaji said.

“Come January 2023, we are just starting to scratch the surface.

“We are seeing increased momentum, a four-fold increase and this is only our own company data.”

Driven Properties’ value of transactions by Chinese buyers so far this month is more than Dh64million, compared to Dh16 million in January 2022.

The total sales handled by Mr Alajaji’s company from Chinese buyers between 2017 and 2019 stood at Dh1.15 billion.

“That gives us a glimpse of hope of what is coming,” he said.

“What we are doing now is programmes in China aimed at reactivating this market.

“There will be even more interest now with the new visa reforms. This is initially what attracted Chinese investors in the first place.”

Dubai attracted investors from China following the introduction of short-term UAE residency visas that came withDh2million property investments in 2018.

A range of long-term residency options have since opened up with golden, entrepreneurship, retirement visas and expatriates allowed 100 per cent ownership of businesses.

 

Source: The National News