Gulf News reported that the number of nationals and national corporate bodies of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf countries who bought up real estates in another GCC member, other than their home country, increased by 51.1% in 2011 to 16,107, up from 10,654 in 2010, recent figures from the GCC Secretariat General Information Center-Statistical Department.

This takes the total such inter-GCC real estate ownerships to 93,767 by the end of 2011, compared to 77,804 by the end of the previous years.

The UAE came first among GCC nations in terms of attracting nationals of other GCC nationals with 10,873 registered contracts, followed by Oman with 3,364 registered contracts representing a 20.9% share and Bahrain in third place with 1,189 contracts.

Allowing nationals of GCC member countries to own real estates in other GCC countries is among the ten domains of the GCC common market as defined by the economic agreement in 2001.

The agreement gives GCC national natural and legal persons of any member state the same treatment accorded to its own citizens, without differentiation or discrimination, in all economic activities including real estate ownership.