Nexus Group Launches UAE Home Loan Business

Nexus Group, the largest financial advisory in the GCC, has launched a fully licenced mortgage entity, Nexus Mortgage Brokers. The new enterprise aims to supplement Nexus’s core insurance and financial advisory business and capitalise on the UAE’s economic recovery and Dubai’s buoyant residential property market.

Tarun Khanna, CEO of Nexus Group

Nexus has teamed-up with leading banks in the UAE to offer resident and non-resident mortgages for properties in the UAE on fixed or variable interest rates. Nexus will also provide brokerage services for existing homeowners looking to refinance their homes to release equity and or to take advantage of more competitive interest rates.

Commenting on the announcement, Tarun Khanna, CEO at Nexus Group said, “First and foremost, our new mortgage business complements our existing core business of insurance and financial advisory."

“As a brokerage, we can save customers time and effort by comparing the most appropriate and competitive mortgages on the market, without any hidden fees or commissions. We can also guide our customers through the entire process, from initial application to handover."

“The mortgages we offer will be primarily focused on UAE residents, but we will also have the capability to offer home loans to international investors looking to buy property in the UAE.”

The strategic move by Nexus, comes at a time when the UAE’s economic recovery from the pandemic, is starting to gain traction. According to the UAE central bank’s latest forecast, the UAE economy is expected to grow by 2.1% in 2021 and 4.2% in 2022.

Underscoring that sentiment, business confidence in Dubai has risen to a seven-year high ahead of Expo 2020, according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Dubai Economic Department (DED). Economic growth in the emirate is estimated to reach 3.1% in 2021 and 3.4% the following year.

“Evidence of this is playing out across the UAE’s residential property market, which is showing solid and sustainable growth. The number and value of real estate and mortgage transactions in the first half of this year, have collectively outperformed similar periods over the past decade,” added Khanna.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the two most active real estate markets in the UAE. The 2021 half-year research data from a raft of leading real estate consultancies including Chestertons, revealed that in total 27,373 transactions were carried out in Dubai in H1 2021, which were worth AED 62 billion.

That was a 34% and 55% increase in volume compared with H2 2020. Average transaction values also grew by 8.5% for secondary/ready properties and 15% for off-plan properties between H2 2020 to H1 2021.

Abu Dhabi followed suit. After a relatively strong Q1 2021, leading developers reported notable off-plan demand for projects launched during Q2, with many developments selling out within days, illustrating renewed confidence in the residential market. Demand for ready villas and those for resale increased average annual prices by 2.2%.

“Although strategic direction by definition and nature is long term, this is also an opportune and exciting time to launch our mortgage brokerage. Even though the Dubai and Abu Dhabi real estate markets are the most active, we expect healthy demand from potential homeowners right across the UAE,” added Khanna.

Headquartered in Dubai, Nexus Group was established in 2006 after a management buyout of the distribution arm of Zurich International Life, which had been operating in the region since 1989. Nexus now has offices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

The company employs over 350 fully qualified professional consultants and 150 support staff, offering a broad range of licenced products from regulated providers, such as life insurance, savings plans, corporate pensions and group medical cover, as well as various classes of commercial insurance, including employee benefits.