For the wave of executives turning into digital nomads since the pandemic, there’s no location more accommodating than the United Arab Emirates.
That’s according to research by real estate broker Savills Plc, which ranked 25 prime residential markets by their appeal to long-term remote workers.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are attracting a flurry of senior hybrid workers in the finance and consultancy sectors, many of whom are attracted to the cities’ strong air connectivity, modern infrastructure and high quality of life, Savills said.
“People want the best of both worlds — a seaside lifestyle with the city amenities,” said Kelcie Sellers, a world research associate at Savills. “Most of the top 10 fall into that category, and the desire for this type of location has increased in recent years.”
The shift to hybrid working since the pandemic prompted many executives to find a new base elsewhere in the world, often in warm coastal cities with easily accessible airports. While European companies are encouraging more employees back to their desks, roughly a third of firms are still reporting office-utilization rates of less than 40 percent, according to a CBRE Group Inc. survey.
Meanwhile, as rental prices rise in digital nomad hotspots, the affordability of prime rental properties has become a crucial factor when deciding where to move next. Lisbon, which topped the rankings in 2022, placed at no. 5 as rents soared 31 percent year-on-year in the city, Savills data show.
Malaga, a new entry into the rankings last year after Google moved in, came in third only to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Palermo, a fresh entrant to the 2024 league table, is benefiting from being the cheapest major prime rental market in Italy, where rents are as much as 70 percent lower than in Florence, the report said.
To be sure, office attendance is rising in Europe, partly driven by an increased use of return-to-work mandates. Three-quarters of companies are now adopting a minimum attendance policy, according to CBRE, helping rates of office use to climb steadily across the continent.
“If there is a more concerted push to have people in the office more frequently, you’ll only see the importance of air connectivity increase,” Savills’ Sellers said. Regardless, “business owners will always be able to live and work from wherever to manage their companies,” she added.