IRami Tabara has been interested in real estate investing since she was young. Dubai"Our parents always tell us that as soon as we earn money, we have to put it in an asset," he says. At 23, he bought what he could afford. Still under construction he is a one bedroom apartment.
It took him three years to get the key, and the plan went awry. But the experience taught him "a lesson in focusing on properties that are ready and income-generating." Co-founded Stake, a company whose goal is to
Dubai's real estate market is booming, with cranes dotting the skyline, new property developments being advertised, and neighborhoods emerging from the desert. Prathyusha Gurrapu, head of research and advisory at Dubai-based real estate consulting firm Core, said the market was booming and showed no signs of slowing down. The second quarter of this year "had its best residential deals ever in Dubai, both in terms of number of deals and total sales," she said. In the first half of 2022 alone, her more than 43,000 property transactions worth more than $31.3 billion were recorded, according to the Dubai Land Authority.
Rami Tabbara, Co-founder and CEO Dubai's rent growth surpassed that of New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong, according to data from Savills, a fintech firm stake, at the Dubai stake office on 6 July 2022. Efforts to expand Dubai's visa regime make it increasingly attractive for people to come, live and invest in Dubai, but challenges remain for foreign investors. In the United Arab Emirates, it is difficult for foreigners to deposit their money in a bank to get a mortgage, so most international investors have to buy real estate in cash, leaving opportunities open only to the wealthy, he said. she says Gurrapu.
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Tavala wants to enable small retail investors to participate in Dubai's booming property market. He co-founded his Stake in 2019 with the goal of lowering the barriers to entry for investors who can't afford a large down payment or a full cash sale. Stake's app allows people around the world to invest in Dubai real estate for just $136 (AED 500). Investors view and purchase properties that have been vetted by the company. When an asset is fully funded, stake buys it and investors get a proportionate share of their investment. Stakes control the property and investors receive dividends every month.
Tabbara also hopes to lead new investors. Prior to founding Stake, he was in sales for a Dubai-based property developer, which faced a lack of transparency. "I used to see private investors not getting the best deals and investing their life savings and their children's college funds in the wrong properties," he says. To do so, the company is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and worked with MIT graduate students to develop an algorithm that assesses the quality of potential real estate deals.
Gurrapu says there is a gap in Dubai's retail investor market and platforms like Stake are quickly gaining popularity as the property market surges.
But bringing real estate into the digital space remains a challenge. Dubai has a strong tradition of real estate investing, but “the investment process is clumsy, labor intensive and still largely offline,” he said. He hopes that a new generation of investors will transform the real estate market from onerous bureaucracy to one that is simple, accessible and fully global. Please contact us at
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