Behind the UAE’s rise to the top of the real estate migration index

The Best Investment Migration Real Estate Index, launched by Henley and Partners, aims to help people make informed decisions regarding the best places to work, invest, retire, and live. In the 2022 edition, the UAE has bagged the top spot, in what can be deemed a commendable development that speaks volumes about the global perception of the Emirati nation. Over the years, the UAE has pursued all-around socio-economic development, diversifying its growth sectors. However, its emphasis on real estate has been particularly pronounced, with multiple policy-led, customer-centric initiatives to boast. In recent years, and especially in the aftermath of the pandemic outbreak, the nation’s efforts have manifested better. Some of the factors that eclipsed the UAE to the top spot are as follows. 

Reputation for safety

The country has quite a reputation for being a safe and secure place to live in. It was indeed ranked the world’s second-safest country in 2021. Subsequently, the UAE won global approbation for its effective pandemic management and world-leading inoculation rate. At a time when nations were clutching straws at random, the UAE mounted a formidable challenge against the virus transmission through a holistic approach of vaccination, methodical lockdown and reopening, and healthcare reorganization. 

A strong economy

Dubai is now one of the world’s most appealing FDI locations! So much so that, between January and October 2021, Dubai attracted USD 4.3 billion from FDI projects in the US, the UK, France, and other sources. Its competitiveness has been enhanced through initiatives like golden visas, reforms to personal freedoms, and full ownership rights for foreigners. 

Attractive employment conditions

Recently, the UAE government introduced freelance visas and Remote Work Visa, enabling self-employed foreigners as well as virtual employees from across the globe to live and work comfortably in the nation. The UAE government has also spent millions of dollars to introduce electric car charging stations, smart power grids, public WiFi, co-working spaces, and smart parking in Dubai. Even mobile internet speeds in the country reached 273.87 Mbps in October 2021. Most notably, the UAE has shifted to a 4.5-day workweek from January 2022. All these business-friendly reforms are attractive to global talents. 

More businesses shifting to Dubai

Forsyth Partners, previously based in London, has moved its headquarters to Dubai. Goldman Sachs is also relocating some of its employees from Russia to Dubai, as they wanted to work in a different location. It’s not hard to guess why more and more firms are taking the strategic decision of shifting their bases to the UAE. For one, it has the right infrastructure to accommodate new entrants. 

When all is said and done, the true incentive for individuals or institutions to move to a nation is public governance. Perhaps this is where the UAE leadership has truly outdone itself because some of the policy shakeups were done during what can be deemed a global-scale, unprecedented crisis in recent memory. As a result, as soon as the crisis abated and economic activity resumed, the UAE found itself with a head start. Such farsightedness is now beginning to bear fruit as evident from UAE’s ascent up the indices like Henley and Partners’ Best Investment Migration Real Estate. 

  1. https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/best-investment-migration-real-estate-index
  2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/896768/countries-fastest-average-mobile-internet-speeds/#:~:text=The%20United%20Arab%20Emirates%20

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