dubai, one of the seven emirates that constitute the united arab
emirates, is one of the hottest real estate markets in the world right
now. lawmakers in dubai have shown their willingness to help this trend
continue with a recent change to dubai escrow law.
many real estate developers are investing their money in dubai real
estate, recognizing the fact that it is one of the more profitable
regions for their investment. other than these brave investors, there
have been many fence-sitters who felt that dubai escrow law didn't
offer enough protection to a potential investor. this impediment has
been addressed and demolished by dubai lawmakers.
one of the
major areas of additional protection is in 'off-plan' investments.
off-plan is the conventional means of securing financing in major
tourist regions. what it means is basically a pre-sale of units that
are either in the planning stage or in the construction stage. many big
lenders require developers of condominiums to prove that there will be
demand for their development by selling a certain percentage of the
units at various stages during construction. the release of further
funds to continue with the development process would be based on these
pre-sales.
in the past, before the change in dubai escrow law was
made, real estate investors were required to observe the land developer
on their own to ensure that their money was being used in the actual
development of the property. this had been a major problem for those
investors far from dubai.
recognizing the gap, dubai lawmakers
made a change to the escrow law that created a body called the real
estate regulatory authority (rera) to monitor and implement dubai
escrow law. before the creation of the rera, investors transferred
their money directly to the land developer, relying on the good faith
of said developer for a return on their investment. but now, all
payments on off-plan projects will be placed in a trust at a dubai land
department approved institution. this additional layer of protection
provided by dubai escrow law has resulted in a rush of new investment
capital to dubai.