Transparency of Dubai real estate market and the complexities of flipping

In Dubai, every apartment sold goes into a single registry on the same day. Through free apps, you can see how many lots have been sold in a particular building. By object, data on area, transaction date, sale price, purchase price or rental value is available.

But for flippers, this transparency sometimes plays a cruel trick.

Not all apartment expenses are visible

Oleg Torbosov has been flipping in Dubai for over 3 years. After upgrading, he sells lots at the top end of the market and spends over $300,000 on renovations. At the same time he has to pay an additional 4% land tax in DLD, 2% to the agent when buying, another 2% when selling. And all these expenses are not visible to other owners. And it's getting harder and harder to find new lots to flip.

What's the difficulty? Oleg Torbosov puts up for sale apartments with designer renovation on a regular basis. And owners with basic finishes also raise prices. And you have to pay more and more for good lots for flipping.

Case in point

Oleg sold a nice 3-bedroom residence with top-of-the-line renovations where he had invested $800,000. And the next day other owners just raised prices in their apartments with tired repairs and furniture. And it's getting harder and harder to buy liquid at a bargain price.

But Oleg still has a decent pool of apartments with designer finishing of marble, stone and wood in eco-chic style.