Dubai Real Estate: Buyers Push for Better Deals Ahead of Q4

Tim Elliott (0:00)

This is the Morning Drive. It's time to talk real estate. It's Wednesday morning. Mario Volpi, the senior manager from EVA Real Estate, the columnist, the podcaster, the man about town, and a man in a remarkable tie today as well. If you're watching this, it's almost piano-like, but not.

Mario Volpi (0:20)

Good morning, Tim, yes. Hello, sorry, yeah, yeah. Yes, with my...

Tim Elliott (0:24)

Nice to see you.

Mario Volpi (0:24)

Thank you.

Tim Elliott (0:25)

You're looking well. I like the tie.

Mario Volpi (0:27)

Yes, it's a very famous tie. I...

Tim Elliott (0:30)

It's been on television.

Mario Volpi (0:31)

It's been on television, yeah, Italian television as well.

Tim Elliott (0:34)

I know. You told us this morning. What were you doing on Italian TV?

Mario Volpi (0:38)

Talking about Dubai Real Estate, funny enough.

Tim Elliott (0:42)

Is there anybody you've not talked to about Dubai Real Estate?

Mario Volpi (0:44)

Many people.

Tim Elliott (0:45)

I don't feel that special. What was it like on Italian TV?

Mario Volpi (0:49)

It was recorded. It was an hour outside of Rome, so I took a taxi to this sort of trading industrial estate.

Tim Elliott (0:59)

Right.

Mario Volpi (1:00)

And I went to this, well, they called it a studio, but I walked in, it was this huge, huge, open, like a warehouse, really. And they had the set down the end with a lot of sort of, not posters, but TVs that moved around with images and what have you of Donald Trump and sort of what was going on.

Desk in the middle and two chairs. It was quite daunting, because I had to do the walk from the door right down at one end, thinking, well, this is going to happen, you know. And yeah, fortunately, she had already given me a heads up roughly what she was going to ask me. So I kind of formulated it in my mind. But this was July 2025

Tim Elliott (1:44)

Yeah. So obviously all in Italian.

Mario Volpi (1:46)

Yes, absolutely.

Tim Elliott (1:48)

Yeah. And that was no problem for you?

Mario Volpi (1:50)

Well, she said, no, no. I mean, I am Italian, although some of the words are a little bit rusty now and then, as it was all about practice. But she said it went really well.

And the program was kind of weird because it was called The Words of a Woman. So it was a bit like, you know the loose women type program in the UK?

Tim Elliott (2:14)

Which is like a panel show, isn't it?

Mario Volpi (2:15)

Yeah.

Tim Elliott (2:16)

With women talking and wasting their shoes.

Mario Volpi (2:17)

So when I first heard about it, I thought it was that kind of concept, but it isn't.

It can be cultural, it can be lifestyle, it can be newsworthy, internationally as well. And this lady reached out to me knowing that we were doing a road show in Italy, and she's quite a famous sort of news anchor, if I want to have a better word, who's now, she's been in the game a long time, so now she does this, and it's quite an award-winning program. So it's a regional one rather than, you know, sort of national television.

Tim Elliott (2:52)

Does this mean we have to pay you more for your appearances?

Mario Volpi (2:54)

Well, it'd be nice if you paid me at all, you know. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Tim Elliott (3:01)

Maybe next year.

Mario Volpi (3:02)

Okay, let's see.

Tim Elliott (3:04)

I think that's interesting, because this is the thing with you, you comment or provide commentary a lot with a lot of different people about real estate in Dubai. So your knowledge, I think, is enviable.

Mario Volpi (3:16)

But you've got to remember that Dubai is, so it's not about me, it literally is about Dubai and the UAE. And it's an interesting subject. As I've always said, on the world stage, the UAE does a great job in selling itself, so people are naturally interested. And especially this year, they want to know exactly what's going on, how it's been affected. Is the market still there, et cetera? Last year, obviously, was completely different. It was all guns blazing, if you pardon the expression.

And we had projects selling out very quickly, you had to move very quickly, otherwise you would miss out. We talked about FOMO, that was definitely there, when people felt that if they didn't buy something quickly, they would miss out. And very frenetic type of a marketplace, completely different this year. People can take their time. Buyers are still there, they just want a really good deal.