DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s property scene is displaying no signal of cooling off, as 2024 is on observe to be one other file 12 months by way of gross sales figures and property values, in line with native actual property corporations.
Rising demand for property, particularly within the luxurious area, is boosting costs not simply of houses, however of every thing else within the metropolis — simply because the United Arab Emirates is predicted to emerge because the world’s prime wealth magnet for the third consecutive 12 months.
For Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai property big Damac, that spells each good and dangerous information.
“What issues me a little bit bit in Dubai is that [it’s] turning into an costly metropolis, and I’ve stated this previously, that Dubai [is] going to be [an] costly metropolis. As a result of at any time when there may be a lot demand, and particularly when gifted individuals, common persons are coming, they create extra demand,” Sajwani instructed CNBC’s Dan Murphy from Riyadh on Tuesday.
“So as we speak, to get a seat in a college is tough … and naturally, the enterprise goes to lift costs, and inflation [is] going to be excessive, so Dubai goes to be an costly metropolis,” the chairman stated. “And I hope [the] authorities discover methods and means. And it is not straightforward to seek out methods and means when there’s a steady inflow of individuals to the town.”
The most recent Dubai property market numbers inform a narrative of burgeoning demand. In July of 2024, property gross sales reached 49.6 billion dirhams ($13.5 billion), a 31.63% enhance from the identical interval in 2023, in line with locally-based brokerage agency Elite Advantage Actual Property.
“The primary half of 2024 alone noticed over 43,000 property transactions valued at roughly AED122.9 billion, marking a 30% enhance from the earlier 12 months,” the agency’s report launched on Sept. 10 wrote, including that the expansion is due partially to the “speedy absorption of recent stock.” Round 80% of the models launched since 2022 have already been offered, the report estimates.
Aerial view of cityscape and skyscraper at sundown in Dubai Marina.
Lu Shaoji | Second | Getty Photographs
“The Dubai property market is doing extraordinarily nicely, and I feel we’ll proceed to do nicely, as a result of the demand in Europe is wonderful,” Sajwani stated. “All people needs to go to Dubai, from the taxi driver to the waiter to the businessman … Dubai now’s attracting plenty of not solely rich individuals, however plenty of gifted individuals. And it is rising in a unique degree from pre-Covid.”
The Damac founder famous the best way through which the Covid-19 interval supercharged Dubai’s recognition as a spot to reside: whereas a lot of the world remained in lockdowns, the emirate inspired tourism and attracted new residents with the assistance of visas for distant employees and entrepreneurship.
“Dubai as we speak is a world metropolis, by all means, and attracting plenty of expertise and plenty of companies, we’ll proceed to develop,” Sajwani stated.
Dubai has skilled a unstable boom-and-bust cycle previously, most notably throughout its 2008-2009 disaster interval, when the emirates’ property market crashed, and quite a few traders needed to default on their money owed. Requested if he was anxious a couple of comparable cycle repeated itself, Sajwani expressed confidence that the system was completely different now.
Requested if Dubai is extra steady now, Sajwani replied: “100%.”
“One of many key motive for that’s that the rules the Dubai authorities introduced in after [the] ’09 or ’08 crash has been excellent rules. Very, very strict on builders, on prospects, and on zoning,” he stated. “In order that regulation helps — not all people simply can come and enter the market and simply launch a mission … There’s very strict escrow, so the shopper’s cash may be very a lot protected, and that is what makes the market very environment friendly.”
