This $204 Million 'Marble Palace' Is Now Dubai's Most Expensive House Up For Sale

A luxurious mansion located in Dubai's Emirates Hills has been put up for sale for 750 million dirhams ($204 million), making it the most expensive house on the market in a city where the luxury property is red-hot. That mammoth amount turns out to be Rs 16,77,12,68,400 in Indian currency.

Dubai's 'Marble Palace' Up For Sale

Luxhabitat Sotheby's International Realty

The mansion has 60,000 square feet of indoor space with five bedrooms: At 4,000 square feet, it's fair to say that the primary bedroom is bigger than most homes. The ground floor has rooms for dining and entertaining. Other amenities include a 15-car garage, 19 bathrooms, indoor and outdoor pools, two domes, an 80,000-liter (21,000-gallon) coral reef aquarium, a power substation and panic rooms. It sits on a 70,000-square-foot lot in a gated community overlooking a golf course, as per Bloomberg.

The property¡ªnicknamed the ¡°Marble Palace¡± by the selling agents¡ªwas built using an estimated 80 million dirhams to 100 million dirhams in marble from countries including Italy. Construction took nearly 12 years and was completed in 2018, according to Luxhabitat Sotheby's International Realty, which is selling the property.

Tasks included the application of 700,000 sheets of gold leaf by 70 skilled workers toiling for more than nine months, the brokerage says. The home is currently decorated with about 400 pieces from the owner's personal art collection, primarily 19th-century and 20th-century statues and paintings; the owner is prepared to negotiate about including them and furnishings in the purchase.

"Buyers Will Either Love It Or Hate It"

Luxhabitat Sotheby's International Realty

¡°It's not everybody's taste or style,¡± Luxhabitat Sotheby's broker Kunal Singh says, who is well aware that buyers will either love it or hate it. As per the report, Dubai's property market has been on a tear since late 2020, an uplift that has lasted much longer than other global property booms during the pandemic. The rally is partially a correction after a market decline of about six years.

Dubai's handling of the pandemic enabled the city to reopen quickly, attracting bankers who transferred from places like Singapore or Hong Kong. The world's wealthy snapped up property as a way to stash their money in an uncertain global economy. And an influx of Russians after Russia invaded Ukraine helped sustain the boom.

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Why The Price Of The Mansion Is Justified

Luxhabitat Sotheby's International Realty

The property's price is partly justified by the value of the time and materials that went into building it, as per the broker Singh.

The location is minutes from Palm Jumeirah and about 25 minutes by car from the Dubai International Financial Center business district. Emirates Hills, a gated community, was created two decades ago and has often been described as Dubai's Beverly Hills, without the movie-industry connections. A golf course runs through the middle. The total lot size of the Marble Palace is one of the largest in the community. An adjacent plot of about 6,000 square feet could be purchased or leased from the developer, potentially for a tennis or padel ball court.

The primary suite includes his-and-her bathrooms. The second-largest bedroom suite is 2,500 square feet, and guest rooms are each about 1,000 square feet; one is currently configured to store wine. There are 12 staff rooms with space for up to 25, and two bank vaults. The owner reportedly built the home and lives in it by himself following a divorce.

Other Big Property Deals in Dubai

Several recent mega deals in Dubai reportedly include the 125 million dirham sale of a plot of empty beachfront land and the purchase, for 420 million dirhams, of a penthouse by the Persian Gulf. Still, the price per square foot of the Marble Palace¡ª12,500 dirhams¡ªis more than double what other properties in Emirates Hills have fetched. The most expensive home sale previously in the neighbourhood was for 210 million dirhams, at 5,614 dirhams per square foot, in August 2022, according to Dubai property records.

Only one listing in the city rivals this $204 million mansion: A planned penthouse apartment in a project called Bugatti by Binghatti is also being offered at 750 million dirhams but has yet to be built. (Generally, properties that are move-in ready have commanded higher prices than those under construction.) As per the report, that apartment¡ªor ¡°sky mansion,¡± as the developer calls it¡ªwill come with a car elevator and is due to hit the market in about three years.

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"Only 5-10 People Wealthy Enough To Buy It"

Luxhabitat Sotheby's International Realty

Broker Singh estimates that there are only about 5 to 10 potential buyers in the world who are wealthy enough to buy the Marble Palace.

Two people have reportedly viewed the home in the past three weeks, Singh says. One, a Russian who had a representative view the property, would have to figure out how to move that amount of money. The second is an Indian client who already owns three properties in Emirates Hills; his wife is on the fence, leaning toward something more contemporary, Singh says. ¡°This is something you would buy to show off¡ªto bring some elite people, leaders, politicians,¡± says Kerry Michael, marketing director for Luxhabitat Sotheby's.

¡°The person who buys it definitely is in politics, is in leadership. They want to entertain people. You can't do that on the Palm without getting noticed, without getting media,¡± she says, referring to the Palm Jumeirah, the manmade archipelago where there are many high-end homes. ¡°In Emirates Hills, you can invite the Obamas, you can invite the sheikhs into this palace and entertain.¡±

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