Dubai property: Golden visas give confidence to foreign investors of tenants staying longer
- Ferruh Bilgin
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
Foreign investors have been one of the major drivers of the Dubai property market rally, particularly in the post-Covid-19 period, attracted by high returns from off-plan projects.
Affluent foreign investors are increasingly lured to invest more in the UAE, especially Dubai's property market because long-term residency programmes such as golden and retirement visas assure them that tenants will stay even after losing their job and their properties will remain occupied for a longer period.
Foreign investors have been one of the major drivers of the Dubai property market rally, particularly in the post-Covid-19 period, attracted by high returns from off-plan projects.
“The most common question that foreign property investors ask when buying property in Dubai is 'Who will be my tenant?'. For example, tenants in the Philippines and Vietnam are locals. So they inquire who will be their tenants in Dubai. We inform that it would be either Indian, Pakistani, Arab or European nationals. They want strong connectivity with tenants. Therefore, these long-term residency programmes such as Golden Visa, Green Visa, Retirement Visa etc. are boosting foreign investors’ confidence because they know that their tenants will not leave if they lose their job,” said Kashif Ansari, co-founder and group CEO of IQI.
“We tell investors that these tenants have been living for decades and Golden Visas allow them to live in Dubai and UAE for longer periods. These long-term residency programmes are changing investors' mindset and provide great confidence to invest in Dubai,” Ansari told Khaleej Times.
The online real estate firm — which has more than 50,000 real estate professionals — transacted $5 billion worth of transactions last year, including around $400 million in Dubai.
Ansari said investors in Southeast Asian countries are also “amazed” when they are informed about zero-income tax in Dubai.
“They are amazed when they come to know of zero-income tax. Secondly, they are attracted to invest because the process to buy and sell property is very transparent as well as bringing funds in and out of the UAE is also very smooth through a transparent banking system,” he added.
Why are more millionaires coming?
Ansari said higher returns of high-end property offers, taxes on real estate in Europe and cheaper prices than other major cities around the world are increasingly attracting millionaire investors from Asian and European countries to Dubai.
He added that millionaire buyers are flocking to Dubai property because the consistent rise in property prices — which have more than doubled in some communities — has led to many properties beyond the budget of middle investors as well.
Property prices have been rallying for the past four years. The rally began as soon as Dubai — one of the first cities to open after the Covid-19 lockdown — opened to foreigners for tourism and investment.
“These are interesting times in the Dubai property market. The big investors are coming in for the high ticket price. There are always buyers for properties priced more than $1 million. For example, Indian investors used to prefer the UK and Australia. After Covid-19, Indians are willingly buying $2-$3-million ticket homes because when they compare it with the prices of their country, prices in Dubai are very good,” said Kashif Ansari, co-founder and group CEO of IQI.
"Property prices in Dubai have more than doubled, therefore, more high-net-worth individuals or millionaires are coming to Dubai instead of low and mid-ticket investors because prices are not within their range," he added.
He noted that Southeast Asian investors were “amazed" when briefed about the investment and returns they could get in Dubai compared to other markets in Asia due to inflated prices in other cities.
End-users below Dh1 million
Due to investors getting much higher returns on properties priced Dh2 million and above as compared to homes priced below Dh1 million, millionaire investors are coming to Dubai to grab $1-million prices because they have the appetite and funds to invest in the growing market, the CEO stated.
“Now, in the price bracket of Dh1 million, most buyers are end-users to protect themselves from rising rentals. Meanwhile, foreign investors are investing in the price bracket of above Dh4 million,” added Ansari.
He advised that investors could get better returns by buying a single property of Dh2 million rather than two properties of Dh1 million each.
“In a world of heightened geopolitical risk, high-net-worth individuals increasingly seek secure, stable jurisdictions, and the UAE stands out. It offers a business-friendly environment, a global trading time zone, world-class infrastructure, and a luxury lifestyle,” said Ansari.
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