Dubai luxury home market soars as world's rich flee pandemic

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As vaccines roll out unevenly worldwide and waves of infections force countries to extend restrictions, foreign buyers flush with cash have flooded Dubai's high-end property market, one of the few places in the world where they can dine, shop and do business in person.

They're snapping up record numbers of luxury villas and penthouses, sending prices rocketing in this boom-and-bust market.

"Tons of people are coming in and buying multimillion dollar properties on the spot, with no due diligence time whatsoever," said Matthew Cooke, a partner at consultancy Knight Frank, who manages penthouse sales on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah artificial archipelago. "The market is going through a boom time ... but people are very aware that Dubai can run too quickly and it all falls apart," said Jackie Johns, partner at Premier Estates, an affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate, referring to the debt-driven crisis that brought the city to its knees in 2008.

The tourist influx helped drive the country's dramatic surge in coronavirus cases in January, prompting the U.K. to suspend flights. But the United Arab Emirates, with its young population and low mortality rates, has fared relatively well during the pandemic. The country of over 9 million, which relied heavily on the Chinese state-backed Sinopharm vaccine for its inoculation campaign, has administered 10.6 million vaccine doses.

In March, the Palm logged its second-highest residential sale ever when a Swiss family bought a waterfront mansion for $30.2 million. Last month, an unidentified European family bought the city's third-most expensive home ever for $28.6 million.

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Who cares, they're rich. Just saying.

Sharing the illusion that wealth is the solution.

Flooding about Dubai, it is horrible place, no trees, yuck.

Canadians are so 'out of touch' that they think mostly every country is in lock down like we are. Well trusty Canadians, they ARENT. In fact, 95% of the world is open, fear free, masks optional (very few wear them outside of 7-8 of the G7 countries). Wake up ppl. Turn OFF ur TV

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