Norwegians return to Dubai commercial property sector

Dubai Tourism

• Indian buyers top list but Norwegians move into second place
• First purchases of commercial space by Norwegians since 2019
• Norway’s sovereign wealth fund not involved in latest Dubai deals

Norwegian investors were the second-largest group active in Dubai’s commercial real estate in the second quarter of the year, marking a dramatic return after being largely absent since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of sales transactions in Dubai’s commercial sector reached 3,080 in the second quarter of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent, according to the latest report from CRC (Commercial Real Estate Consultants), an affiliate of Dubai real estate conglomerate Betterhomes. 

In dirham terms, the value of deals made rose 101 percent to reach AED 21.4 billion ($5.8 billion).

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There was a 49 percent rise in the number of office space deals in the second quarter. The most popular locations proved to be Business Bay, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeirah Village Circle, Barsha Heights and Dubai Silicon Oasis.

Sales of retail units rose 50 percent, and the overall value of deals rose 94 percent across the same period.

Similarly to the residential sector, Indian buyers were the most active in the commercial sector, but Norwegian buyers have made a strong return to the market in second place, followed by British and French buyers, with Russians rounding out the top five.

“This is the first time we have had Norwegian buyers since 2019,” Behnam Bargh, director at CRC, told AGBI.

“We had a couple of Norwegian investors who bought full floor office spaces consisting of multiple units,” he said, adding that this was mainly in the popular Jumeirah Lake Towers area.

Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund – Norges Bank Investment Management – is the largest in the world but CRC confirmed it was not behind any of the latest Dubai deals.