Dubai's property market sets a new record with Dh280m villa sale in Palm Jumeirah

Dubai: Real estate agency Belleview Real Estate said it sold a Palm Jumeirah villa for a record-breaking price of Dh280 million. The previous long-standing record – of Dh185m - had been unbeaten since 2015.

The custom-built villa has ten bedrooms and features an enormous living space, seven-star spa hotel facilities, imported and handpicked book-matched Italian marble, all furnished by Italian furniture houses Giorgetti and Minotti. The property also comes with more than 70 meters of private beachfront.

“To see a transaction of this magnitude illustrates the ongoing strength of Dubai's property market particularly in the ultra-high-end segment - the transaction not only beats Dubai's previous record but closes the gap between Dubai's luxury market and those of leading global cities such as London, New York, and Hong Kong," Property Monitor's COO, Zhann Jochinke, said in a statement.

The highest value property in London is currently on the market for around $40 million; in New York, $169 million, and in Hong Kong $82.2 million.

Dubai’s property sector has been experiencing a boom, partly driven by Expo, which came to an end last month. In 2021, property prices increased an estimated 21 per cent within the first 10 months of the year and over Dh135 billion worth of transactions occurred between January and November 2021.

“One major key to the growth in 2021 was the government’s response to the pandemic. While we experienced a very strict lockdown, within six weeks Dubai had one of the most comprehensive testing infrastructures globally, allowing life to return to normal almost immediately,” luxury real estate broker Conor McKay said.

While such rapid growth could be cause for alarm, Peter Smithson, Sales Director at Belleview, thinks otherwise: “While a short-term view of the market can be intimidating, when we look at the overall history, we see the current average Dirham cost per sq foot of property is only 78 per cent of the previous peak in 2014. Consider how strong Dubai is now, compared to then, and you have no option but to predict further significant growth.”