Market Leaders Edit: Why Americans Should Consider Moving to Dubai

Have you ever wondered why many American people are moving and investing in Dubai? Do you have this thought about whether it’s worth taking a step or not?  We are here to answer all your questions with the Dubai Connect podcast highlights and insights. 

Ghada Benitez, a certified International Property Specialist, passionately shares her journey and mission to make Dubai more accessible to American investors. She sits down with Mohamed Kaswani, VP of Mortgage Finder and Primary Business, to discuss the unique real estate opportunities Dubai offers. 

Join us as we uncover why Dubai might be the perfect investment destination for you.

• Why Move From the US to Dubai 
• Real Estate Market in Dubai
• Why to Invest in Mortgage in Dubai
• Why Choose Property Finder

Why Move From the US to Dubai 

After visiting 72 cities around the world, Mohamed Kaswani finds Dubai the ideal spot for living and encourages every American under the sun to explore living here. 

Here are the reasons why you should consider moving from US to Dubai:

• Embrace Your Identity. This is the only city on the planet that I feel gives every person an equal opportunity to live their identity to the fullest. 
  
  You can be as American as you want to be in the city. You can be as English as you want to be. You can be as Arab as you want to be, as Australian as you want to be. And you see that in food, in culture, in openness. 

• Great Hostage by Emiratis. I have many friends in the local Emirati community. There are so many myths about UAE citizens that need to be broken. The locals are so welcoming of expats in the UAE. 
  
  They genuinely love having us here, right? You don’t feel like a stranger. Everybody’s welcome. Nobody bothers you. Everybody respects you. 

• Great Place to Live: You know, it’s a happy city. You hardly ever hear bad news in our press, and it’s a great place to raise a family. 
  
  It’s a great place to be for old people and young ones alike for many reasons:
  • Kids’ schools are fantastic. 
  • The weather is amazing, in addition, there are many beaches and attractions. 

• Be the Next Talent at PF. Come join us at Property Finder. We’re always hiring and looking for smart talent.

• Well Governed with Laws. Living in a city where respect and politeness are a law that’s profound. 

• No Racism. You cannot even make, for example, a comment about someone’s race, colour, or religion here. You cannot make a derogatory comment or send a WhatsApp message. That is not allowed.
  
  It’s a religious country; however, all religions are respected and welcomed here. I used to feel more comfortable making borderline racial comments in the U.S. than I do here. 
  
  Yeah, because you’re not going to get in trouble in the U.S. Here, it’s socially unacceptable, and it’s legally unacceptable. And that’s really a beautiful misconception as well that has been broken in my own eyes coming here. 

• Women’s Empowerment and Equality. As a woman and in business, I have seen nothing but respect and empowerment.

• Safe Country. This country is safer than anywhere I can think of. You know my friends in the US ask me, can my wife come?  Can she drive? Are you sure you want to bring your wife?  Yes. Why not? Of course, she can come as she will find nothing but respect and safety while living here. 

• Tax Benefit. Here, you get a tax benefit. Unfortunately, US citizens must pay taxes, but there’s quite a substantial exemption. 
  
  Also, property taxes, capital gains tax, property taxes, and housing exemptions are not available in UAE. Thus, a substantial portion of your income will not be subject to taxes while living there. 

Real Estate Market in Dubai

The real estate market in Dubai is as tempting as the city’s living standards; it’s a dynamic and evolving market for many reasons. 

To know Dubai’s real estate market is a great sector for investment in Dubai, check below Mohamed Kaswani’s words, who is the VP of Mortgage Finder and Primary Business in Property Finder. 

• Prioritisation of Transparency. Naturally, we work with every real estate agency in the country. 
  
  We’re noticing something very positive: real estate agencies are 100% on board with that level of transparency, which is a super positive indicator.
  
  This accelerated shift toward unlocking another dimension of transparency has been really exciting. It gives everyone the opportunity to own a property in the UAE without hassle making their decision. Once you have that visibility, you can see previous transactions and understand what kind of rental yields you’re going to get. 

Everyone is on the same page and politics isn’t involved in this. It’s let’s build this so it is the real estate capital of the world, the way, Switzerland is for banks, Dubai is for real estate. 

Mohamed Kaswani Adds

• Adoption of New Tools I love seeing that the practice or the industry, the trade if you’d like, is getting elevated. Now, your professional real estate companies that we work with use many of our tools to help better educate their investors, which is a big win for everybody. 
  
  It’s a big win for the government to unlock that open API and make that data available for us to process and show in real-time. So, it’s no longer available to the privileged few who can see what’s happening in the city; it is now available to the public. 

• Cooperation Between All Parties and Sectors. As a private sector, we are able to collaborate with the DLD at a notable speed, which is impressive. 
  
  Not just that, we are sharing a collaborative approach so it’s not a battle at all. Everyone’s on the same page and trying to tackle the same problem, and to a very large extent, we are all aligned on the solution. 
  
  Moreover, it’s a public-private partnership approach whereby the DLD relies on us, and we rely on them, so it is a collaborative team effort. 
  
