dubai indians have emerged the top foreign property investors in dubai spending over rs 30000 crore last year alone this is more than a quarter of the total of around rs 1 lakh crore of nonarab property investments recorded in 2014 according to the dubai land department in the first half of this year indians were again the most prolific foreign investors with 3017 transactions worth over rs 13000 crore the department said 123 different nationalities spent over rs 42400 crore in the same period this week leading dubaibased developers will descend on the city to entice indians to invest in the emirates real estate the property exhibition in mumbai comes at a time when dubais property market is still shakyprices fell by 122 during the past year the largest drop in the world according to real estate consultancy knight frank russians who were one of the biggest property investors in dubai left after the 2008 global financial crisis said sources the biggest names in the construction industry in dubai are now vying to entice indian buyers to invest in apartments and villas at prices they claim are much cheaper than mumbai but a knight frank official said over the past year there was a fall in the proportion of indian real estate investment in dubai in h1 2015 indians accounted for 15 of the total spent on propertyversus 25 in h1 2014 this can largely be attributed to the strength of the us dollar to which the uae dirham is pegged making property investment in the emirate a more expensive endeavour for the nationality he said dubai land department data shows foreigners accounted for 78 of total real estate investment in the first half of 2015 of these indians british and pakistanis were the most constituting 15 9 and 6 respectively of the total value invested in real estate between january and june of this year ali rashid ahmed lootah chairman of nakheel the dubaibased master developer said in the last few years the dubai market has attained depth and maturity in the wake of rules and regulations put in place by authorities we have learnt our lessons from the post2009 property debacle the market is expected to be steady going forward indians comprise 11 of the construction giants customer base kamlesh sampat director spf realty said stringent rules now regulate the dubai property market especially since the market crash of 2008 local authorities regulate all transactions brokers etc besides there is no 50 to 125 loading in projects he said local property experts said apartment prices in dubai start at rs 62 lakh going up to rs 25 crore for villas rates in many locations in dubai are comparatively lower than certain metropolitan cities in india real estate there also offers better amenities at a lower price than in delhi ncr or mumbai they said proximity to india lower interest rates rental yield ranging 47 annually high taxfree returns on investments of around 20 and a regulated market