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Real Estate

Real estate and property news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

RAK sets out $272m plan for ‘our version of Central Park’

Ras Al Khaimah is preparing an AED1 billion ($272 million) mixed-use masterplan to link two of its most prominent waterfront developments – Al Hamra and Al Marjan Island. The project is being led by Marjan, the master developer of freehold properties in the northern emirate, and will have its official launch later this year. “What […]

Khalid bin Kalban, vice chairman and CEO of Dubai Investments, said 'the year ahead is very positive'

Dubai Investments plans IPO before year end, says CEO

Dubai Investments is preparing to sell shares in four subsidiaries to the public and may list one of them before the year end, its CEO Khalid bin Kalban has told AGBI. The government-backed company manages AED22.1 billion ($6 billion) of assets in the UAE and beyond, in sectors including real estate, construction and building materials […]

Oman property Nizwa city

Property market in Oman cools

Oman’s real estate market slowed in February, as total deal value fell 8 percent year-on-year to OR362 million ($941 million), the state-run Oman News Agency reported.  The figure dropped from OR395 million in February 2024, the news agency said, citing data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information. Despite the overall market cooling, transaction […]

City, Architecture, Building

Istanbul needs more houses as Turkey’s largest city grows

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, will need 122,000 new homes every year to support its growing population, a PwC report has said. The city will need 1.22 million houses over the next 10 years with the population expected to rise by 3 percent to 16.2 million by 2034, Hurriyet Daily newspaper reported, citing PwC Turkey. The […]

A street in Istanbul – Turkey property sales were strong for Q1

Turkish property sales jump may temper on market turmoil

Turkish property sales rose by 20 percent in the first quarter, but recent political unrest and economic uncertainty from mid-March onwards may weigh on the market. The number of property transactions rose to 335,786 in the three months to March 31 compared with the same period last year, according to data issued this week by […]

The Majid Al Futtaim Properties mixed-use project in Riyadh will cover ​​850,000 sq m

Majid Al Futtaim unit to invest $5bn in Riyadh project

Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Properties is set to develop a SAR17.5 billion ($4.7 billion) mixed-use project in Riyadh as part of its strategy to expand its regional real estate footprint. The project will cover ​​850,000 sq m, Arabic news portal Al Arabia reported, quoting CEO Ahmed El Shamy. He said engineering designs are in progress, […]

Delegates attend the Saudi-Egyptian Investment Forum in Cairo on Monday

Egypt and Saudi Arabia plan joint real estate fund

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning to create a joint fund to carry out real estate projects in the two countries, an Egyptian official has revealed. Egypt, which is locked in an IMF-recommended programme to stimulate its economy, also wants Saudi investors for new projects in central Cairo, in line with a plan to be […]

Middle East buyers account for a greater proportion of foreign interest in UK property, but overall interest is falling

Middle East buyers’ share of UK property demand grows

Prospective buyers from the Arabian Gulf and the wider Middle East are taking up a larger share of total international interest in UK real estate, the property broker Hamptons has found.  However, total overseas demand for property in the British Isles appears to be falling, Hamptons said. International applicants as a share of the total […]

Construction in Dubai. Two-thirds of the 176,737 homes bought in the emirate last year were off plan

Shortage of Dubai homes forces buyers to go off-plan

A shortage of completed homes for sale in Dubai is pushing people to buy off-plan properties, which have hit record highs in terms of units bought and as a proportion of purchases. Off-plan investors in the emirate have long had to fund their own purchases, but the growing importance of yet-to-be-completed properties may spur more […]

Observers say property is becoming more affordable in Oman

Oman mortgages surged last year on falling property prices

The value of mortgage transactions in Oman surged by almost half last year as declining property prices and marginally lower interest rates pulled in first time and other buyers, including from the UAE and around the Gulf. The total value of mortgages – from a total of 20,680 agreements – rose 46 percent to OR […]

Satish Sanpal: 'Luck might place you at the foot of the ladder, but without hard work you won’t climb very far'

60 seconds with Satish Sanpal, chairman of ANAX Holding

Satish Sanpal established ANAX Holding in Dubai in 2018 as a diversified investment entity. Today, ANAX Holding operates across multiple sectors, including real estate development, hospitality and financial services. ANAX Developments, one of its key subsidiaries, has emerged as a prominent real estate developer in Dubai, delivering high-demand projects across the city. What one piece […]

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A luxury villa at the Palm Jumeirah. In February 3,679 villas were sold in Dubai

