At a time when oil prices and economic turmoil plague their property market, Dubai may find a boost from an expanding pool of buyers. More:Dubai Feels the Heat of Global TurmoilEmirates 24/ 7 News reports on new analysis from property portal Juwai.com, which found a quadruple-digit increased interest from Chinese buyers in Dubai property. The Juwai.com Residential Purchasing Intent Index for Dubai has zoomed by over 1,200 per cent from August 2014 as the combined purchasing intent Index for the five most popular countries with Chinese buyers in the second quarter of 2015 (the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand) rose by only 37 per cent.
According to Juwai.com, the purchasing intent index seeks to measure the change in Chinese buyer interest for a given location. It does this by tracking their online property hunting activity on Juwai.com, such as property-focused inquiries, page views, property searches, clicks to reveal agent phone numbers and more.
“Chinese buyers are increasingly comfortable with overseas markets and are searching for new opportunities. They have started to move beyond the traditional gateway cities of Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney,” Andrew Taylor, co-CEO, Juwai.com, told Emirates 24|7. “More than 300,000 Chinese now visit Dubai each year as tourists, which is almost always a leading indicator for property transactions.”
Foreign buyers have invested about a combined $8 billion in the emirate through the first half of 2015 with the majority of purchases coming from Indians, British nationals and Pakistanis. More:Indian Luxury Home Buyers Go Global Estimates place Chinese investment in Dubai for all of 2014 around $350 million. [Emirates 24/7 News]