  This is why I believe in the city. You have a regulator who is truly business-friendly and who is trying to solve a problem, not create one. 

• Continuous Market Growth: It’s not just 2023. It is, I think what is significant about what we saw last year is it’s the second double-digit growth year in a row. And by double digits, we’re not talking 11, 12%. 
  
  There are so many different metrics, such as home price appreciation, the number of sales transactions, the number of off-plan sales transactions, rentals, and mortgage transactions. 
  
  What I will tell you is that growth in all of these metrics ranges from 15% to 60%, depending on which metric you want to discuss. 
  
  Dubai is experiencing significant economic growth and was recently ranked as the most stable global economy. This stability is partly due to Dubai’s unique approach to geopolitics, utilising what we call soft power. The government applies this influence in a classy, subtle, and intelligent manner, maintaining the city’s crucial stability. This stability fosters strong confidence among people in Dubai’s future.

• Beyond Expectations Evolution. If one had to guess, can a city grow double digits three years in a row for you? Where does it go? And I’m going to answer that. 
  
  Now, one of the reasons why the mortgage operator of our business excites me is that what you see with DLD transactions, what you see with Data Guru, the tool that we have, is a lagging indicator. 
  
  You’re looking at transactional data up until today. What we see in the mortgage business is a leading indicator because I see mortgage applications, submissions, and unrecorded transactions. 
  
  So we can see into the future. The momentum I see when I look at the mortgage numbers is shocking. Accordingly, we are talking more than double year over year in mortgage applications. It’s truly shocking how accelerated this momentum is going into 2024. 
  
  But our effort is to constantly create that transparency and that trust. This is one of the most important topics that I am conveying to my American investors because 
  
  When I first moved here, I really struggled with the idea of buying a home because of the lack of data, but now, this is no longer the case in the UAE.

• Business-friendly Government and Regulator. With over 40 different countries, including Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America, I have never interacted with a regulator who is as business-friendly as the UAE. That’s why I’m a strong believer in the city. That’s so profound. 

Finally, 85% of expats and ultra-high net worth investors are looking at Dubai and actually redirecting their investments from the United States, which has been negatively affected recently by being priced out of the market, the taxes, of course, the profit margins, capital appreciation, and such a huge regulation on Airbnb.

Accordingly, Dubai is the place to invest your money. 

Why to Invest in Mortgage in Dubai

There are many reasons, and according to Kaswany, here is the breakdown of the main drivers for investing in Dubai’s mortgage.

1. The Big Bad Rental Notice

In the UAE, a landlord can usually only increase rent by 10 –  15% every year using the RERA rental index, which we helped build. 

It’s not a rent control, but it controls rent increases. This increase is almost capped at, so it is usually capped at around 15% per year. 
If a landlord has had a tenant in their rental property since 2016, the significant increase in home prices over the past seven or eight years may have more than doubled the property’s value. 

Consequently, many landlords are now motivated to sell their properties to capitalize on these gains. They might then look for another property, buy an off-plan property, invest in a different city, or even return home.

This situation has led to numerous rental notices being issued. These landlords, exercising their legal rights, have sent eviction notices to their tenants, which must be given with a one-year notice period. As a result, many tenants in Dubai, potentially thousands or even tens of thousands, have received these notices.

For example, a tenant currently paying around 5,000 to 6,000 a month in rent received an eviction notice. When they searched for a similar rental property in the same neighbourhood, they found that prices had soared from 8,000 to 10,000 a month. 

Accordingly, they get frustrated by these increases and decide to stabilize their housing costs and secure their family’s living situation, leading to significant discontent with the current rental market.

Rent Vs Buy Calculator

At Mortgage Finder, we’ve created a rent versus buy calculator to help Dubai residents make informed decisions about whether to rent or buy. Using straightforward, factual numbers rather than opinions, this tool clearly shows the financial impact of each option. In almost every case, it demonstrates that buying is more beneficial than renting in Dubai.

And I’m a very big advocate for home ownership…

Mohammed El Kaswani, VP of Mortgage Finder and Primary Business

2. Low Mortgage Rates.

Here is the only major global city where mortgage rates are lower than rental yields. To break this down, mortgage rates range from the upper 3% to 3.99 or 4% for residents, employed salaried.

However, it’s a little bit higher for investors. So, if you’re a US non-resident buyer, it’ll be closer to 5%. Yes, but it is still much less than the United States and Canada. 

In the US, mortgage rates are around 6.5% to 7%, and for investment properties, they’re typically in the mid-7% range. 

However, rental yields in cities like San Diego, San Francisco, New York, and Miami are in the lower single digits. In comparison, we’re seeing rental yields in the mid to upper single digits, around 6% to 7%. Since rental yields are higher than mortgage rates, it makes more financial sense to mortgage a property rather than rent it.

Accordingly, the economics of buying a property make more sense in Dubai than renting. 

