Around 37,000 property buyers in Dubai have become “accidental millionaires” as they bought properties for less than $1 million that are now worth more, solely due to price inflation, Dubai Property Market data showed on Tuesday.

According to latest research from global property consultancy Knight Frank, sales of $10 million+ homes in Dubai hit an all-time high of $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025. The record performance, revealed, was 37 per cent ahead of the $1.9 billion recorded in Q1 and an impressive 63 per cent uplift on Q2 2024.

The total number of $10 million+ sales during Q2 hit 143 – a 52 per cent increase on Q2 2024 – including 22 transactions for more than $25 million. Notably, for the first time since Q2 2023, apartments outpaced villas in the $10 million+ segment, with 80 apartment sales, compared to 63 villas.

The Palm Jumeirah was once again the leading location for $10 million+ sales, with 28 properties changing hands, while La Mer (23) and Downtown Dubai (16) rounded off the top three busiest $10 million+ markets in the city.

Knight Frank’s Prime Index for Dubai, which tracks values across 10 key luxury communities, averaged Dh3,850 per square foot in Q2 – 18 per cent higher than Q2 2024 (Dh3,272 psf) yet virtually unchanged from Q1 2025. This indicates that rising sales volumes and healthy market activity, as opposed to cost inflation, underlie the growth in total sales value.

Faisal Durrani, Partner – Head of Research, Mena, said: “The record sales in the luxury price bracket are in line with the findings of our latest Destination Dubai report, which highlights the sustained and rising demand among global and domestic high-net-worth individuals for homes in the emirate.

“The total value of all homes sold in Dubai has increased by an incredible 282 per cent since 2020, and in 2024 it was once again the world’s busiest market for $10 million+ homes, recording 435 sales in this exclusive price bracket and almost equalling the number of $10 million+ home sales in London and New York combined. The city has retained this position during Q1 2025 as well. Separately, Dubai’s residential market continues to mature, as evidenced by the rise in the number of genuine end users and the decline in the number of homes being sold within 12-months of purchase from around 25 per cent in 2008 to 4-5 per cent today”.

Dubai Property Market Millionaires

Knight Frank’s research, which tracks the price of every freehold home in the city, has also revealed the rising number of “property millionaires” across Dubai. At the start of Q2 2025, there were 110,000 residential units (out of 624,000 total sold units since 2002) valued above $1 million, which equates to 17.7 per cent of the total number of homes sold in the city. The combined value of these homes is estimated to be Dh994 billion, or $271 billion.

About 19 per cent of these $1 million homes (21,000 units) are rented, indicating the size of Dubai’s luxury buy-to-let market.

Shehzad Jamal, Partner – Strategy & Consultancy, Mena, said: “The number of accidental millionaires in Dubai has increased by an average of 79.5 per cent over the past three years. This suggests most homes are being held as primary residences, second homes, or long-term investments for capital gains, reflecting strong confidence in Dubai’s residential market among the wealthy. This also mirrors our own market experience where we have found the strongest level of demand for purchasing a home as a primary end user is amongst ultra-high-net-worth individuals.”

The Palm Jumeirah has Dubai’s highest concentration of $1 million+ homes – 9,071 as at the start of Q2 2025, followed by Downtown (8,376) and Dubai Hills Estate (6,138). Collectively, the city’s top ten communities account for almost 47,000 such homes – almost 50 per cent of “property millionaire” homes in Dubai.

Supply Gap

The rising popularity of Dubai as a place to live is opening further opportunities for investors and developers looking to target supply gaps. The disparity between supply and demand is best reflected in the fact that the city welcomed almost 170,000 new residents last year, while the total housing stock only rose by a little over 30,000 units.

Durrani said: “Our teams are today tracking in excess of 350,000 homes that are due to be completed by the end of 2029. Specific price and home size bands appear to be especially poorly catered for. For example, the number of homes available for sale in the $10 million+ bracket fell by 39 per cent last year, down from 4,119 to 2,493. At the same time, the number of homes available in the $25 million+ bracket saw more than double the rate of decrease (85 per cent), down from 583 to only 86 properties. There appears to be some rebalancing this year, with the more mainstream end of the market registering sharper falls in homes available to purchase.

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Source: Khaleej Times

12th July 2025