The value of Dubai's luxury villa rental market grew sharply during the first five months of 2026, with a decisive shift towards ultra-luxury price brackets, and Palm Jumeirah emerging as the standout location.
A market analysis by fäm Properties revealed that the annual value of new lease contracts exceeding 1 million dirhams rose 27% year on year to 509 million dirhams from 400 million dirhams between January and May 2026.
The report also shows that the annual value of renewed lease contracts for villas exceeding 1 million dirhams climbed 28% to 114 million dirhams, compared with 89 million dirhams over the same period.
Data from DXBinteract revealed that although the volume of luxury rental transactions remained steady, the upward shift in value was driven by greater activity in higher price brackets. This trend was most pronounced in the 2–3 million dirham range, where new contracts rose 21% and renewals rose 17%.
At the ultra-luxury end, 9 new annual lease contracts were recorded in the 5–10 million dirham range, along with 7 further contracts exceeding 10 million dirhams.
Overall, 67.3% of all contracts signed between January and May 2026 were for 12-month terms.
Palm Jumeirah dominated both transaction volume and annual rental value, recording the highest number of new and renewed contracts exceeding 1 million dirhams across all villa communities.
Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties, said: