- A plot of sand in Dubai half the size of a football field sold for $34 million, per Bloomberg.
- It was sold by PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kamani, who made a 242% profit in two years.
A plot of sand on a luxury Dubai island has sold for $34 million, more than triple what its former owner paid for it, Bloomberg reported.
The 24,500 sq ft plot — about half the size of a football field — is on Jumeirah Bay Island, a man-made island in the shape of a seahorse.
"It's 125 million for sand," Andrew Cummings, head of prime residential at Knight Frank in Dubai, told Bloomberg – referencing its price in the local currency, United Arab Emirates dirhams.
"Everything that's been making the press has predominantly been spectacular villas, it's been incredible penthouses and all this stuff," he added. "But this is just a massive record-breaker for a land plot."
The undisclosed buyer is planning to build a family vacation home on the plot, according to Bloomberg.
It was sold by Umar Kamani, the founder of UK-based fast-fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing, who paid $10 million for it two years ago.
Bloomberg reports that Kamani also owns an identical neighboring plot, which he plans to offer for $36.7 million.
Prices on Jumeirah Bay Island are so expensive because there were only 128 plots originally put on offer. By comparison, there are thousands of homes on the tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah island, and 300 in the World Islands archipelago.
Last September, LUXHABITAT Sotheby's International Realty broke records with a $50 million land sale on the island – but that was for two plots. Eight months later, Kamani's pair could go for 41% more.
And on the same island, the penthouse on the under-development Bulgari Lighthouse became Dubai's most expensive apartment in February, selling for $112 million, per Arabian Business.