Business Bay is emerging as Dubai's busiest property buying spot with values rising 17% in 2 years

Dubai: The towers at Business Bay are recording one of the highest growth rates in Dubai’s property market, as mid-income end-users and investors pick up ‘affordable’ apartments there. Much of the value gains have happened in the first-half of this year. By some estimates, units in the cluster have risen by 17 per cent in two years, compared with the 25-30 per cent at Dubai Marina.

What this also shows is that the gains in Dubai’s residential values are not confined to the likes of Palm, Dubai Marina, Dubai Hills and other premium locations.

“The significant growth in residential prices in Business Bay over the last two years is part of a broader repivoting of the city’s centre of gravity towards central Dubai, encompassing DIFC, the Sheikh Zayed Road area between Trade Centre and Dusit Thani as well as Downtown,” said Faisal Durrani, Partner – Head of Middle East Research at Knight Frank. “Business Bay has found itself on the doorstep to Dubai’s main business district and in very close proximity to arguably the emirate’s most lifestyle retail rich neighbourhoods, such as Jumeirah and Al Safa.”

And Business Bay is no longer just about the Dh1 million to Dh3 million apartments. These days, $10 million to $20 million ticket prices are being achieved for super-premium offerings in and around Central Dubai, ‘which would have been perceived to be outlandish five years ago’ and ‘giving Business Bay the privileged position of an emerging prime location in Dubai’.

Price comparison

Nearly 7,000 apartments were delivered at Business Bay in Business over 2019-20, and with values that were on average 27 per cent lower than at neighbouring Downtown. After the worst of the Covid phase, from the fourth quarter of 2020, Business Bay started feeling buyer interest, starting with the bigger apartments. Then came Deyaar with the launch of a Dh700 million skyscraper ‘Regalia’ in June 2021.

“Branded residential developers are alive to the geographic significance of Business Bay and we’re seeing ultra-high-end operators such as the Dorchester, The Cipriani family’s Mr. C Residences and Four Seasons upstream along the Dubai Canal bringing products that are redefining prices along this stretch of Central Dubai,” said Dean Foley, Head of Residential Project Sales & Marketing at Knight Frank.