Dubai: Why Bollywood stars are investing in city's real estate

Dubai remains highly attractive for foreign real estate investors – including Bollywood stars, as some of them have made the emirate their first home.

The emirate’s attraction to Indian investors has grown even more, of late, following the introduction of the 10-year Golden Visa on the investment of Dh2 million.

“Around 60 per cent of investors are foreigners in our latest Opalz project, which was sold out on the first day, because of the trust and confidence that people have in Dubai and our project. Whenever there is an economic or political crisis, people want to come to Dubai, because it is a safe haven,” says Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of Danube Group.

“A lot of Bollywood people want to invest in Dubai because [with] the way Dubai is growing, the prices are not going to remain the same in the future. They will definitely go up,” said Sajan.

Famous Indian comedian Kiku Sharda was the latest celebrity from India to invest in Dubai’s real estate market, investing in Danube’s Opalz project. However, many A-list Bollywood celebrities have already purchased big-ticket properties in the emirate due to its vicinity to India, and the world-class connectivity it provides to other cities around the world.

Sajan added that property prices in the emirate are still much lower despite the post-pandemic recovery, as compared to international markets.

Prathyusha Gurrapu – head of research and advisory at Core, a real estate advisory and consultancy – says Dubai is drawing a considerable influx of high-net-worth individual wealth evinced by the sharp rise in high ticket price transactions. Dubai recorded the highest number of sale transactions above Dh 100 million, reaching 16 transactions so far this year in the secondary and off-plan markets – as compared to just five transactions in 2021.

Core said sales prices continued their upward trajectory in the third quarter, as the apartment segment witnessed a sharp rise led by Downtown, Business Bay and DIFC. Meanwhile Palm Jumeirah led the villa segment.

Sajan said Indian nationals are the top investors for a Golden Visa.

“This trend of foreigners dominating the local property buyers list is across the board", he said.

"The trend was more local people [buying property], but now we are noticing a lot of foreign investors investing in our projects. That’s because we are also focusing on foreign investors by hosting roadshows, like other developers.”

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