Dubai's “Billionaires' Row”, which sits on Frond G of The Palm Jumeirah, is now said to be “the most exclusive street for Dubai’s rich and famous”.
This is according to Murat Ayyildiz, the chairman of Alpago Group, which has developed six signature villas there, with the latest one, Riva Del Lusso, having sold this week for Dh130 million ($35.3 million).
Earlier this year, another of Alpago's signature villas, Casa Del Sole, sold for a Dubai property market record of Dh302 million amid a booming market — especially in the prime sector.
“Dubai is the luxury playground of the wealthiest people in the world,” Mr Ayyildiz told The National.
“With the continued investment and influx of rich individuals, there will be more demand for high-end luxury property and Billionaire’s Row is guaranteed to become one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in the world.”
Prime residential values in Dubai, which encompass The Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills and Jumeirah Bay, have risen by 89 per cent in the past 12 months, according to a report by property consultancy Knight Frank.
Palm Jumeirah villa prices are the most expensive in Dubai at Dh3,704 per square foot in October, data from CBRE show. Prices have risen in each of the past six month, sometimes by as much as 5 per cent on a month-by-month basis.
Alpago has completed construction of three of the six villas and has sold four of them.
There is another villa scheduled to be finished by the end of the year, another one before end of the first quarter of 2023 and the last one by the end of next year, Mr Ayyildiz said.
He is confident that all of them will be sold.
“Right now, the demand for luxury real estate is at an all-time high,” he said. “Post-pandemic Dubai has seen a huge influx of several new ultra-wealthy individuals, which has boosted the demand for luxury properties.
“Billionaires' Row feeds the needs of these individuals, and it is a little haven of perfection in the heart of this bustling metropolis.”
The company is also developing a penthouse building at West Beach on The Palm Jumeirah, called Palm Flower, which will have only 10 properties spread across 11 floors.
Alpago will have “plenty more developments in the coming months and years”, Mr Ayyildiz said.
He expects more market records to be set amid the government's encouragement for growth and investment.
“While we are very proud to have sold one of Dubai’s most expensive villas, we knew that because of the market structure, it would not be for long until we hear of another big sale,” he said.
The Riva Del Lusso villa is spread across 10,000 square feet and has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, private beach access, a private swimming pool and views of the Atlantis and Royal Atlantis.
It is one of only a handful of villas on The Palm with custom-made basement parking, which can house six cars comfortably, Alpago Properties said.
Palm Jumeirah has also registered a recent rental record after a villa was leased on a six-month basis for Dh4 million.
And the most expensive rental deal in Jumeirah Islands was also recorded at Dh1.2 million as rents and prices rise on the back of the wider economic recovery in the UAE.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
