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The number of expatriates thinking of buying a permanent home in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has risen in the last year, indicating they increasingly consider the country as a long-term option, according to a new survey.
An online survey carried out in the first quarter of the year by the finance comparison website compareit4me.com, and released on Sunday, found that the number of foreign residents who said they would not consider buying property in the UAE had fallen to 36 percent from 54 percent in the same period last year.
"There is no doubt that the stabilisation in the property market, which is thought to be a knock-on effect of low crude oil prices and the subsequent strength of the U.S. dollar, must be having an impact on people's long term plans," Jon Richards, CEO at compareit4me.com, said in a statement.
"It seems attitudes are changing and fears and insecurities about the future are lifting," he added, citing concerns last year about rising cost of living for foreign residents.
The survey was carried out among the website's users and included 1,500 respondents. The website was launched in the UAE in 2011.
Property prices appear to be the main factor for the change in attitudes as 56 percent of those surveyed last year cited this as the reason why they preferred to continue to rent.
Sale prices dropped by up to 13 percent in 2015 and are expected to continue to decline by up to 10 percent in 2016, the statement said.
This was backed up by a new report released earlier this month by real estate consultancy firm Chestertons MENA, which found that average apartment sale prices dropped by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, while villa sale prices were down by an average of average 1 percent.
The move towards a more long-term focus among expats was visible in a report released last month by Zurich Global Life, which found foreign workers in the UAE are staying in their jobs a lot longer. It found the average length of time employees stay with an individual employer has increased from four years, seven months to six years, 10 months, an increase of 66 percent.
The UAE population stands at around 9 million, the vast majority of which are foreigners.
(Writing by Shane McGinley)
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