Dubai joins the world’s top 10 cities where the ultra-wealthy buy second homes

Dubai: If you had $30 million or more, where would you buy your next home?

For a growing number of the world’s ultra-wealthy, the answer is shifting away from traditional playgrounds like Monaco and Saint-Tropez toward a new set of cities that combine luxury, investment potential, and strategic advantages.

A new wealth analysis by Altrata, reported by Business Insider, ranks the top 20 global cities where individuals with a net worth of at least $30 million are most likely to own second homes in 2025.

While familiar names such as London and New York continue to dominate, emerging destinations — from Naples, Florida, to Dubai and Lisbon — are rapidly gaining traction.

Drawing on its Wealth-X and RelSci databases, Altrata examined verified profiles, property records, and relationship networks to identify trends among roughly 480,000 ultra-high-net-worth individuals worldwide.

The data, current as of July 2025, focuses exclusively on privately owned secondary residences — excluding corporate holdings or primary homes.

For these buyers, a second home is increasingly more than just a vacation retreat. It is a versatile asset that blends an upscale lifestyle with wealth preservation, tax diversification, and geopolitical flexibility.

“Real estate in rare or beautiful locations has the same characteristics as gold — except you can live in it and build memories,” said Jack Cotton, founding member of REALM and a veteran Sotheby’s International Realty broker. In today’s volatile climate, he added, third and even fourth homes are becoming safe stores of value.

In the United States, the top destinations are Miami (13,211 ultra-wealthy second-home owners), New York (12,813), Los Angeles (8,640), San Francisco (6,477), and Naples, Florida (4,213).

Globally, London leads outside the US with 9,221 owners, followed by Beijing (5,648), Hong Kong (4,939), Singapore (4,256), and Geneva (1,745).

Dubai ranks 10th, with 1,288 of the world’s richest holding second homes there — a testament to its tax-friendly policies and “golden visa” residency programme.

Some cities stand out for their unusually high density of wealthy homeowners. In Naples, Florida, an estimated 95 per cent of luxury properties are secondary residences. Aspen, Colorado, has one billionaire for every 77 residents.

Meanwhile, Geneva and Zurich offer a mix of privacy, stability, and proximity to elite education and outdoor recreation.

Lisbon, ranked 23rd globally, has emerged as a rising star among US buyers thanks to its cosmopolitan appeal and relatively affordable luxury housing — aided by an investment-linked residency programme similar to Dubai’s, although Portugal has recently closed that pathway to ease housing pressures.