Dubai enters the race to sell the most expensive house in the world
Dubai's obsession with records is well known. The city is home to the tallest building in the world, the fastest roller coaster, the highest swimming pool, and even paid Beyoncé 22 million euros for 84 minutes of performance.
Today, it is on the verge of taking the record for the most expensive house ever sold in the world from cities like New York and Hong Kong. The booming real estate market in the Gulf city's skyscrapers indicates that it could achieve this sooner than expected.
The luxury segment benefits from an influx of investors thanks to favorable economic conditions and ease of obtaining a visa. Mainly Russian millionaires seeking to protect their wealth, new cryptocurrency fortunes, the wealthy from China and India, and citizens of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. But also an increasing number of savvy French investors interested in Dubai's real estate market.
The object of desire for buyers is the tranquil seaside villas on artificial islands like Jumeirah Bay Island, already known as the "billionaire's island," where footballer Cristiano Ronaldo lives with his family.
Or the exclusive off-plan apartments in futuristic skyscrapers under construction in Business Bay, the city's main business hub, or in the more traditional Umm Suqeim 3 district, in the shadow of the famous Burj Al Arab hotel, which has a helipad on the roof.
This interest allowed Dubai to consolidate its status last year as the most active luxury real estate market in the world, with a total investment of 1.449 billion euros in the third quarter, according to figures from real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Thus, it surpasses its two main competitors.
The prices of the most exclusive homes increased by 14%, compared to 2.4% globally. "The extraordinary series of price hikes means that prices have risen for nine consecutive quarters," explains Faisal Durrani, head of Middle East research at Knight Frank.
While the main Western economies are being dragged down by rising inflation, interest rates, and economic uncertainty, this has weighed on the luxury market. Dubai seems to have overcome this period of instability with strong market fluctuations in real estate.
The trend has just materialized with the entry, for the first time, of three properties into the list of the most expensive houses for sale in the world in 2024, according to the updated ranking by Robb Report.
Two unique penthouses, priced at 187.40 million euros each and located at the top of two skyscrapers still under construction in Business Bay, slipped into the fourth and fifth spots.
The first has been dubbed "the penthouse mansion in the sky" and will crown the curvaceous 48-story building planned by French automaker Bugatti in collaboration with local construction company Binghatti when it is completed in 2025. It has an area of 13,476 square meters, four bedrooms, a large pool, and an elevator that allows the owner's car to be lifted into the living room.
The second is located at the top of the 100-story tower built by New York-based watch and jewelry company Jacob & Co, also with Binghatti, opposite the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It is a duplex with a gym, sauna, three living rooms, two kitchens, two dining rooms, a cinema room, and an immense master bedroom of nearly 500 square meters.
In sixth place is the residence dubbed "the marble palace," for its nearly 25 million euros worth of marble imported from Italy and the 700,000 gold leaves that decorate it, for a price of 186.48 million euros. It is located in Emirates Hills and has five bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, and a large garden with exotic vegetation.
For now, none of these three properties beat the record set by the 217.56 million euros paid in 2019 by billionaire Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel, for his triplex in the Central Park South tower in Manhattan. But none of the luxury homes put on the market elsewhere in the world since then have either.
In 2022, the auction of Villa Aurora, a Renaissance Roman residence adorned with a mural by Caravaggio, fetched 353 million euros and was auctioned three times. That same year, the mega-mansion in Los Angeles, known as "The One," which was supposed to be sold for 457 million euros, sold for 129 million euros. Even the 365 million euro penthouse put up for sale in 2016 in the Odeon Tower in Monaco did not find a buyer.
Dubai is the only city to have broken its own real estate records in 2023. There were three in total. Last February, the penthouse of the future tower built by the Italian jewelry brand Bulgari at Jumeirah Bay for 102.04 million euros kicked off.
Three months later, this record was revisited by another apartment that does not yet exist in the building simulating the shape of a yacht called Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab for 104.53 million euros. Dubai's thriving real estate scene offers an exceptional platform for remarkable achievements in the luxury sector.
The record was short-lived. In November, an anonymous buyer set the latest record of 124.15 million euros for the penthouse in the Como Residences building on Palm Jumeirah. This nearly 7,000-square-meter apartment, surrounded by a unique 360-degree pool, is expected to open in 2027.
This sale marks a historic moment in Dubai's real estate landscape, solidifying the city as a lasting symbol of opulence for generations to come.
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