Dubai is where world’s rich want to stay - and willing to pay more for luxury homes

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Dubai: One of the world’s richest men buying a $100 million home in Emirates Hills.

The exclusive residential enclave of Al Barari seeing transactions of Dh100 million for the first time – in fact, two deals broke the price barrier in a matter of weeks.

Homes on Palm Jebel Ali and Dubai Islands are seeing some significant investor backing for the latest launches.

Taken together - or individually - these locations and the price homes there are fetching reinforce one key point – more of the world’s rich are calling Dubai their home. And with it comes the possibility of further prices increases for Dubai’s luxury and uber-luxury homes.

“Emirates Hills maintains the highest average transaction values, with exclusive mansions priced at Dh100 million plus,” said Vasilii Fetisov, Managing Partner at Housebook Real Estate.  

“The Jumeira Bay island: has had a 28% increase in transaction volume, indicating further interest for its ultra-luxury waterfront properties. 

There is also ‘Pearl Jumeira’ located off Dubai Maritime City, where recent villa transactions have started approaching Dh40 million to Dh60 million, signaling growing prestige. 

“Dubai Islands Is another undergoing a significant transformation and premium re-positioning. In my opinion, it can reach price levels of at least minus 30% to the super-prime and well-established Palm Jumeirah values.”

Estate agents say unless there is a completely unforeseen event – a ‘black swan’ episode, so to speak – Dubai’s luxury property market can cruise along on auto-pilot. With emerging locations offering the possibility of sustained value gains for investors who are entering the market right about now. Whether it’s in or around Sheikh Zayed Road or the new set of island clusters being formed, luxury homes in Dubai offer value. A lot of it.

“While we have anecdotal evidence of end-users being the most active buyer group in the market, our research has revealed a number of other key tell-tale signs,” said Faisal Durrani, Head of Research – MENA at the real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

“We have found that 83% of global HNWIs are interested in purchasing land in Dubai to build their own home. “This appetite is high almost irrespective of nationality. Dubai has matured quickly throughout this property cycle and this is clearly evidenced by the desire of potential global HNWI home buyers to settle in the city.”

April numbers showed luxury property sales in Dubai outperforming quite a bit, and the soon to release data on May should be a continuation of that. Demand for waterfront homes is riding this wave, whether it’s at Palm Jebel Ali or Dubai Islands.

And then there was the Lakshmi Mittal, the steel billionaire, making a $100 million purchase at Emirates Hills. “This was the best advertisement for Dubai property this year, and there are more of the rich/super-rich following,” said an estate agent.

Fetisov says that around 6,500 super-wealthy individuals might have moved to the UAE during 2024, and this year and the next could see similar numbers. And to accommodate them, the UAE needs both new homes – plenty of them – and existing ones that their owners are willing to sell.

“The strongest appetite for a real estate purchase in the UAE comes from those with the greatest wealth,” said Durrani.

In Knight Frank’s latest report, it cites investors from Saudi Arabia, India and the UK as most active when it comes to luxury property. “With these buyers, whether the dollar is weak or surging doesn’t have much of a say,” said a broker. “There is real interest in buying offplan and waiting for current values to build up incrementally. Which explains the kind of demand we are seeing for pricing options that range from those at Palm Jebel Ali to Dubai Islands. These buyers want to get in at the right’ value.”

Clearly, there are more of their kind wanting to call Dubai their home…