Dubai in Julius Baer’s most-expensive-cities ranking: 7th in 2025, and what changed in 2026

Swiss bank Julius Baer publishes an annual Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report ranking cities by cost of living for wealthy residents, built on a basket of roughly 20 goods and services — from housing and luxury cars to education and high-end retail. The last two editions tell a different, and in their own way instructive, story about Dubai.

2025: a jump of five places

In the report published in July 2025, Dubai climbed five places to rank 7th in the world and 4th in the EMEA region — ahead of New York, Paris and Milan. That year's top 10 ran: Singapore, London, Hong Kong, Monaco, Zurich, Shanghai, Dubai, New York, Paris, Milan. Local currency prices rose a modest 1% overall; what actually pushed Dubai up the table was faster growth in specific big-ticket items — car prices rose 13%, and residential property values rose 17%.

2026: a drop to 14th — but not because Dubai got cheaper

In the following year's report, Dubai fell seven places to 14th. The reason is methodologically important and often misread: Julius Baer's own analysts state plainly that the move is not about Dubai becoming more affordable, but about other cities in the index becoming more expensive faster, largely through currency effects. Zurich and Monaco rose mainly because the Swiss franc and the euro strengthened against the US dollar, while the dirham — pegged to the dollar — relatively weakened against those other index currencies. Singapore held first place for a fourth straight year, Zurich climbed to second, Monaco entered the top three for the first time, and London slipped to fifth.

This distinction matters for property: the Julius Baer index measures dollar-denominated cost of living relative to other capital-of-wealth cities, not the standalone trajectory of Dubai housing prices. In the same period covered by the 2025 report, Dubai property prices themselves were rising at double-digit rates — the two signals simply come from different systems of measurement.

What it means for an investor

The currency logic cuts both ways: the dirham's dollar peg is the same property that has historically protected capital for investors coming from countries with unstable currencies. As long as the dirham stays pegged while other index currencies fluctuate, Dubai's ranking in reports like this one will move more with FX markets than with the underlying property market.

The practical takeaway for a buyer: a position in a ranking like Julius Baer's is an interesting contextual signal about a city's standing among the wealthy, but it is not a proxy for price per square foot. For the real trajectory of the housing market, look at district-level data — prime areas such as Downtown Dubai and DIFC — rather than a position on a global cost-of-living table.

For how Dubai’s standing among the wealthy lines up with actual capital inflows, see our piece on family offices and millionaires relocating to the UAE.