The economic impact of COVID-19 in Europe is likely to encourage buyers to look overseas DUBAI: A Dubai developer recorded total annual sales of $152 million across its projects in 2020, with Russians, British and French investors among the top buyers. “These are remarkable sales figures, when we consider what an extraordinary year 2020 has turned out to be. Most of the world was locked down during April and the pandemic has caused disruption throughout the year for many sectors of the global economy, not just hospitality and aviation,” Abdulla bin Sulayem, CEO of Seven Tides, said in a press statement on Monday. Specialising in the luxury end of the market, Seven Tides’ focus for 2020 was on two developments — Golf Views Seven City, in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), and Seven Palm, on The Palm Jumeirah. Its buyers at Seven Palm were spread across 63 countries, with Russians topping the bill and accounting for 18 percent of the $125m generated in sales, followed by the British (9 percent) and French (8 percent). At Golf Views Seven City, in JLT, 195 nationalities were among the $26.5 million in sales, with French buyers this time topping the rankings with 25 percent of sales, followed by Italians (12 percent), Russians (11 percent) and Indians (6 percent.) The CEO said that the economic impact of COVID-19 in Europe is likely to encourage buyers to look overseas. “Many investors in the UK and Europe fear higher income and property tax rates, as governments look to reduce public finance deficits, after borrowing record amounts of money to tackle the pandemic. Should that transpire, it could well drive even further investment next year,” bin Sulayem said.