Why the super-rich are swapping Dubai for Milan

Recent violence in the Middle East had some of Dubai’s wealthy British expats rushing to bunkers, but in the longer term they might be seeking shelter in a famous Italian city.

Milan is becoming the preferred destination for the wealthy who are “abandoning” Dubai because of tensions and violence in the Gulf region, said Eastern Eye.

Restlessness and reinvention

Italy’s flat-tax regime means that foreign residents can pay €300,000 (£259,620) a year on all overseas income, which is “small change for the world’s wealthiest”, said The Guardian. Even prior to the fighting in Iran, interest in Italy took off after Britain scrapped its non-dom status and Portugal tightened its own rules.

But “tax policy alone does not explain the surge”, said the Economic Times. Italy’s “strong legal framework, EU membership, and relatively stable economy” make it a “compelling choice” for the privileged.

As wealthy families move to “safer European bases”, Milan is enjoying “historic spikes” in luxury real estate sales, from its “renovated palazzi to modern high-end apartments”. Property prices in Milan have risen by 38% over five years.

“Unlike more poetic cities like Rome or Venice”, Milan “actually works” and doesn’t have an issue with “overtourism”, said The Times. Its “strategic location” offers “easy access to the lakes, mountains and coast” and there’s a “restlessness” and an “obsession” with “reinvention”, meaning there’s “always something new to see or do”. It is home to the Borsa Italiana stock exchange, leading banks and global fashion houses.

A new “superfast” railway links the city centre and Linate airport, you can “whizz around the city quicker than ever” on the “tap-in tap-out” metro, and there are new hotels, restaurants, bars and private members’ clubs, which are “cranking up the standards of hospitality” from “perfectly good” to something closer to those of London or New York.

Tax dumping

Can Milan really dethrone Dubai in the affections of the “global elite”? That “remains to be seen”, said The Guardian. Armand Arton, who helps multimillionaire and billionaire families to relocate through investment citizenship schemes, said he’s “positive” that Dubai will “rebound from the current question of doubt around security”.

There are “still questions” about “how far Italy can push its advantage”, said the broadsheet, and the former French prime minister François Bayrou accused Italy of “tax dumping”, an allegation that Giorgia Meloni dismissed as “utterly baseless”.

Italy is not fully replacing Dubai, said Eastern Eye, but it has become a “strategic second home for global elites”. Experts believe the Italian city “offers a compelling alternative for those prioritising European stability”.