DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s property scene is exhibiting no signal of cooling off, as 2024 is on monitor to be one other file 12 months by way of gross sales figures and property values, based on native actual property corporations.
Rising demand for property, particularly within the luxurious house, is boosting costs not simply of properties, however of every part else within the metropolis — simply because the United Arab Emirates is anticipated to emerge because the world’s top wealth magnet for the third consecutive 12 months.
For Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai property large Damac, that spells each good and dangerous information.
“What issues me a little bit bit in Dubai is that [it’s] changing into an costly metropolis, and I’ve mentioned this previously, that Dubai [is] going to be [an] costly metropolis. As a result of every time there may be a lot demand, and particularly when proficient folks, common persons are coming, they create extra demand,” Sajwani informed CNBC’s Dan Murphy from Riyadh on Tuesday.
“So right this moment, to get a seat in a faculty is troublesome … 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 mentioned. “And I hope [the] authorities discover methods and means. And it isn’t simple to seek out methods and means when there’s a steady inflow of individuals to town.”
The newest 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, based on locally-based brokerage agency Elite Benefit 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 partly to the “fast absorption of recent stock.” Round 80% of the items 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 Pictures
“The Dubai property market is doing extraordinarily nicely, and I believe we will proceed to do nicely, as a result of the demand in Europe is superb,” Sajwani mentioned. “Everyone desires to go to Dubai, from the taxi driver to the waiter to the businessman … Dubai now’s attracting numerous not solely rich folks, however numerous proficient folks. And it is rising in a special stage from pre-Covid.”
The Damac founder famous the way in which by which the Covid-19 interval supercharged Dubai’s reputation 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 right this moment is a world metropolis, by all means, and attracting numerous expertise and numerous companies, we will proceed to develop,” Sajwani mentioned.
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 buyers needed to default on their money owed. Requested if he was frightened a couple of comparable cycle repeated itself, Sajwani expressed confidence that the system was totally different now.
Requested if Dubai is extra steady now, Sajwani replied: “100%.”
“One of many key cause for that’s that the laws the Dubai authorities introduced in after [the] ’09 or ’08 crash has been excellent laws. Very, very strict on builders, on clients, and on zoning,” he mentioned. “In order that regulation helps — not all people simply can come and enter the market and simply launch a challenge … There’s very strict escrow, so the shopper’s cash could be very a lot protected, and that is what makes the market very environment friendly.”
Correction: This text’s headline has been up to date to replicate Hussain Sajwani’s title as chairman of Damac.