Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal Part Of Dubai's Luxury Property Boom

The $80 million mansion purchased by Mukesh Ambani's firm Reliance Industries Ltd was a beach-side villa on Palm Jumeirah, two people familiar with the matter said.

When Mukesh Ambani bought an $80 million mansion in Dubai for his youngest son in March, it was a new record for the city's property market. It was a record that had stood for seven months.

Yet just 13 weeks later, an eight-bedroom, 18 bathroom villa topped it when a mystery buyer paid 302.5 million dirhams ($82.4 million) for a place on the city's artificial tree-shaped island of Palm Jumeirah. Then this month, the Dubai Land Department reported a property deal worth $163 million on Palm Jumeirah without disclosing the buyer, marking yet another all-time high.

The relentless rise of the Dubai real-estate market over the past year means that few believe even that record will stand for too long. Brokers and developers talk of swift transactions, more than 70% of them in cash. And of a wild assortment of buyers - from rich Russians looking for a safe haven for their money after their country's invasion of Ukraine to startup founders and investors from neighbouring Gulf countries flush with cash after the surge in oil prices.

The emirate's prime real-estate prices surged 70.3% over the 12 months through September, making it the biggest gainer on Knight Frank's global index, which focuses on a city's most desirable and expensive homes, often the top 5% by market value. That far outstrips a 2.5% rise for London on the index, 8.9% in Paris and 7.3% in New York, where deals have been hampered by higher interest rates and energy-related economic slowdowns.