Sales of $10 million-plus homes in Dubai surge to record high in Q3

Global high-net-worth individuals plan to spend $2.5 billion on property in the emirate this year

Dubai’s luxury home demand continues to strengthen, attracting both local and international purchasers. AP

The total number of $10 million home sales in Dubai for the first nine months of the year has reached a record high of 277, driven by rising demand for luxury homes in the emirate, as reported in a new study by the global consultancy Knight Frank.

The emirate registered a 40.7 per cent annual jump in the volume of residential sales valued at more than $10 million in the third quarter of 2023.

The volume of homes priced over $10 million in Dubai - the commercial and tourism centre of the Middle East - totalled more than $1.59 billion in the July-September period, the report said.

“Demand for luxury homes in Dubai remains resilient and supply continues to stubbornly lag demand,” Faisal Durrani, partner – head of research for Middle East and Africa at Knight Frank, said.

In the first half of the year, Dubai emerged as one of the world's busiest markets for sales over $10 million, recording 189 transactions. It surpassed other global cities, including New York (125), Hong Kong (109), London (99), Los Angeles (77), and Singapore (67).

The average transacted price for homes that were sold for more than $10 million stood at Dh6,557 ($1,785.2) per square feet at the end of September quarter, Knight Frank’s analysis stated.

Dubai’s luxury home demand continues to strengthen, attracting both local and international purchasers, it added.

The city's prime residential areas are witnessing consistent interest, with the Palm Jumeirah remaining the key focal point for luxury home sales, accounting for nearly 52.3 per cent of total sales in the over $10 million price bracket.

The total value of over $10 million sales in the last quarter stood at more than $825.2 million in Palm Jumeirah. It was followed by Emirates Hills ($189.6 million), Umm Suqeim 3 ($141.8 million), MBR City ($125.6 million) and Jumeirah Bay Island ($117.9 million).

“The extraordinary run of price rises in this third market cycle has seen prices escalating for nine-consecutive quarters … Dubai’s prime neighbourhoods of the Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills, and Jumeirah Bay Island, have been and continue to be the real stars of this cycle,” Mr Durrani said.

Demand for luxury homes continued to rise in Dubai, driven by higher demand from wealthy individuals.

Global high-net-worth individuals plan to spend $2.5 billion on Dubai property this year, Knight Frank said in a report in May.

About 22 per cent of the HNWIs are prepared to commit $5 million to $10 million on real estate in the emirate, while 8 per cent are ready to spend more than $80 million, it said.

Last year, the emirate recorded the sale of 219 homes priced above $10 million, with the total value of the transactions reaching $3.8 billion.

That ranked Dubai behind New York (244 sales), Los Angeles (225 sales) and London (223 sales).