Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced the launch of Dubai Property Festival (DPF), a three-day sales and purchase event to be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre April 9 – 11, coinciding with a series of events in Dubai aimed at attracting global investment to the UAE.

The three-day festival is expected to generate considerable buying and selling activity by hundreds of participants including property developers, brokers, lenders, mortgage providers, investors and home buyers. DPF will help to further stimulate the emirate’s buoyant real estate sector.

During a press conference, His Excellency Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, said:     “DLD plays a vital role in reshaping Dubai’s real estate sector to help drive the economic vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It is the duty of DLD to ensure that growth and prosperity continue in this sector, and help more buyers, investors and tenants to benefit from overall economic growth, as well as contribute to the activity of our economy.”

Bin Mejren added: “This festival initiative is in cooperation with the ‘International Property Show’, and part of our ongoing efforts to support the real estate sector and provide an ideal environment for all relevant parties. We are confident that with this festival and beyond, the real estate sector will continue to grow and contribute to strengthening our economy.”

Bin Mejren concluded: “To encourage new buyers and investors to the real estate sector, I am delighted to announce the launch of DPF in order to provide everyone with the right environment for choosing the best properties offered, finding the best prices, and making the best deals with real estate brokers and developers. The festival will be annual event that forms an inclusive investment platform. It will be instrumental in attracting and encouraging more buyers, providing them with access to new homes, and helping them obtain a comprehensive perspective of availability — ultimately being able to make a wise decision to buy a dream home.”

Continuous Initiatives

DLD is constantly promoting and organizing the most suitable real estate investment environment to ensure best practices at all levels of development, marketing, real estate appraisal, buying and selling, and real estate brokerage in order to ensure timely delivery of projects with maximum investment protection.

Her Excellency Majida Ali Rashid, Assistant Director General and Head of the Real Estate Investment Management and Promotion Center — the Investment arm of DLD, said: “We are delighted to launch DPF that will showcase Dubai as one of the top real estate investment destinations in the world. The festival will provide an excellent opportunity for investors, developers and buyers for strategic networking and doing business in a safe and secured environment.”

Rashid added: “The Real Estate Investment Management and Promotion Center seeks to encourage investor confidence in the real estate market, attract investments to the Dubai real estate market and launch a variety of initiatives for investors. For example, our latest initiative was signing an agreement with a real estate brokerage office in China to promote the real estate sector in Dubai that will reach more than 1000 Chinese real estate brokers, with the aim of promoting Chinese investment in the real estate sector in Dubai. Recently we have also signed a similar agreement with a company in India”

Dawood Al Shezawi, Head of DPF Organizing Committee, said: “The Festival will be a game-changing initiative that will help a large number of tenants shift to own their homes and stop paying rent. On an average, a Dubai tenant can own his home by spending eight years of rental expenses in his property instead of paying them to a landlord. DPF will help the end-users make such a transition by encouraging property developers and brokers to offer the best deals and help the tenants to buy properties instead of continuing to rent.”

Most of Dubai’s residential stock of 448,000 homes are leasehold properties, with a large chunk of the villas being owned by UAE and GCC nationals. Foreigners mostly rent homes although tens of thousands of freehold homes are also owned by foreign nationals; most foreigners in the UAE live in leasehold properties, despite high rents.

DPF will be part of the Real Estate Investment Week that will see a number of events being held to promote investment in real estate. An Investor Roundtable will help investors from different countries network with key stakeholder to discuss ways to boost investment.