Cricketer Gavaskar buys Dubai property

Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricket legend, has bought his second property in Dubai and believes the emirate winning World Expo 2020 bid has reignited the country’s property market.

“The sentiment has become a lot more positive in Dubai and the UAE after the announcement of Expo 2020. I believe people will cash in on this sentiment because what will happen, very clearly, is that there will be employment opportunities, there will be business opportunities that the Expo 2020 will obviously bring,” Gavaskar told Emirates 24/7 after Danube Properties, a subsidiary of Danube Group, announced its foray into real estate development.

The developer launched a Dreamz by Danube, a Dh500-million 175 townhouse project, in Al Furjan.

“With that I think the market will get lot more buoyant than it has been. Sometimes markets tend to be up and down and sometime sluggish, but I do believe the Expo 2020 announcement will buoy the market,” he asserted.

Gavaskar already owns an apartment in Burj Residence, Downtown Dubai.

“I am now buying a townhouse in Danube’s project,” he said, adding, “It will be discounted one and is not a gift.”

Gavaskar is also the brand ambassador for Danube.

Emirates 24/7 reported earlier that Indians have continued to remain top expatriate property buyers in Dubai with their investment reaching nearly Dh6 billion in the first quarter 2014. In 2013, Indians had invested Dh18 billion in Dubai’s property market.

(READ: Which nationalities buying into Dubai real estate?)

This month, Knight Frank's Global House Price Index said Dubai had witnessed the steepest house price growth globally over the past year despite government introducing cooling measures such as doubling of property registration fees and a new UAE mortgage cap.

House prices rose 27.7 per cent over the 12 months to March 2014, the fastest pace among the 54 countries tracked by the index. Prices, however, climbed mere 3.4 per cent in the first quarter 2014, slower than the 9.2 per cent growth registered during the same period last year.

A resident of Dubai

Gavaskar revealed that he has been a resident of Dubai for the past 10 years.

“Not a lot of people know that I have been a resident of Dubai for the last 10 years. I do have an apartment here which has been rented because I travel so much.”

Though he has bought two properties in Dubai, Gavaskar said he wasn’t an active investor in India’s property market.

“I have been chary of investing in properties [in India] unless an opportunity comes through. So, no, I haven’t investment in properties,” he added.

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