Dubai International Financial Centre

DIFC is the financial free zone on Sheikh Zayed Road, about 110 hectares between the Trade Centre and Downtown, running under its own courts and commercial law. Most of it is offices. The homes sit in a handful of towers among them, including Index, Central Park Towers, Burj Daman and Sky Gardens. Financial Centre station is a walk away.

People live here because they work here, or to be a few minutes from the restaurants and galleries around Gate Avenue. It is one of the more expensive addresses in the city by the square foot, and service charges follow. It is short on ordinary things: supermarkets, schools, anything that reads as a residential neighbourhood. Parking is priced like the offices it sits among.