Wealthy people spend $4.4 billion on luxury homes in Dubai

According to research by Knight Frank, wealthy people, so-called high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), will spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying new luxury properties in the United Arab Emirates in the coming years.

La consultà real estate globală 300 HNWIs -- 217 from around the world and 100 HNWI expats based in the GCC -- to gain insight into their interests and preferences when it comes to investing in real estate in the UAE. In total, the HNWIs approached have a net worth of $5.4 billion.

The results show Dubai is the most popular emirate in the UAE for residential property trading, with Knight Frank estimating investment interest at $4.4bn.

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“Dubai remains the number one destination for the global HNWI community. The city has not only cemented its status as the busiest market with over $10 million worth of property sales in the world, but HNWI continues to crave 'life in Dubai' and properties in the highest price ranges in the emirate are highly sought-after commodities,” said Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research at Knight Frank.

“The best evidence of this is the fact that the desire to own a home in the city rises from 28% for those with a net worth of $2—5 million to 78% for those with a net worth in excess of $15 million. “

“But really extraordinary is the average budget of people with very high net worth who are thinking about buying real estate in Dubai. 25% of them are ready to spend $60-80 million on a house in the city, while another 16% would like to spend more than $80 million. The average budget of this exclusive group is $58.5 million,” Durrani continued.

According to HNWI, the city's quality infrastructure is a major factor that makes Dubai an attractive place to buy real estate. Qualità dell'infrastruttura dell'Uae ranked fourth in the global rankings in the latest World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report published in January this year.

The second most important fact for HNWI is Dubai's position as a global tourist destination. The Emirates has seen a rocketing rise from a small fishing village in the early 19th century to the third most visited city in the world with 17.1 million visitors in 2023 (behind London with 18.8 million visitors and Istanbul with 20.2 million tourists).

Als 4 out of 10 HNWIs said that ease of purchase and a better price-quality ratio are key factors making the emirate attractive for luxury property ownership.

Where in Dubai?

When asked what factors will be decisive in choosing a place to settle in Dubai, wealthy respondents most often indicated the location:

“Access to green spaces or parks has become the main criterion for HNWIs considering buying property in Dubai. 88% of HNWIs reported that this criterion can be a decisive factor when considering options for buying property in the city,” said Shehzad Jamal, partner at Knight Frank.

“Het groot global-focussing op personalisatie is ook gelekreven in HNWI's desire to live near a clinic or hospital, which has become the second most important criterion when choosing a property. Similarly, access to the beach was given as the third most important selection criterion. This is perhaps not surprising, given that Dubai is synonymous with life by the sea. “

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