The super-prime real estate market in Dubai is continuing its remarkable upswing in 2025, with record-breaking deals, strong sales volumes, and growing demand from affluent individuals.
Transactions in exclusive neighborhoods such as the Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Bay Island, Emirates Hills, and Dubai Hills Estate have not only broken previous records but also demonstrate ongoing confidence in the market for ultra-luxury real estate in Dubai.
The evidence is strong. In H1 2025, ready-to-move-in sales accounted for 54% of all real estate transactions in Dubai, while off-plan sales comprised 46%. In the ultra-premium segment, ready-to-move-in, ready-to-sell real estate, villas made up 69% of the transactions, while apartments, including penthouses, made up 31%. By late summer 2025, the city’s population had surpassed 4 million, demonstrating the long-term demographic momentum that fuels demand in desirable neighborhoods.
This year, Dubai Sotheby’s International Realty announced a number of historic sales. Jumeirah Bay Island set a record when a custom beachfront mansion sold for Dh330 million. The most costly residential tract on Palm Jumeirah sold for Dh365 million in June. The Signature Villa, a secondary villa located 25 degrees away, sold for Dh161 million, or Dh14,679.39 per square foot. These deals are not unique; rather, they are part of a trend of significant, impulsive purchases of turnkey residences in both upscale new neighborhoods and legacy neighborhoods.
Chris Whitehead, managing partner of Dubai Sotheby’s International Realty, notes that 2025 is progressing more smoothly than 2024, when sales transactions increased by almost 40% year over year and super-prime real estate acquisitions for $10 million and more doubled to $7.6 billion. A new “centimillionaire” demographic—buyers with extremely high but cautious budgets—as well as more supply, such as renovated legacy properties and more ready-to-move-in stock, are pushing the market away from explosive expansion and toward stability.
One of the major demand pillars is still branded housing. In 2024, branded residences in the super-prime market commanded significant premiums, ranging from 60 to 80 percent more than their unbranded counterparts. Bulgari, Baccarat, and Four Seasons are still the most sought-after names, particularly among consumers who demand serviced luxury and hotel-style amenities. For instance, Villa Allegra at Palm Jumeirah had outstanding design and brand appeal.
This leadership is supported by data from sites like Knight Frank. In the first half of 2025, Dubai led the world in both the quantity and value of super-prime properties worth more than $10 million. These sales, which totaled $1.9 billion in Q1, increased to $2.6 billion in Q2, a about 63% increase over Q2 2024. These numbers demonstrate how Dubai is surpassing several conventional luxury real estate markets.
Nearly 80% of all Middle Eastern home transactions for $10 million or more in the first half of 2025 took place in Dubai, according to recent Knight Frank study. Despite a possible slowdown in the growth of mainstream real estate prices, the firm projects that transaction values in the city’s luxury market would increase by an additional 10 to 15 percent by the end of the year. Scarcity is keeping values high since there is very little supply in the most upscale areas—Jumeirah Bay Island, for instance, has only a few dozen plots.
According to real estate analysts, Dubai still gains from the fluctuating worldwide capital flows. Demand is being driven toward the emirate by a number of factors, including the migration of capital from Europe and Asia, geopolitical unpredictability elsewhere, and the growth in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals globally. According to Henley & Partners, the UAE was one of the top locations for net inflows of millionaires in 2024 and 2025, thus solidifying its position as a sanctuary for wealth preservation.
With a number of prestigious waterfront developments and branded homes set to debut within the next year, Abu Dhabi has also started to take a more assertive stance in the luxury real estate market. According to analysts, the two emirates are becoming more complementary to one another, with Abu Dhabi serving institutional purchasers and long-term residents while Dubai attracts riches from around the world.
Supply is still a source of stress. Demand for upscale villas, a la Bollywood, has been surpassing supply. Upgraded mansions are making a comeback in legacy neighborhoods like Emirates Hills, while Dubai Hills Estate has emerged as a super-prime bastion in the short time since its luxury phase opening. As the market absorbs more prime ready home inventory, prices are consequently anticipated to moderate rather than decline, dropping slightly from the 2024 peaks.
Leigh Borg, an executive partner, and Filippo Tavernaro, a senior global property consultant, praised the Dh161 million sale of the Signature Villa on Palm Jumeirah earlier in 2025 as demonstrating not only the prestige of the address but also the strength of the demand for ultra-luxury, custom-built turnkey homes worldwide. They clarified that these sales “don’t stay on the market for very long.”
According to analysts, Dubai’s super-prime real estate has proven resilient in the face of ongoing global economic uncertainties, including rising interest rates in the West, geopolitical concerns, and inflation pressures, by providing luxury, safety, lifestyle, and capital preservation. Speculative profits don’t seem to be as important to buyers as the lifestyle, service, stability, and status that come with owning a luxury home in a desirable neighborhood.
Analysts and Dubai Sotheby’s predict that super-prime real estate in Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills, Jumeirah Bay Island, and important branded properties will continue to set new standards, even though some deceleration in price increase is expected. The super-prime market’s message is that exclusivity and rarity are still paramount, and Dubai offers plenty of both.
