_A TALE OF TWO SUBMARKETS

Price growth across Dubai’s residential landscape has certainly not been uniform so far into this property cycle.

Faisal Durrani May 24, 2023

For apartments, the most expensive submarkets, namely the Palm Jumeirah and Downtown, have experienced the strongest growth in the last 12 months since Q1 2022 at 25% and 15%, respectively.

For villas, however, price increases have been more uniform, irrespective of location, fuelled by the domestic ‘race for space’ and UHNWI second-home buyers. Still, at 126% growth since January 2020, villas on the Palm Jumeirah have experienced the largest price gains in the city.

A TALE OF TWO SUBMARKETS

As already noted, the world’s wealthy have been actively targeting Dubai’s most luxurious homes, which tend to be located in the city’s most expensive districts.

It is, therefore, no surprise to see Downtown (37%) and the Palm Jumeirah (30%) emerging as the top target neighbourhoods for our survey respondents.

While Downtown dominates across all personal wealth brackets, both the Palm Jumeirah (15%) and Emirates Hills (16%) emerge as the most preferred locations for a residential purchase for UK/European and North American HNWI, respectively.

For East Asian investors, Downtown is an overwhelming favourite at 53%, followed by Business Bay (32%). We explore the rise of Business Bay as a key Dubai neighbourhood in our Branded Residences chapter.

Similarly, 35% of respondents who visit Dubai once a year are interested in making a property purchase in Downtown, with 30% interested in the Palm Jumeirah.

TO PRIME AND BEYOND

While Dubai’s prime residential neighbourhoods have been the key target of HNWI and UHNWI over the last two years, other areas are fast rising and will likely soon qualify for our definition of ‘prime’. We explore this in more detail later in this chapter.

With that in mind, however, those HNWI who claim to be interested in buying for personal reasons (family/holiday/second home) are twice as likely to choose Jumeirah Golf Estates and the Dubai Canal when compared to those looking to invest (14% and 18%, respectively), demonstrating the breadth of appeal of wider Dubai, away from traditional HNWI hotspots.