Asian investors have been snapping up high-end properties in Dubai in huge numbers, a new study has suggested.According to Knight Frank, Indian and Pakistani nationals have been very active in the UAE-based city's real estate market in the past year and this is a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.Prime properties in areas like Dubai Marina and Downtown Dubai have been selling at a premium, with the average price of a luxury villa rising by 20 per cent in the past 12 months. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that investors from Singapore and Iran are also going to flood the emirate's property sector in 2013, the National reports.The Knight Frank report showed that there were 1,345 high net worth individuals in Singapore last year and this number is expected to grow by 43 per cent over the next ten years.Unsurprisingly, Dubai's most valuable properties have also proven popular with wealthy traders in Russia and the European country provided the third-highest number of investors in Dubai last year.Helen Tatham of Knight Frank Dubai highlighted a major upturn in demand for properties in 2012, following a relatively quiet period after the global economic collapse in 2008."Dubai is already very cosmopolitan and the largest segments of buyers at present are Indians and Pakistanis, followed by Saudi Arabians and other Gulf Cooperation Council nationals. Russians, Europeans and other western nationalities also continue to invest and reside in the UAE," she remarked.Ms Tatham added that building developers are now targeting fresh investment from places like Africa and less prominent parts of Asia too.Property investments in Dubai are clearly very popular and part of the reason for this is the huge selection of cutting-edge buildings that have sprung up across the city in recent years.Mohammad Zaal - chief executive officer at upscale new development Al Barari - recently told Gulf News that the emirate offers investment opportunities that other prime locations around the world simply cannot match.Looking to buy apartments in Dubai? The First Group can help you out
