Wealthy Gulf residents to boost real estate investments

Real estate2Real estate remains a hugely popular asset class among wealthy people in the Gulf, with 81% of respondents in a survey saying they plan to increase their real estate investments inthe near future.

The result compares with 65% who said the same in the previous year’s GCC Wealth Insight Report, which was commissioned by Dubai-based Emirates Investment Bank and conducted by research firm Ipsos.

Thirty percent of the respondents in the survey, which spoke to 103 individuals with more than $2 million of investable assets, said real estate was their favourite place to store their wealth, a close second to investing it in their own businesses, favoured by 33%.

The study also found that respondents were more likely to invest in their home countries than before and were more optimistic about the economies of the Gulf than the world as a whole.

However, the report authors conceded that, because the survey was done in the fourth quarter of 2014, before the oil price slid to its lowest level, the results do not reflect the volatility and uncertainty seen at the end of 2014 and in the early part of this year.

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