Dubai Leads Super-Prime Property Demand

Dubai continues to lead the world’s super-prime property scene, recording twice as many residential sales above US$10mn as either London or New York in Q4 2023, reports Abode2. The same three cities lead Knight Frank’s rankings for super-prime sales throughout last year: Dubai with 284 $10mn+ deals; London with 240; New York with 211.

Hong Kong saw its big-ticket deal tally dip to just 15 in the closing three months of 2023, pushing it out of the top five markets for the first time. Sydney and Geneva ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with “strong activity” reported through Q4.

A total of 411 $10mn+ sales were counted in Q4 across 12 super-prime markets tracked by Knight Frank, representing an 11% increase from 370 in the same period a year earlier. For the full year, 1,782 deals were tallied, worth a combined $31.9bn.

Despite the increase, that $31.9bn is 22% lower than the $40.7bn peak during the 2021 pandemic property boom – but it was still substantially higher than the pre-pandemic level in 2019. 

2023 was a pivotal year for global super-prime markets, while rates continued to climb in the first half of the year, wealth creation rebounded as asset prices surged on the back of the AI-fuelled equity boom, which was then supported in the final quarter by expectations of lower rates. 2024 is likely to be defined by the eventual pivot to lower debt costs which will boost activity in key global super-prime markets.