A report from Knight Frank showed on Tuesday that sales of homes worth $10 million or more in Dubai rose six percent during the first quarter of the year compared to last year, with no significant signs of a decline in the demand of the world’s wealthy for homes in the emirate.
A total of 105 homes were sold for a total value of $1.73 billion from January to March, up from about $1.6 billion the previous year, the consulting firm reported.
According to Knight Frank, Dubai ranked first in the world last year in terms of the number of home sales worth more than $10 million, as it sold about 80% more of those properties than London, which ranked second.
Knight Frank reported in February that the city also bucked a trend of falling luxury property prices in cities such as London and New York last year, recording double-digit gains.
Faisal Durrani, head of research for the Middle East and Africa at Knight Frank, said: “The level of transaction activity in Dubai continues to strengthen, especially in luxury units in the market, where there is an almost constant influx of foreigners with high net worth competing for the most expensive homes in the city.”
Durrani added that Dubai has benefited from the relative affordability of its high-end homes, as wealthy buyers can purchase residential spaces of about 91 square meters for $1 million, “about three or four times what you get in most major global cities,” which represent entry points.
He added that the strong demand indicates that many international investors are buying properties in Dubai as a second home rather than ongoing short-term purchases, referring to the practice of buying in order to quickly sell to others for a larger amount.
Durrani explained: “The high concentration of the global wealthy on Dubai is most clearly reflected in the rapid decline in the volume of homes for sale, whose value exceeds $10 million, as it decreased by 59% across the city during the past twelve months to reach only 864 homes.” .
Palm Jumeirah recorded deals worth $628 million and dominated the luxury home market during the first quarter, accounting for 36.3% of the total sales value. While Jumeirah Bay Island (11.1%) and Dubai Hills Estate (7%) came in second and third place, respectively.
While Palm Jumeirah (39) also topped the group in terms of the number of luxury homes sold in total, Palm Jebel Ali (10) and Business Bay (7) recorded more luxury home sales than Jumeirah Bay Island and Dubai Hills.
According to Knight Frank, there are other markets that are rapidly developing, away from the attention-grabbing areas such as Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Bay Island, and Emirates Hills. For example, Dubai Hills Estate stands out as one of the markets worth monitoring.
Durrani concluded: “After growing by 16.3% in 2023, with an unprecedented increase of 44.4% during 2022, Dubai’s luxury residential real estate market has grown by 26.3% over the past twelve months, making it easily one of the fastest growing real estate markets. He wasn’t the fastest, in the world. Although these growth rates seem enormous, they do not detract from the fact that Dubai’s luxury home market remains one of the most affordable markets in the world.”