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Real Estate

Real estate and property news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

GCC investors unfazed by UK real estate crackdown

A crackdown on anonymous foreign investments in UK real estate will not put off GCC buyers and may even increase deals in the long term, experts say. The Register of Overseas Entities will require anonymous foreign companies owning or seeking to buy UK land to reveal their true owners, ensuring criminals cannot hide behind secretive […]

Bench, Furniture, Vehicle

UK and Russian buyers help Dubai real estate sales surge

Dubai’s red-hot property market surged in the first half of the year as investors piled in, while Russians were among the top five buyers as the emirate benefits from an influx of wealth in the wake of Western sanctions. The first half saw residential real estate transaction volumes up 60 percent with an 85 percent […]

The Yas Marina Circuit, which hosts the Abu Dhabi grand prix

Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties posts 54% jump in Q2 profit

Aldar Properties, the builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One motor racing circuit, reported a 54 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by record sales on strong local and international demand. Profit attributable to shareholders came in at 803.99 million dirhams ($218.91 million) for the three months to June 30, compared with 520.83 million […]

MediaCityUK in Salford

Gulf investors head outside London to fill up on UK property

The Midlands and Northern England are looking ever more appealing to commercial real estate investors from the GCC, according to a new report GCC investors’ appetite for UK property continues to grow, new research has found, driven in part by the surging appeal of regions outside of London. A report from Bank of London and […]

Turkey sees 81.8% surge in foreign homebuyers

The number of foreigners buying property in Turkey rose by 81.8 percent year-on-year in June, helping the number of sales to rise by 11.7 percent to 150,509 homes. New data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, issued on Tuesday, found that a total of 8,630 foreign nationals bought homes in Turkey in June, with Russian buyers […]

Dubai property

Dubai rents soar by over 20% as inflation bites

Dubai residential rents rocketed by 21.7 percent on average in the 12 months to June 2022, more than double the mean growth in sales prices. The total volume of transactions in Dubai’s residential market reached 7,941 in June 2022, up 33.3 percent year-on-year, said research from real estate consultancy firm CBRE released today. In the […]

Gulf home buyers eye Battersea Power Station in London

Gulf investors are snapping up London properties beyond the traditional smart neighbourhoods such as Chelsea and Kensington, north of the river Thames. With a weak pound offering great purchasing power for Gulf currencies and an upcoming visa liberalisation for GCC countries with Britain, MENA-based property investors are flocking to England’s capital.  And Arab buyers have […]

Sanctions won’t dampen Dubai property allure for Russians

The popularity of Dubai among Russian property buyers is unlikely to be dented by a US threat to impose sanctions on UAE banks who process their financial transactions, as most payments are made using cash or cryptocurrency. Dubai-based Mira Estate said its property sales to customers from Russia and the 11 other Commonwealth of Independent […]

Audience, Person, Crowd

Judge in Trump case fines real estate firm $10,000 a day

A New York judge on Tuesday held real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield PLC in contempt of court for not producing documents subpoenaed in a probe of former US President Donald Trump’s business practices. The judge ordered the company to be fined $10,000 a day until it complied. Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating […]

Arab investors can get to London more easily now

Prime London property one third cheaper for Arab investors

Wealthy buyers of prime London property have already seen prices fall since the start of this year, but Gulf buyers have been enjoying an additional dollar discount bonus thanks to their home currencies being pegged to the US currency. “The dollar has strengthened against all major currencies including the pound since January,” said Liam Bailey, […]

The smart city will be based in Riyadh and house 44,000 people

Zero-carbon smart city in Riyadh to house 44,000

A Dubai-based architecture firm is working on designs for a 10km2, zero-carbon smart city in Saudi Arabia which will provide homes for 44,000 people. URB, which is headquartered in Dubai Design District, said it has completed the concept stage for ALNAMA Smart City and will soon begin the detailed design stage. Set to be located […]

Mamad Kashani Akhavan, CEO, Powerhouse Real Estate

What does your company do?  We’re aiming to reinvent real estate by educating brokers and expanding their knowledge in the field. We’ve implemented a simple training programme for each new joiner to ensure their quality of performance in the market. Once they’re released into what we call “the sales floor”, they’re ready to enter the […]

High Rise, Urban, City

Freeze on Russians selling boosts luxury London house prices

The war in Ukraine is making it hard for even unsanctioned Russians to sell exclusive residential property in Britain, adding to a shortage of supply that has helped drive up house prices in prime locations, real estate sources say. Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern oil barons and billionaire Chinese entrepreneurs have been on a spending spree […]

Prices are soaring for residential properties in Business Bay

Dubai ‘repivots’ city centre as Business Bay prices soar

Dubai is witnessing a “repivoting” of its city centre, with residential prices soaring in Business Bay, according to analysts. Values in Business Bay have risen by nearly 17 percent in the last two years, pointing to the redefining of Dubai’s centre, said global property consultant, Knight Frank, in a new research note. The wider Central […]

Expo 2020 Dubai site

Dubai unveils plan to transform Expo 2020 site into free zone

The Expo 2020 Dubai site is to be transformed into the emirate’s newest business free zone – and is being lined up as a possible venue for more of the world’s biggest events, executives have told AGBI. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE and the ruler […]

Path, Walkway, Motorcycle

Russian buyers help Turkish house sales double in May

Turkish home sales surged 107.5 percent in May over last year to 122,768 houses, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed on Wednesday, with Russians topping foreign buyers for a second consecutive month. Sales to foreigners jumped 235.7 percent year-on-year to 5,962 units, the institute said. Russian citizens topped the list again in May with […]

358% rise in licences turbocharges Riyadh office rents

Office buildings in Riyadh have seen a surge in rental rates and occupancy levels, as the Saudi capital begins to see the benefits from a new policy to encourage international companies to set up their regional headquarters in the city. In February last year, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to transform Riyadh into […]

High-end cash purchases are keeping the market bouyant

Half-year house sales prompt cautious optimism in Dubai

Transactions of villas and apartments were so strong in the first five months of this year that analysts believe Dubai can withstand the battering that global inflation usually brings. An estimated total of AED61.9bn of property deals were completed between January and May, suggesting that the emirate’s market is fending off any threat from record […]