Australian Federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb was in Dubai to witness Raine & Horne sign a $500 million deal with developer Seven Tides.

Raine & Horne recently opened a Dubai office which has just won the contract to list 442 luxury apartments in an ultra-modern five-star Hotel Anantara, located on the outer frond of the Palm Jumeirah.

Investors have begun returning to Dubai, which has introduced new post-GFC regulations that protect investors and are, according to Raine & Horne, very similar to those in countries such as Australia and the UK. Also present at the signing was Australian Ambassador to the UAE Pablo Kang, Australian Consul General to Dubai Gerard Seeber and Angus Raine, Executive Chairman and CEO of Raine & Horne, who was part of a Middle East trade delegation led by Minister Robb.

Raine said the deal was a major coup for the new Dubai office, which already employs 25 real estate professionals and is led by Sanjay Chimnani and Surender Bhojwani.

“Dubai is now the logical place to do business in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, the Asian subcontinent and the Eastern Mediterranean due to its strategic location, tax-free living and strong economic outlook," said Raine. "With more capital flowing back into the residential and commercial markets in the UAE’s most populous city, establishing Raine & Horne Dubai makes plenty of sense.”

The firm's office is located in the Oberoi Center in the Bay Business district, Dubai's CBD. Business Bay will have upwards of 240 new commercial and residential buildings completed in the next few years, according to Raine, who said the emirate has emerged from the GFC as a leading regional commercial hub.

“The Dubai property market started to improve in 2012, however we wanted to wait 5 or 6 quarters to determine if it was a sustained recovery before establishing a new business,” said Chimnani, who has worked in Dubai real estate since 2004. He was previously a co-founder of a major real estate investment company and then held a senior management role with a German fund management company.

This article first appeared on The Real Estate Conversation.