Dubai targets French property investors with new DLD agreement

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) is expanding its focus on targeting European property investors with a new agreement that will promote opportunities in Dubai’s real estate market in France.

The DLD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reed MIDEM SAS, which will see the French real estate specialist promote Dubai and the DLD’s services to investors in the country.

HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, said the government organisation was “keen to establish cooperative relations with companies specialised in real estate promotion in major markets around the world”.

“We look forward to attracting more investors to our real estate market, especially as we are witnessing an increasing number of investors in recent years. [This agreement] will help highlight the many advantages of Dubai's investment opportunities, allowing us to emphasise Dubai's competitiveness as a world-class environment capable of attracting investments."

HE Majida Ali Rashid, Assistant Director General, Head of the Real Estate Investment Management and Promotion Centre, added that he expected the agreement would “contribute to increasing the number of French and international investors looking to explore real estate opportunities in Dubai.

“The Emirate is on the list of options for European investors to buy holiday homes and for long-term investments due to the high return on investments compared to global markets and the sustained rise in real estate prices," he added.

Europe remains one of the major untapped investment source markets for Dubai’s real estate sector. While British investors regularly appear in the top five in terms of nationalities active in Dubai’s property market – in the first nine months of 2018, British nationals purchased 1,761 investment properties in Dubai for a total value in excess of AED3.4 billion – the majority of investors otherwise hail from the Middle East or Asia.