Dubai Luxury Home Market Soars as World’s Rich Flee Pandemic
As vaccines roll out unevenly worldwide and waves of infections force countries to extend restrictions, foreign buyers flush with cash have flooded Dubai’s high-end property market, one of the few places in the world where they can dine, shop and do business in person. They’re snapping up record numbers of luxury villas and penthouses, sending prices rocketing in this boom-and-bust market. Sales of Dubai’s upscale properties, once slow, soared 230% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period last year. Prices in some top-end areas rose as much as 40%, according to Property Finder. A record-breaking 90 properties worth 10 million dirhams each ($2.7 million) changed hands last month, on top of 84 in March, surpassing heights hit eight years ago, according to real estate consultancy Property Monitor. For comparison, there were 54 such transactions in all of 2020. As with previous cycles, cash buyers started snatching up homes at bargain prices and flipping them for profits. Analysts say that will continue until prices rise too high and returns diminish. How long the craze lasts and what awaits the skyscraper-studded city then remains unclear. Home prices are still falling in the middle tiers of the city’s saturated property market, which has seen values drop sharply since peaks reached seven years ago due to overbuilding. Average residence sale prices in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, collapsed to $400 per square foot this month from $1,300 in 2013.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL Dubai Residence price sale Luxury Home Market