UAE - The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) living in Dubai has increased by 62 per cent from 2012 to 2022, putting the city's real estate market on track to achieve Dh300 billion (US$81.69 billion) in sales this year, said Unique Properties, one of Dubai's leading real estate agencies.

The emirate is home to more than 68,400 HNWIs and the country's prime real estate sector is booming as these individuals increasingly flock to the UAE, it said.

Dubai has become the destination of choice for the world's highly affluent to settle in, largely due to the UAE's deft handling of the epidemic and the country's convenient location. Tax advantages and favourable policies are also major contributing factors. Dubai's real estate market is expected to see a 46% growth in 2023.

Sitting at the top of the list of high net worth individuals in the Middle East, Dubai's reputation is continuing to attract wealthy investors. Turmoil in different parts of the world has seen an influx of Europeans into the UAE, a trend that is expected to continue, and a predicted rise in Chinese investors will further drive growth in Dubai's luxury residential sector.

The report said the cosmopolitan city's main real estate market would see growth of almost 14 per cent throughout the year.

Downtown Dubai, The Palm Jumeirah and JBR are among the key areas stimulating this growth. Increased demand for luxury homes in these areas has seen prices for high-end homes in Dubai soar from 6 per cent to 7.9 per cent in 2023, representing the highest value growth in the world. It said there are transactions worth more than AED1 million every day.

Arash Jalili, founder and CEO of Unique Properties, commented: "Dubai's real estate market has maintained its post-pandemic momentum, which has unleashed the potential to break last year's historic growth as high net worth individuals continue to move to the UAE. With real estate transactions having exceeded Dh12 billion since the start of the year, the emirate remains on an upward trajectory with total real estate transactions in April up by more than 16 per cent compared to the same month last year."

According to the latest figures, the total number of property transactions in April was 7,615, with property prices increasing by an annual average of 14.5%, with the off-plan market spearheading the growth.

Serving the real estate market for the past 15 years, Unique Properties continues to facilitate several transactions in the off-plan segment of Dubai's residential sector.