The number of luxury homes sold for $10 million (Dh37 million) or more in Dubai remained stable during the first half of the year, with demand from the world’s ultra-rich remaining strong, a report by property consultancy Knight Frank showed.
A total of 190 homes were sold for a total value of $3.2 billion in the six months ending in June, compared with 189 properties for $3.3 billion in the same period in 2023. The report explained that the total number of transactions remained stable despite the number of luxury homes available on the market falling by 65.5% year-on-year in the second quarter.
“This is a strong sign of a ‘buy-to-hold’ pattern taking hold in the market,” Faisal Durrani, Knight Frank’s head of research for the Middle East and Africa, was quoted as saying in the report. He added that the trend suggests that high-net-worth individuals globally are “largely focusing on purchasing homes in the city for personal use, rather than ‘buy-and-sell’, which has been a hallmark of the previous two market cycles.” Dubai, home to the world’s tallest tower, is the Middle East’s largest tourism and trade hub. It attracted a record number of foreign visitors in one night, amounting to 17.15 million.
According to the report, the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah was the most sought-after area, with 21 sales of homes worth $10 million or more in the second quarter, accounting for 26 per cent of sales in the period. This was followed by Emirates Hills with 10 per cent and District One with 7.8 per cent of these transactions. Sales of properties worth $25 million or more jumped 25 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year to a total of 15 homes.
In a related context, real estate transactions in the Dubai Land Department yesterday amounted to 3.23 billion dirhams, carried out through 1016 deals. The department witnessed the registration of 727 sales worth AED 2.76 billion, including 108 land sales, 577 residential unit sales and 42 building sales. The Dubai Water Canal area topped sales in terms of value with AED 441 million through 4 deals, followed by the Palm Jumeirah area with a value of AED 292 million resulting from 13 deals, third was the Me’aisem 2 area with AED 214 million through 19 deals, and fourth was the Business Bay area with 49 deals worth AED 103 million. The real estate market in Dubai witnessed the sale of a plot of land in the Dubai Water Canal area worth AED 421 million, and a villa under construction in the Palm Jumeirah area was sold for AED 102 million.
Mortgages recorded a value of AED 381 million through 243 transactions, including 63 mortgages for lands, 149 mortgages for residential units, and 31 mortgages for buildings. The market also witnessed the registration of 46 donations worth AED 89 million.