Chesterton, the international property agency established in 1805, has chosen Dubai for its Middle Eastern headquarters.

The company has confirmed that it is planning to further expand its operations in the Middle East by opening up offices in Saudi Arabia and Qatar by the last quarter of 2014.

Chesterton’s new Middle East & North Africa (Mena) headquarters is at Boulevard Plaza Tower 1, next to Dubai Mall in Downtown Dubai.

The company has said that strong real estate market activity has allowed it to recently increase its staff strength to 25 and it is aiming to further enlarge the team.

Simon Gray, managing director of Chesterton Mena, said: “We are delighted to see the kind of growth Dubai has been witnessing since the beginning of this year: latest figures from the Dubai Land Department (DLD) show that the total value of real estate transactions in Dubai rose 63 per cent to Dh44 billion in first quarter 2013 compared to the same period last year.”

“We believe that the residential property market will grow at a faster pace over the next five years as more people choose to make Dubai their home. The city’s high quality infrastructure and the geographical location makes it one of the best cities in the world to live and do business and that is the reason we decided to set up our Middle Eastern headquarters here in Dubai,” Gray said.

Chesterton has 74 offices in Britain and offices in 11 other countries.