Indians in Dubai spend 35,500 crores to buy real estate in 2022.

Rich India now has a new residential address: Business Bay, Dubai. With deep pockets and a desire for a luxurious lifestyle, wealthy Indians - mostly businessmen and entrepreneurs - are flying here to buy homes in this trendy financial district, local real estate players say. Another favorite attraction is Downtown Dubai, a tourist hub with many shopping malls and skyscrapers, including the Burj Khalifa.

The real estate market data for 2022 confirms this trend. Last year, Dubai earned 16 billion dirhams, or 35.5 billion rupees, from sales to Indians - nearly double what it earned in 2021, about 9 billion dirhams. 40% of home buyers were from India, most from Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Punjab. The remaining 40% are Indians living in the UAE and 20% are global Indians living in different parts of the world.

"There is also a certain percentage of senior executives with global responsibilities who are considering buying real estate in Dubai because of its connections to the world," says the CEO of a real estate consultancy firm with operations in Dubai. He says many wealthy Indians are moving into high-end rented apartments, giving up metropolitan areas back home. Dubai's rental market, which experienced a 30% decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, has returned to 2015-2016 levels, which was the peak period for the city's real estate.

Vishal Goel, co-founder of JV Ventures, is one of them. "Being based in Dubai allows me to travel freely between Hyderabad, Dubai and London for work," Goel says. He notes that the fintech ecosystem offered by the Dubai International Financial Center is another factor attracting many young Indian entrepreneurs to the city. "My wife, for example, has been able to set up her fintech project, which allows her to easily operate in global markets. It couldn't do it as effectively in India," says Goel, whose venture capital fund focuses on social assets and life sciences.

While the average cost of homes bought by Indians is between 1.6 and 1.7 million dirhams (Rs 3.6 to 3.8 million), the monthly rent is between 3 and 3.5 lakh rupees.

Local realtors say that the average rental yield for a property in Dubai is between 4% and 5%, which is comparable to Mumbai. "It attracts a lot of white-collar professionals," says another influential realtor.

Ashrat Chowdhury, Director of Strategy at Damac Properties, a leading real estate group in Dubai, agrees. He says this is one of the reasons why Damac is attracting buyers even from small towns in India, especially Punjab. "Our business with Indians has grown 2.5 times in 2022," he says, adding, "What we sold in a year in 2019, we sell now in a month." According to him, about 15% -20% of the total real estate sales in Dubai are from the Indian community, which is one of the two largest home buyers in the city. The other big buyers are Russians. Britons, Chinese and Pakistanis are other important international real estate buyers in Dubai.

The Golden Visa program, expanded in 2022 to include more workers, skilled professionals, academics and researchers, has given a further boost to the growth of Dubai's real estate market, industry analysts say. The program is a type of long-term visa that allows foreign talent to live, work or study in the UAE while enjoying exclusive benefits. In fact, increased demand from international real estate buyers has led to the launch of more apartment and villa projects in the city.

"My children are happy here because the schools with Indian program in Dubai are among the best in the world. The city is extremely safe. Even if you forget your money bag in a cab, the driver will find you and return it," says entrepreneur Rahul Bhattad, who moved to Dubai from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. He says his elderly parents have also been imbued with the glitz and glamor of this modern city.