Investment in the Dubai real estate market rose by a whopping 92 per cent in April and May combined, taking total investment in the sector to Dh48 billion in the first five months of 2016.

The investment figure stood at Dh25bn in the first three months, according to information shared by Dubai Land Department (DLD) with this website.

The total number of nationalities investing in the emirate were 127, with UAE Nationals (Emiratis) topping the chart with investments worth Dh12.024bn.

Indians followed with investment during the first five months totaling Dh5.885bn followed by Saudis who bought properties worth Dh3.655bn.

British citizens and Pakistanis stood at fourth and fifth position, investing Dh3.313bn and Dh2.676bn, respectively.

In April, the DLD said total transactions (buying, selling and gift) reached Dh54.782 billion through 12,568 transactions.

Citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council states contributed Dh9bn with the total value of foreign investment amounting to over Dh12bn with 105 nationalities.

# Trust in Dubai

In an interview with a newspaper, DLD Director-General Sultan Butti Bin Mejren said: “People talk of a correlation between lower oil prices and property, but we haven’t seen any such thing. People are buying and not all of them have any business with oil. There are a lot of investors with money who have trust in Dubai.”

Though KPMG, a consulting and audit firm, expected property prices to be under pressure this year due to lower oil prices and a strong US dollar, it said the market will start to recover in 2017 as infrastructure work surrounding the Expo 2020 gets under way.

# Expo 2020

Dubai is the host city for Expo 2020, which will run for a period of six months, starting October 20, 2020 till April 10, 2021. It aims to draw more than 25 million visitors, expecting Dh25 billion in total investment in infrastructure-related projects, with the creation of 277,000 new jobs.

The emirate has already named the designers of the Expo 2020 pavilions and work will start on Route 2020 – the Dubai Metro extension from Nakheel Harbour and Station to Expo 2020 site – by end-2016.