Dubai developers escalate efforts to sell properties to rich Chinese, seeing ‘huge potential’

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Buyers are attracted to UAE city’s attractive rental yields and golden visa programme

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The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Yulu Ao

Published: 7:00am, 23 Dec 2024

Developers in Dubai are ramping up their efforts to sell properties to wealthy Chinese, seeing “huge potential” behind growing demand from buyers who are lured by a golden visa programme, attractive rental yields and promising economic prospects.

For Li Fanwu, a 36-year-old Chinese former property professional, the trend became clear earlier this year when he worked for an immigration advisory firm. Recognising the growing number of Chinese nationals relocating to Dubai, he joined Danube Properties – one of Dubai’s top 10 developers – as a Beijing-based salesman.

“China is a ‘blue ocean’ market with the largest growth potential for Dubai’s developers,” Li said. “Our firm and our peers are doubling down on expanding our sales teams to cater to Chinese buyers.” He added that Chinese people make up the eighth-largest group of buyers in Dubai’s real estate market.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, China was a major source of tourism for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city, but its nationals were also key players in the pool of homebuyers, according to Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.

“Chinese buyers are making a return,” he said, adding that both buy-to-let investors and high-net-worth individuals are making Dubai their main place of residence and primary business base.

This reinforced Dubai’s status as the world’s biggest market for sales of homes priced at US$10 million or above in the third quarter this year, a title it has held for almost two years, Durrani said.