Ras Al Khaimah – UAE – 4 April 2017: The size of the real estate sector in Ras Al Khaimah expanded considerably between 2011 and 2015, increasing from AED 3.401 billion in 2011 to AED 4.947 billion in 2015, a total percentage of growth of 45%, according to a study by Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce on the real estate sector in the Emirate.

Total annual growth of the real estate sector amounted 15% per annum over the period 2011-15, compared to 18.3% per annum for the building and construction sector, and 14.5% per annum for leasing and business services over the same period. The real estate sector ranked 3rd after the industrial and tourism sectors in its contribution to the total capital formation of Ras Al Khaimah in 2015, contributing 13.3%, or AED1.209 billion dirhams, this year out of the AED 9.081 billion which is the total capital formation of the Emirate for the same year.

Statistical data issued by RAK Center for Statistics and Studies indicate an increase of real estate businesses over 2014-15 by 14.7%, as the number increased from 9,844 in 2014 to 11,294 in 2015. The building and construction sector contributed to the largest increase by 16.9%, or 1,142 businesses.

The real estate sector played an important role in the growth of the number of entities in the Emirate, as the sector contributed 33.4% of the total number of new entities in 2015. The building and construction sector contributed the most with its increase of 26.3%, whereas the number of real estate, leasing and business service entities constituted 7.1% of the total number of new entities in 2015, indicating that increasing attention is being given to real estate as an encouraging investment area yielding low-risk and rewarding returns.

Dr. Ahmed Rashed Al Shemaili, Assistant Director-General of Commercial Service and Business Development Sector at RAK Chamber, stated that the role being played by RAK Chamber, is as an active driver to attract, regulate and assist real estate investors, as the Chamber offers them an integral network of commercial, economic and legal services, in addition to statistical data, information which can help investors to make feasibility studies of different real estate projects.

Al Shemaili added that Ras Al Khaimah is still full of successful and prosperous whose hidden potential has not been fully exploited yet and that still have a high service capacity, by the availability of low-risk rewarding returns, in addition to the unlimited support by the political leadership of any real estate investment initiative, as the local and federal governmental authorities are authorized to eliminate all obstacles that the investors face and in all stages of the investment process.

Rajaa Mohammed bin Juma Al Tunaiji, Head of the Economic Studies & Commercial Cooperation Department at RAK Chamber, said that the developments that have taken  place with regards to Ras Al Khaimah’s  economy of in the last five years indicate the importance of the real estate sector and its overall contribution to the growth of the Emirate’s economy. The real estate sector’s contribution to GDP over 2011-15 increased from 14.9% to 17.4%, an increase of 2.5 percent. Figures such as these demonstrate the vibrancy of Ras Al Khaimah’s real estate sector, an essential driver in the economic growth of the Emirate, and the feasibility of investment in the Emirate’s real estate sector.