3. UAE is No Longer a Temporary Home.

Having lived here for the last 12 years in the past, people used to take what I call a transactional approach to living in Dubai. Now, there’s a shift to a relationship approach and there’s a big difference between them, which is 

• A transactional approach involves people who are coming here for a year or two or three, making some money tax-free, and then going back home. Accordingly, the average residency period for most people was 2 – 3 years.

• Relationship approach. If you ask an average person now, how long have you been in Dubai? You’ll find the average to have gone up to 7 or 8 years. People are staying. Not only are people staying. 

Dr. Fanny Zayoudi, a government official in Abu Dhabi, was talking about this. There’s now a concept emerging of what they call Repats, who are either: 

• Expats who came and lived in the UAE left and went back to Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia, spent a couple of years and said, take me back home, which is Dubai. 
• There’s another one, which is the second generation who grew up here. 

They might have received their education elsewhere, but the appeal of our lifestyle—beautiful weather, fantastic malls, vibrant F&B scene, and unmatched safety and security—draws them back. 

After experiencing university life in places like Europe or North America, they often decide they want to return to Dubai.

4. Numerous Job Opportunities.

Second-generation expats can now find job opportunities in Dubai. This is because every major international firm operates in the UAE, including Meta, Google, MasterCard, IBM, EY, and every investment bank and hedge fund I know. 

The local scene is also noteworthy, as it is home to major industries like F&B and aluminium, thriving construction and real estate development, and local technology startups.

In addition, the employer culture is evolving. For example, we in Property Finder were just awarded the Best Place to Work. We got Great Place to Work two years in a row, and now we got the best place to work. And we take it with so much pride, but it’s not just us. 

There are so many of our peers, like homegrown tech startups, which are super appealing to Gen Z. They enjoy a hybrid work environment, healthy atmosphere, well-governed, and much more to ensure the best experience. 

5. Golden Visa.

Another important factor is the Golden Visa. It’s continuously progressing and becoming easier to secure a Golden Visa so that you can stay here for a longer period. 

For example, right now, before, you had to have actual physical possession of the off-plan project, but now it’s a 2 million Durham, and once you pay a million, you can start that process for the Golden Visa. 

6. Transparency

Transparency is crucial for an international investor to have the most seamless experience in buying international property.

Here, you’re probably working with your clients sitting in Ohio, San Diego, or Miami. And they haven’t even been here. And they don’t have to come here. And they’re already appreciating the capital appreciation.

People are investing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in properties in the Middle East. Why? The answer is trust. This trust stems from a commitment to transparency and accessible data. 

Thanks to Property Finder and Data Guru, buyers can sit in their beautiful backyard in San Diego and gather all the information they need to make informed decisions about their investments.

You can also learn about the neighbourhoods and the services they offer from the comfort of your own home. 

Why Choose Property Finder

Property Finder is the Zillow of the Middle East. We are a classified real estate marketplace connecting hundreds of thousands of listings of properties for sale with millions, more than 100 million sessions a year, of home buyers, home renters, and home seekers looking for homes. 

We also own and operate a subsidiary that is a full-service mortgage company called Mortgage Finder.

That means people come to Property Finder because 

• Elevating the Market’s Standards. To be honest, we’ve been obsessing over this at Property Finder for many years. If anything, we were pioneers in working with the Dubai Land Department (DLD).
  
  We worked with the DLD on developing the Moashir Index, so we were, in a way, a catalyst in the market for introducing transparency. 
  
  We won’t take credit for it because, naturally, it would not have happened without meaningful support and commitment from the government and the DLD, which is quite a progressive government entity. 
  
  Besides, we take transparency very seriously and let me tell you why. The fundamentals of a marketplace are comprehensiveness, convenience, and trust. 

• Huge Variety of Properties. On our platform, app, or website, they’ll find every property in town or in the country in all the markets that we serve. 

• Smooth Home Search Experience. Convenience is the essence of what we do, which is building a user experience that will accelerate their path to finding the right property. 

• Trust. It’s absolutely key, and this is how we were able to solidify our market-leading position.
  
  Without trust, there’s no trade. Right now, we built a tool essentially within our platform called Data Guru, where every listing on Property Finder has many of these elements that show you price trends, community trends, previous transactions, and more. 

• Customer Centricity. We’re early in the year. We just closed the record number at Mortgage Finder in February, and we’re going to close another record number in March. This is the fruit of customer centricity. It’s making a huge difference, and we’ve been obsessing over the concept. 
  
  I don’t know another mortgage company that uses five-star Google reviews as a performance metric that impacts the compensation of our team. 
  
  So, I don’t want to deceive your audience by saying this is how the overall market is doing. Now, the overall market is growing by double digits and what we see at Mortgage Finder is next-level growth.

Living in Dubai or investing is surely a great decision that you should consider. Finally, Ghada Ghada Benitez says, “All it took was one night in Dubai and one visit here, and my whole life changed. I was able to meet and connect with people like you, and I will continue to open the minds of Americans and tell them to come to Dubai.” 

You can watch this full episode of The Dubai Connect podcast, which tackles the Dubai Real Estate Market Outlook for 2024, from the link below.

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