Saudi investors inject AED7bn into Dubai properties

Deputy Chairman of the National Property Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) Mohamed Al-Khalil has sought the establishment of a supreme council for real estate to draw up laws and regulations to create a conducive investment atmosphere in the Kingdom and to arrest real estate investments abroad.
Al-Khalil was reacting to reports that Saudi investors had pumped more than AED7 billion recently to acquire properties and housing units in Dubai, local media said.
Calling for government initiative to bring back Saudi property investments abroad, he also called for the introduction of new legislations to attract investments in the real estate sector that would be helpful in tackling housing woes and related pending issues in courts.
Commenting on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) warning on a new real estate bubble, he said such warnings should be taken into consideration, and parties concerned in the Kingdom should vigorously work toward ensuring investment in the country.
Deputy Director of Land Development in Dubai Juma bin Himaidan said the newly-introduced regulations and laws will reduce apprehension on possible property price fall and avert recurrence of the 2008 crisis.
He said no housing project would be registered unless found on the ground and that property developers would not be allowed to sell out property units on maps.
He said the share of foreign and GCC investments in Dubai are more or less on even plane, but, Saudi investors are far ahead of GCC investors, with the exception of UAE citizens, at AED4.6 billion by the end of 2013 in addition to more than AED2 billion in 2012.
On the volume of land and property transactions in 2013, he said, some 162 nationalities, including the GCC, Arab and foreign countries, carried out transactions worth AED114 billion.
Toward the end of 2013, the volume of GCC property investments in Dubai stood at AED33 billion of which AED24 billion was accounted for by UAE citizens compared to AED17.7 billion in 2012 of which AED13 billion and AED2 billion came from the UAE and Saudi investors respectively.
Head of the National Property Committee at CSC Hamad Al-Shuwair said all current indications were that real estate investments in Dubai are stable and secured.
Dubai recently launched new projects and cut back debts while the UAE central bank has taken precautionary measures to avert any possible financial crisis in the future, he said.