[SINGAPORE] Property cooling measures may have dampened housing demand here, but Singapore’s ultra-rich are among high net-worth individuals (HNWI) around the world that are flooding into Dubai.
In the first quarter alone, the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city saw the sale of 111 residential properties valued at over US$10 million each.
This comes after Dubai recorded 435 sales for luxury homes worth over US$10 million each in 2024 – almost equalling the total number of such sales in London (224) and New York (269) combined – ranking the city as the world’s busiest market for sales in this exclusive bracket for the second consecutive year.
The value of these residential sales for Dubai amounted to some US$6.9 billion last year.
For comparison, Singapore was ranked 10th globally, with 89 of such luxury residential properties worth a total of US$1.4 billion changing hands in 2024.
And this year, some US$10.3 billion of private capital around the world could be planning to invest in Dubai’s property market, according to a report by property consultancy Knight Frank.
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“The strongest appetite for a real estate purchase in the UAE comes from those with the greatest wealth and is a testament to the success of the government’s programmes to strengthen the emirate’s appeal as a place for the world’s wealthy to live and invest,” said Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.
For the 2025 edition of its Destination Dubai report, Knight Frank, in partnership with YouGov, surveyed 387 HNWI based in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom – each with an average net worth of US$22 million.
Some 44 per cent of Singapore respondents expressed interest in purchasing property in Dubai, with another 17 per cent saying they were undecided.
Globally, 61 per cent of HNWI said they would like to secure a home in the emirate for personal use – almost double the 31 per cent in the previous report.
About a quarter of this group said they were looking to purchase purely for investment or capital gains.
“While we have anecdotal evidence of end-users being the most active buyer group in the market, our research has revealed a number of other key tell-tale signs. For instance, we have also found that 83 per cent of global HNWI are interested in purchasing land in Dubai to build their own home,” Durrani said.
The interest in Dubai’s residential property has driven prices up.
According to Knight Frank, property values rose 19.1 per cent to an average of 1,685 dirham (S$592) per square foot (psf) in 2024 – pushing prices to 13.3 per cent above the 2014 peak.
Villa sale prices also surged 19.6 per cent year on year to 2,088 dirham psf as at the end of Q1 – more than doubling from Q1 2020.
Knight Frank said this illustrates the strong appeal of stand-alone villas, beachfront homes and branded residences that provide instant access to the Dubai lifestyle.
According to the survey, the average allocated budget for a home purchase in Dubai by global HNWI is US$32 million.
