Dubai: 10 most popular areas where millionaires are buying properties revealed

Downtown, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Hills Estate are the three most popular areas among millionaires to buy properties in Dubai, according to Knight Frank.

“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 per cent) and Palm Jumeirah (30 per cent) emerging as the top target neighbourhoods for our survey respondents,” the global real estate consultancy said in its inaugural Destination Dubai 2023 report.

The study surveyed 183 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) across the UK, North America, Switzerland, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and India, with each having a net worth of over $3 million, excluding their main home, or primary residence. Together, this group own 851 homes around the world, and has a combined net worth of $3.2 billion.

Moreover, Business Bay, Emirates Hills, Dubai Marina, Dubai Canal, Jumeirah Gold Estate, Jumeirah Bay Island and Mohammed bin Rashid City have emerged among the top 10 most popular neighbourhoods where millionaires are buying homes to live in, and enjoy the safe and luxurious life offered by the emirate.

In June 2022, the Henley Global Citizens Report projected that 4,000 millionaires would migrate to the UAE in 2022, the highest globally, surpassing big countries like the US, the UK, Switzerland, Canada and other developed countries.

The Henley report revealed that the UAE is home to 92,600 millionaires with over $1 million in wealth, 251 centi-millionaires with over $100 million in wealth and 4,000 individuals with $10 million in assets.

The Knight Frank study showed that Downtown dominates all personal wealth brackets. However, Palm Jumeirah and Emirates Hills emerged as the most preferred locations for residential purchases for UK/ European and North American millionaires, respectively.

For East Asian investors, around 35 per cent of respondents who visit Dubai once a year are interested in making a property purchase Downtown, with 30 per cent interested in Palm Jumeirah.

Due to massive demand and the growing popularity of Palm Jumeirah, Dubai relaunched Palm Jebel Ali this month, which will be double the size of Palm Jumeirah. Palm Jebel Ali will have beaches that stretch up to 110km.

As a result of the strong demand for the prime property market and the inflow of millionaires, luxury property prices have increased substantially. For apartments, the most expensive submarkets, namely Palm Jumeirah and Downtown, have experienced the strongest growth in the last 12 months since Q1 2022, at 25 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. At 126 per cent growth since January 2020, villas on the Palm Jumeirah have experienced the largest price gains in the city.

But the prices are still cheaper than global cities, as $1 million buys 1,130 sqft of prime space as compared to 184 sqft in Monaco, 231 sqft in Hong Kong, 353 sqft in New York, 365 sqft in London and 458 sqft in Paris.

For East Asian investors, according to Knight Frank, Downtown is an overwhelming favourite at 53 per cent, followed by Business Bay at 32 per cent.