Dubai’s Luxury Property Market Is Cashing in on the Global Slowdown

Still, Dubai’s property registry isn’t public and the Land Department doesn’t typically provide access to information on the identities of buyers of specific properties. Some critics say the authorities have little incentive to increase oversight or transparency too much because of the economic benefits of the funds pouring into the housing market. “Dubai is an easy place to buy real estate relatively anonymously,” said Jodi Vittori, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has researched the emirate’s property sector. “With each international crisis, money seems to flow in there, sometimes encouraged openly like during Covid, but sometimes not as with the Russian conflict. Either way, it will remain a key part of their economic development plan.”