Dubai’s Jumeirah Bay Island plot sells for $34m, sets new record

Dubai’s Jumeirah Bay Island plot sells for $34m, sets new record

A human-made island in Dubai was sold on April 19 for Dhs125m ($34m), setting a record in a market that continues to benefit from an influx of foreign wealth. The 24,500-square-foot empty parcel is on the sought-after Jumeirah Bay Island, a seahorse-shaped piece of land accessible by bridge from the Dubai mainland. That works out to more than Dhs5,000 per square foot, which the brokerage on the deal, Knight Frank, identified as a new high. The buyer, who doesn’t live in the UAE, is planning to build a family vacation home on the property. His identity wasn’t disclosed. “It’s 125 million for sand,” says Andrew Cummings, head of prime residential at Knight Frank in Dubai. “Everything that’s been making the press has predominantly been spectacular villas, it’s been incredible penthouses and all this stuff. But this is just a massive record breaker for a land plot.” The property was purchased two years ago for Dhs36.5m, according to the Dubai Land Department, netting the seller a tidy Dhs88.5m profit. The run up to the city becoming such a heady real estate market has been fuelled by high oil prices, a desire by the world’s rich to park wealth in property and