DUBAI: Real estate activities contributed over a quarter to aggregate foreign direct investments (FDI) in Abu Dhabi last year, the emirate’s statistical agency said. In its annual report, Statistics Center - Abu Dhabi (SCAD) said that direct investments into the emirate’s real estate sector made up 27.7 percent – or 29.9 billion dirhams – of the total FDI for 2017 valued at 108.04 billion dirhams. Total FDI in 2016 was pegged at 100.88 billion dirhams, while direct investments into real estate during the said year was at 27.9 billion dirhams. Meanwhile, FDI in process industries last year increased to 19.2 billion dirhams from 18 billion dirhams in 2016 while for investment values for construction and building activities rose to 8.1 billion dirhams from 9.2 billion dirhams previously. Foreign investments in exploration industries, which includes crude oil and natural gas, ticked up to 18.2 billion dirhams in 2017 from 17.4 billion dirhams the previous year. Foreign investment in the Abu Dhabi region was mainly focused on real estate activities valued at 27.9 billion dirhams, with process industries next at 17.7 billion dirhams and extractive industries with a total value of 17.4 billion dirhams. Foreign direct investments in Al-Ain and Al-Dhafra regions, meanwhile, were mainly focused on electricity, gas and water, process industries and waste management operations. Investors from the United Kingdom were the biggest FDI contributors last year, with financial interests in Abu Dhabi region topping 14.5 billion dirhams while in Al-Dhafra the direct investments were estimated at 652 million dirhams. Austrian investors were at second with a total investment of 14.3 billion dirhams in Abu Dhabi region.