The home sets a record for the priciest deal inked in the district surrounding the tallest building in the world
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A mansion-sized Dubai penthouse has sold for AED 139 million (US$37.8 million), a record high for the neighbourhood surrounding the city’s iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper, according to an announcement Monday from the building’s developer, Omniyat.
The four-bedroom home is within the Lana Residences, Dorchester Collection, a hotel and residential property managed by the luxury hospitality brand that opened in April in the Burj Khalifa district, the area named for the world’s tallest building.
Designed by London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners and with interiors by French design duo Gilles & Boissier, the penthouse—one of 39 units at the building—spans close to 16,600 square feet and boasts open spaces, natural materials and views of the Marasi Bay Marina and Dubai skyline.
There are also floor-to-ceiling windows, towering ceilings and a terrace with a pool, according to listing photos.
“It’s a sanctuary in which every detail has been thoughtfully curated to evoke a sense of harmonious balance,” Mahdi Amjad, founder and executive chairman at Omniyat, said in a statement.
Mansion Global couldn’t identify the buyer of the apartment.
The building itself offers residents valet parking, an outdoor pool and all of the facilities at the connected hotel, which includes restaurants, garden terraces, cocktail bars, a cigar lounge, a Dior-branded spa and a gym.
Dubai’s property market has enjoyed a major upswing since the pandemic, complete with scores of record-breaking deals and surging home prices.
In the first quarter of the year, the city was the world’s hot spot for super-prime property purchases, with 105 homes priced at US$10 million or more changing hands in the three-month period.
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The US housing market remains under pressure as high mortgage rates continue to weigh on affordability and demand. Industry leaders say 2026 has been one of the toughest years for home sales, with slower price growth, weaker mortgage activity, and fewer buyers entering the market. However, experts say reduced competition and more price cuts could create opportunities for well-prepared buyers.
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The typically busy spring season for the housing market was a dud, and the summer isn’t looking much brighter.
Housing services companies like Zillow Group and Rocket RKT +3.78% were loud and clear last week on earnings calls: Rocket CEO Varun Krishna called the quarter through June “one of the toughest spring housing markets in years.”
Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the company predicted earlier this year that the market for mortgages would be flat. “We actually now think it’s going to be down low-to-mid-single digits,” he said.
The rest of 2026 will remain challenging for mortgage origination volume, says KBW analyst Bose George. The question now is what happens in 2027. “If mortgage rates remain [around] 6.75%, I think that’s going to be challenging even for next year,” he says.
But what’s bad news for mortgage companies could be a positive for bargain hunters. Buyers can expect prices to grow more slowly—or mildly decline—with less competition as long as mortgage rates remain unpredictable.
Mortgage rates at the beginning of the year were solidly below year-ago levels, notes Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. But they surpassed last year’s levels recently, she adds, referencing Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of 30-year fixed mortgage rates. Last week’s reading, at 6.69%, was higher than year-ago levels for the first time in 2026.
“From the affordability point of view, it’s going to get more challenging in the second half of the year,” she says. “And when affordability gets more challenging, that impacts sales and home price appreciation.”
Mortgage application data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association has cooled since the beginning of the year. The trade group expects that the number of mortgage originations in the remaining two quarters will lag behind last year’s levels, after exceeding 2025 levels in the first half.
Rocket’s early-stage data—which the company told Barron’s it derives from its brokerage Redfin, demand for its mortgage products, and signs in its servicing portfolio that a homeowner is preparing to refinance or move—“leads us to expect the third quarter mortgage market to be smaller than the second,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Brown, said on the company’s call. He added that such an occurrence is “something the industry has not seen since 2022.”
Prices will be about flat nationally, Ng says. Zillow’s most recent forecast, which shows how values are expected to change in the year ending June 2027, show them dropping in roughly half of the 100 largest U.S. metros for which data is available.
Buyers aren’t rushing in at a time when mortgage costs are rising and unpredictable. But those with the right combination of patience and cash could stand to benefit. “If you are financially qualified to buy a starter home, you are facing less competition and you’re more likely to get a price cut,” Ng says.
