The spike is seen as the classic case of China’s loss becoming Dubai’s gain, as it comes amid an estimated 27 percent plunge in apartment sales in the Far East country – far below what was expected given the country’s urbanisation trends and the high demand for improved housing – in the wake of its economy growing at a slower rate of 3 percent in Q2, 2023 over the same year-ago period, industry insiders said.

The Chinese investors are also now investing in spacious housing units in prestigious areas such as Downtown Dubai and Jumeirah Golf Estates which has seen a substantial rise in average property prices in recent times, as against their preference for smaller studio and one-bedroom apartments in the pre-pandemic period when they were the leading overseas investors in the emirate, the half yearly market report by Allsopp & Allsopp, Dubai’s leading independent real estate agency, showed.