The Zagreb real estate agency Metropola is celebrating a quarter of a century of successful business this year. Its director Andrea Bilić reveals what prompted her decision to expand the agency’s operations to one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world – Dubai.
How did Dubai become part of your real estate offering?
– As the director of one of the oldest and most reputable Zagreb agencies specializing in luxury real estate, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, I was intrigued by the step towards other markets. Having followed the real estate market in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates through media, friends, acquaintances, and our clients who live, work, and own property there, and from whom I constantly receive extremely positive feedback, my choice, with the support of my mother who founded the Metropola agency, fell precisely on Dubai. For the same reason, I used my recent vacation in Dubai to convince myself of what I had been hearing and reading in the newspapers, and I was left, to say the least – thrilled. The city is growing at an astonishing pace and is developing in a planned manner; everything is exceptionally clean, beautiful, well-maintained, and organized with care and attention, with facades that are not allowed to have graffiti, and most importantly – it is extremely safe. The government, through its smart management, development of the tourism, finance, technology, and real estate sectors, and a tax-free incentive policy, ensures a constant influx of new labor – from ordinary workers to educated successful business people. The plan is to double the population by 2040. These are absolutely extraordinary reasons for which it will be a great pleasure for me to present to domestic clients an exceptionally dynamic and rapidly growing real estate market, with secure investments and high returns on investment.
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Why do you think buying an apartment in Dubai is an excellent opportunity?
– The Dubai government has established a solid regulatory framework that protects investors and ensures transparency in the real estate market. There is no tax on rental income or capital gains tax, allowing investors to retain a larger portion of their profits. Dubai offers one of the highest rates of return on real estate investments in the world, ranging from 5 to 11 percent per year. Depending on the location of the property, short-term rentals yield even greater profits, and agencies take lower percentages than those in Croatia, ranging from 15 to 20 percent. Megaprojects are accompanied by improvements in infrastructure, which increases property values. The leading global real estate company Knight Frank from the United Kingdom expects residential prices in Dubai to rise by an average of eight percent in 2025. Dubai is a global business center, an attractive and popular tourist destination with excellent infrastructure and connectivity to the world. Investing in real estate also allows for obtaining a long-term residential visa.
