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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

Damac Gems

Damac awards $160m contracts for two projects

Damac Properties has awarded two contracts worth AED588 million ($160 million) for Damac Hills, the Dubai developer’s flagship master development. The first contract, valued at AED341 million, is for the main works of the Gems Estates cluster – a luxurious collection of high-end mansions branded by Swiss jeweller de Grisogono, with home interiors branded by […]

Construction teams and potential buyers can inspect plans projected at 1:1 scale

Property tech makes its mark in Dubai

Off-plan property buyers in Dubai can now inspect their potential purchase in real time and lifesize thanks to walkthrough technology. Lifesize Plans, a tech business founded in Australia, has opened its first Middle East franchise in the Al Quoz district. At its facility, plans for residential, commercial and industrial properties are enlarged to 1:1 scale […]

Dubai real estate interest rates

Dubai real estate market bats off interest rate hits

International private credit funds could be ready to tap into the Dubai real estate market with competitive interest rates. The Central Bank of the UAE raised its borrowing rate in July after the US Federal Reserve pushed its interest rate to a 22-year high. Now Asian and European funds are looking at the market as […]

People visit a show flat at a property development in Yunnan Province. The combined floor area of unsold homes in China stands at 648m sq meters

China’s unsold homes raise concerns over debt defaults  

Even China’s population of 1.4 billion would not be enough to fill all the empty apartments littered across the country, a former official said on Saturday, in a rare public critique of the country’s crisis-hit property market. China’s property sector, once the pillar of the economy, has slumped since 2021 when real estate giant China […]

Dubai real estate value

Dubai real estate is ‘fairly valued’ says UBS

Dubai real estate still offers value for money compared with some of its global peers, a new report by investment bank UBS has claimed. But according to one real estate expert, residents in the emirate could soon be priced out of the market if the ongoing supply and demand imbalance continues. In the year leading […]

Arcapita sold its student housing community near Clemson University, the second largest university in South Carolina

Bahrain’s Arcapita exits US student housing portfolio

Arcapita Group Holdings, the Bahrain-headquartered alternative investment company, has exited from its student housing community investment in the United States. Arcapita sold its student housing community near Clemson University, the second largest university in South Carolina, to Chicago-based Core Spaces, an operator of student housing properties.  The transaction is Arcapita’s second student housing exit in […]

Aldar Nikki Beach

Aldar pairs up with Nikki Beach for RAK residences

Aldar Properties is partnering with resort group Nikki Beach Global to develop three branded residential buildings in Ras Al Khaimah as part of a larger beachfront community on Al Marjan Island. Sales for the Abu Dhabi developer’s inaugural residential development in Ras Al Khaimah – named Nikki Beach Residences – are expected to launch later […]

Passengers on the Ain Dubai wheel look out over Palm Jumeirah – now a popular spot for Russian property investors

Russians snap up plots of land to build ‘Little Moscow’ in Dubai

Russian investors in Dubai are working to become real estate developers or acquire clusters of homes to build “Little Moscow” communities in the emirate. Buyers from Russia have become big investors in Dubai property since sanctions imposed on Moscow locked them out of European and North American markets. The UAE has also become a key […]

Palm Jebel Ali will add 91km to Dubai's coastline and provide homes for about 35,000 families

Dubai developer releases first Palm Jebel Ali villas

The first villas available to buy on Dubai’s billion-dollar Palm Jebel Ali man-made island project have been released by developer Nakheel. The 13.4 sq km mega-project – twice the size of Palm Jumeirah – will add 91km of coastline to the emirate and provide homes for about 35,000 families. The inaugural properties for purchase are […]

The new project will contribute to Saudi Arabia’s plan to host 30 million Umrah performers and six million pilgrims by 2030

$2.9bn fund to develop 2,600 properties in Mecca

The Royal Commission for Makkah City and Holy Sites has launched a SAR10.93 billion ($2.91 billion) fund to develop real estate in the holy city of Mecca. The fund will develop the Al Kidwa area close to Holy Masjid in partnership with Riyadh-based developer Thakher Development Company and investment bank Albilad Capital, the government-owned commission […]

Seven has awarded the Yanbu entertainment centre contract to a joint venture between Al Bawani Company and UCC Saudi

Work begins in Saudi on $293m Yanbu entertainment centre

Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven) has started work on its new SAR1.1 billion ($293.27 million) entertainment centre in Yanbu. The Yanbu project is part of Seven’s SAR50 billion plan to build 21 entertainment destinations in the kingdom. The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has awarded the contract to a joint venture […]

Buildings raised $52 million in funding, led by Wa’ed Ventures, the fund backed by oil major Saudi Aramco

US 3D home printer to set up factories in UAE and Saudi

The UAE and Saudi are set to have 3D-printed prefabricated homes in the coming years, after a US company announced plans to set up factories in the Gulf states. The move comes after Mighty Buildings, a California-headquartered 3D home construction company, raised $52 million in funding, led by Wa’ed Ventures, the $500 million venture capital […]

The deal will see Aldar Estates manage FAB Properties' 22,000 residential units across 600 properties in the UAE

Aldar subsidiary buys FAB’s property management unit

Aldar Estates, the property and facilities management arm of Aldar Properties, has acquired FAB Properties, the property management services unit of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). The deal will see the Abu Dhabi-listed developer’s subsidiary manage 22,000 residential units across 600 properties in the UAE. The acquisition of FAB Properties follows the merger of Eltizam […]

Aldar-owned Sodic to launch Nobu brand in Egypt

The Egyptian real estate subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties is set to launch two hotel projects that will include branded Nobu residences and restaurants. Sodic and the US-based luxury lifestyle brand have agreed to develop the projects in West Cairo and North Coast. “The expansion of Sodic’s luxury property development portfolio underscores the demand […]

The World Dubai

Bahrain bank exits investment on Dubai’s The World

A Bahrain bank has sold its investment in a manmade island on The World development off the coast of Dubai. Venture Capital Bank (VCBank), an Islamic wholesale bank licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, announced this week that it has sold a 900,000 square foot island plot on The World, which it owned along […]

Damac Lagoons project

Damac expands Dubai Lagoons development

Damac Properties has launched the second phase of the Morocco cluster at Lagoons, its third master development in Dubai, as part of a portfolio of 11 Mediterranean-themed clusters.  The developer said in a statement that the second phase of the Morocco cluster will house townhouses and villas. The development cost of the new phase and […]

The sale of 210 residential units in the first phase of Gardenia Bay on Yas Island will start from September 8

Aldar to begin work on new Yas Island project next year

Aldar Properties is expected to start construction on the first phase of Gardenia Bay on Yas Island at the start of 2024. The waterfront community is opposite Yas Park and close to attractions such as SeaWorld, Ferrari World and Yas Mall, the developer said in a statement on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The project value […]

Egypt's Soul Luxury Beach Resort spans 20km of waterfront and the phase one construction time frame is three years

Builder picked for luxury resort as Egypt tourism rebounds

A construction contract has been awarded to build the first phase of the $1.7 billion Soul Luxury Beach Resort on Egypt’s north coast.  Eagle Hills Properties, based in Abu Dhabi, has signed a $62 million contract with Egyptian company Orascom Construction. It described the deal as a “significant milestone” in the development of the resort, […]

The Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan was previously owned by a group which included fugitive financier Jho Low

Qatar wealth fund buys troubled New York hotel

A luxury Manhattan hotel, which has been on the market for a number of years after being caught up in the 1MBD Malaysian investment fund scandal, has been sold to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The Qatar Investment Authority has bought the 46-storey Park Lane Hotel for almost $623 million, according to city records, as first […]