Egyptian investors came first in the list of Arab investors who bought real estate units in Dubai during 2016, excluding the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. As much as 1,364 Egyptian investors spent around EGP 13bn (AED 2.6bn) in buying properties in Dubai, according to the Dubai Land Department (DLD) report published on Saturday.

The report cites that total real estate transactions in Dubai for 2016 registered AED 259bn, of which AED 103bn where in sales transactions, while mortgage transactions accounted for AED 128bn.

Moreover, the total real estate investment flow in Dubai in 2016 accounted for AED 91bn, which were injected by 42,000 investors. As much as 12,678 GCC investors accounted for AED 35bn, of which AED 22bn of the total GCC investments were made by 7,000 Emirati investors.

Saudi investors came in the second spot with a total of AED 8bn worth of investments, while Kuwaiti and Qatari investments accounted for almost AED 2bn. On the other hand, Omani and Bahraini investments registered AED 1bn, the report said.

The total value of non-GCC Arab investments registered AED 12bn, which were injected in the market through 6,416 investors from 16 different nationalities. The report indicated that Egypt ranked first in regards to the number of investors with 1,364 and a total value of AED 2.4bn, followed by Jordan with 1,331 investors.

Non-Arab investments accounted for more than AED 44bn. Indian investors dominated the list with AED 12bn injected in 2016 through 6,236 investors, followed by 3,372 Pakistani investors with a total investments of  AED 4.4bn.