Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
A stretch of desert in Dubai, United Arab Emirates sold for more than US$34 million or around IDR510 billion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR15 thousand per US dollar).
The bombastic price is not without reason. Understandably, the desert is located on Jumeirah Bay Island which is known as an elite area.
Reported by CNN, Tuesday (23/5), a vacant land area of 24,500 square feet was sold by a British businessman, Umar Kamani. He is the founder of retail PrettyLittleThing.
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“Jumeirah Bay is one of the most exclusive of the exclusives,” said Andrew Cumming of Knight Frank Dubai, the property agent handling the sale.
Not yet known the identity of the ‘crazy rich’ who bought it. However, the selling price is reportedly 242 percent above the initial purchase price of around 36.5 million dirhams (under US$10 million) in 2021.
According to Cummings, the desert reflects the best location and property in Dubai.
The surge in property prices reflects Dubai’s real estate sector and its crazy rich spending tendencies unaffected by global economic pressures.
“This is for ultra-high net worth individuals who are asking, ‘What is the best thing I can get,'” he said.
The desert is one of 128 patches on one of Dubai’s artificial islands, the Palm Jumeirah, which is connected to the mainland by a 1,000-foot bridge.
Cumming said Dubai’s real estate market has been on the rise recently, with 93 property sales worth US$10 million or more in 2021. By 2022, that figure has skyrocketed to 221 sales. This year, about 88 sales have occurred during the first quarter.
The pandemic played an important role in this progress. “For the last two years, people have wanted to move to more space, they wanted to live on the beach,” said Cummings.
“If you look at New York, people are moving to the countryside, the same thing is happening in London and other big cities. In Dubai, we are seeing that but also a huge influx of international investors who have been attracted by the extraordinary handling of Covid-19 in the country, its high vaccination rates, its safety and security, and also its lifestyle,” he added.
(Gambas:Video CNN)
(sfr)