Dubai villa sales double in February

Dubai villa sales, many of which were off-plan, doubled in February this year compared to the same month in 2024, helping to drive rapid growth in the emirate’s property market, according to a market survey. February property sales in Dubai totalled $14 billion – a 40 percent increase on February last year, according to real […]

Rising property prices in Turkey and the allure of golden visa programmes are driving many Turks to buy homes abroad

Golden visa lure draws Turks to Dubai real estate

An increasing number of Turkish citizens are investing in real estate overseas, with Dubai and Greece emerging as top destinations, according to a news report. Last year, Turks spent more than $2.5 billion, up 21 percent year on year, in foreign property purchases, Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing central bank data. In January 2025 alone, […]

Aldar's headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The real-estate developer says Abu Dhabi's foreign buyers are mainly from the UK, Russia, China and India

Foreign buyers fuel Abu Dhabi real estate growth

Increased interest from international buyers is helping to fuel the growth of Abu Dhabi’s real estate market. Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest real estate developer, reported a sales increase of 20 percent in 2024, with much of this growth down to foreign buyers, the company’s CEO says . Aldar’s value of sales to foreigners residing […]

A family strolls in Dubai Marina, developed by Emaar. The company's shares are up 5.5% on the DFM this year

Emaar’s overseas units struggle to match home gains

Dubai real estate developer Emaar Properties is doing well at home but its international operations – notably in India – are more chequered. Last year, Emaar posted a near 50 percent increase in earnings to AED5 billion ($1.4 billion). Its shares on the Dubai Financial Market are up 5.5 percent so far this year. By […]

Modon was appointed master developer for the Ras El Hekma mega development in 2024. The industrial zone is expected to generate 20,000 jobs

Modon to build industrial zone near Egypt’s Ras El Hekma

A joint venture between Abu Dhabi-listed Modon Holding and Egypt’s Elsewedy Industrial Development is planning to build a new industrial zone near the $35-billion Ras El Hekma megaproject. The two companies have signed a letter of intent for the project, state-run news agency Wam reported. The 10 million sq m new industrial zone, located south […]

Mubadala and California State Teachers’ Retirement System have invested $215m between them into 3650 Capital

Mubadala puts more money in US commercial lender

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company has increased its investment in 3650 Capital, a US commercial real estate lender. The UAE sovereign fund and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), a pension fund, two existing investors, have invested $215 million to allow the US lender to broaden its investment products, 3650 Capital said in a statement. […]

Tabreed's possible bid comes after it was awarded the concession last year to provide district cooling to Dubai's Palm Jebel Ali

Tabreed explores buying Multiply’s cooling business

National Central Cooling Company, also known as Tabreed, is exploring a bid for Multiply Group’s district cooling business that could be worth at least $1 billion, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Dubai-listed Tabreed is working with Citi on the potential offer for Multiply’s PAL Cooling Holding (PCH), said the two sources. […]

Mortgage brokers reported an increase in purchases of UK real estate in recent months ahead of changes to the stamp duty land tax from April 1

UAE dominates UK overseas mortgage market 

Property buyers from the Middle East – particularly the UAE – are among the top international clients for UK mortgage brokers, according to new research. About 30 percent of 300 brokers surveyed by investment company Raw Capital Partners said they had arranged mortgages for clients from the Middle East and UAE over the past five […]

Office space occupancy in Bahrain has remained at around 85 percent, below those of its GCC peers

Bahrain struggles to fill existing office space as supply grows

Bahrain is facing difficulty in filling its available office space even as the kingdom prepares for more supply. Demand for the space is “weak”, with limited interest from existing businesses and new entrants, commercial real estate services and investment provider CBRE said in a report. The Gulf state, the smallest by population in the six-member […]

Real estate tokenisation would allow buyers to own parts of Dubai's skyscrapers

Dubai moves to formalise real estate tokenisation

Dubai is running a pilot scheme that allows for the tokenisation of property title deeds, the first jurisdiction in the Middle East to do this. Tokenisation is the process of creating and trading digital tokens that are backed by real-world assets on a blockchain. It enables direct and verifiable peer-to-peer transactions. Through the process, a […]

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani

Emaar in talks with Adani over $1bn sale of Indian business

Dubai real estate developer Emaar Properties is in talks with India’s Adani Group to sell its Indian business for $1.4 billion, according to reports. The billionaire Adani family and Emaar are discussing the structure of a transaction, Bloomberg said, without identifying sources. An agreement could be reached as early as next month.  Emaar India started operations […]