In an attempt to clarify the currently ambiguous legal basis of property holdings of foreigners in Dubai, a new law will offer expatriates in the emirate limited freehold ownership and formal 99-year leases.
The new law is expected to extend the current real estate boom for at least one more year, say market experts, by attracting further investment into Dubai's property market. Other legislation with similar intent is in the works across the United Arab Emirates, according to Reuters.
“We were anticipating that the market would correct itself in a year...a year and a half. A lot supply will reach the market (then),” said the chief executive of Sama Dubai Farhan Faraidooni.
Sama Dubai is the property development and investment arm of the government-owned Dubai Holding Company.
“(The law) has been introduced at the right time. It has given a boost and prevented the market from having a shorter cycle,” Faraidooni added in a recent interview at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm El Sheikh.
Most buyers in Dubai's real estate market have either been Westerners attracted to the emirate by its relatively affordable lifestyle or Gulf Arabs looking to invest growing oil wealth.
