Dubai remains top market for homes transacted for over US$10 mil: Knight Frank
In its latest Destination Dubai statement, Knight Frank evaluated 387 international HNWI around the UK, India, Saudi Arabia and East Asia (China, Hong Kong and Singapore) to assess their demand for investing in United Arab Emirates property. Over half of the participants (52%) showed they have an interest in buying real property in the UAE.
“The super-rich continue to be laser-focused on acquiring high-end homes in the city, and this relentless demand has actually been an essential factor of Dubai being the world’s busiest US$ 10 million+ homes market for the second year running,” states Shehzad Jamal, associate for strategy and consultancy at Knight Frank MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
“As we have actually discovered in our research in former years and mirroring the experience of our teams, the strongest appetite for a real estate acquisition in the UAE originates from those with the greatest wealth and is a testament to the success of the government’s programs to enhance the emirate’s appearance as an area for the world’s rich to live and invest in,” claims Faisal Durrani, affiliate and head of research for Knight Frank MENA.
Saudi Arabia and India HNWIs recorded the greatest interest, with 66% and 41% of participants indicating an intent to buy a UAE property in 2025. For the UK and East Asia HNWIs evaluated, 17% of each associate indicated a potential UAE real property purchase this year.
According to the survey, houses continue to be the biggest draw for international HNWI as contrasted to the commercial and retail segments. Additionally, Dubai stays the leading target destination, with 71% of respondents labeling Dubai as their liked emirate.
At the same time, Dubai stays the world’s busiest market up for sale of homes priced over US$ 10 million, the record states. Last year, a total of 435 transactions in this bracket were recorded in Dubai, almost equalling the amount of such deals registered in London and New York joined. In Between January and March this year, 111 homes were reselled for around US$ 10 million in Dubai.
Complying with solid event in 2024, the Dubai real estate market is anticipated to continue attracting demand from amongst the wealthy. According to a research study report by property consultancy Knight Frank, high-net-worth individuals (HWNIs) observed globally have indicated enthusiasm in acquiring a property in Dubai, with an approximated US$ 10.3 billion ($13 billion) in private capital possibly being channelled in the direction of the emirate’s housing market.
The consistent interest has boosted activity in Dubai’s residential market, that registered record residential sales of approximately 170,000 homes in 2024 worth a total of US$ 100 billion, states Knight Frank. That energy has rollovered right into this year, with AED100 billion ($35 billion) in home sales already achieved as of March 4. Dubai property fees have also persisted to increase, surging 19.1% in 2024 to strike an average of AED1,685 psf.
Knight Frank includes that amongst the East Asia HNWIs, those in Hong Kong presented the strongest desire, with 22% of participants indicating the intention to buy UAE property in 2025.
