Panicked Brits ‘flee Dubai for luxury £5,000-a-week 4-bedroom homes’ | World | News
Panicked Brits fleeing Dubai are reportedly asking estate agents to find homes worth £5,000 a week to rent. London. UK citizens are scrambling to return as the Emirate continues to come under attack from Iran, property experts said.
A drone attack overnight sparked a fire at Dubai Creek Port. Iran targeted Dubai International Airport again on Wednesday, injuring four people. Ongoing Iranian attacks tarnish Iran’s image Dubai It was a stable tax haven that attracted many wealthy Britons until the US and Israel went to war against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
Rosy Khalastchy, head of Beauchamp Estates St John’s Wood office, said: Times more people were looking for a way out.
He said: “They were a bit shocked, thinking they were in a safe area, but suddenly they weren’t.”
Will Watson, of estate agency The Buying Solution, said three Dubai-based clients he had helped were asking for luxury, short-term, four-bedroom rentals in Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill or Holland Park for more than £5,000 a week.
He said a client who ran a currency trading business with an office in Dubai had younger staff who wanted to move back to the UK.
Before the Iranian attacks, Dubai was leading as a center of wealth, with the number of millionaires living in the emirate doubling in the last decade, according to Henley & Partners.
Knight Frank reported in January that Dubai’s housing market had hit new records in 2025, driven by “significant” growth in sales volumes and values.
Sales of “ultra-luxury” homes priced above $10 million reached historic highs last year, according to Knight Frank, cementing Dubai’s status as a “top tier” global destination for ultra-high net worth individuals.
But Camilla Dell, of buying agency Black Brick, said the war was a reminder that the United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, was in a “very volatile” region and lacked freedom of expression.
Jo Eccles, founder and managing director of procurement agency Eccord, said: Evening Standard Everyone is watching the developments very closely.
He told the publication: “People will inevitably start to question whether they want their capital to remain tied up there for the long term and whether it is a safe place to live and raise a family.
“We have witnessed a safe escape in similar situations in the past.”
