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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

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fractional property ownership Dubai Video length: 06:12

Dubai fractional ownership is promising, but untested

Fractional ownership of property in Dubai promises to widen access to real estate investment in the emirate’s surging market. But the lack of a proven secondary market raises questions about just how much liquidity this asset class can count on in a potential crisis, experts say. Buying even small portions of one or more units […]

Offices need to offer flexibility, with a variety of spaces to allow for both collaboration and private conversations

Flexibility and amenities key to UAE office sector’s future

As workers globally grow resistant to spending all week at their desks, even the UAE’s strong-performing office sector must rethink its offering to meet shifting demand, industry professionals have told AGBI. “Since the pandemic, people have realised that the workplace has changed for ever. We are not going back to working in the office 80 […]

Dubai's Palm Jebel Ali will eventually be home to 35,000 families

Infrastructure work to start on relaunched Palm Jebel Ali

Work has commenced on Dubai’s Palm Jebel Ali mega project with the award of new infrastructure contracts. Among the contracts is one to build a 6km-long public access road from Sheikh Zayed Road to the palm-shaped master development, Nakheel, the developer of the man-made palm-shaped island, said in a statement. DBB Contracting, a local contractor, […]

The UAE has bucked the trend of working-from-home that emerged in the pandemic

UAE offices in demand – in contrast to the West

Offices in the UAE are outperforming Western equivalents, with a steady influx of foreign businesses and local developers’ preference for residential projects. “The need for more Grade A office space is becoming increasingly urgent,” Behnam Bargh, managing director at real estate agency CRC, told AGBI. “Addressing this issue will be crucial for maintaining the country’s […]

Visitors admire the House of the Blackheads in Riga, which Eagle Properties hope will be 'the new centre of Europe'

Abu Dhabi developer spots opportunity in Latvia

Abu Dhabi developer Eagle Hills Properties announced a €3 billion ($3.25 billion) investment in the Latvian capital city of Riga, as the UAE continues its investment drive into Europe. Eagle Hills’ Riga Waterfront, which was unveiled on Thursday, will ultimately encompass 8,000 luxury homes for 30,000 residents on a redeveloped site along 5 kilometres at […]

A private house, on Palm Jumeirah, which was bought to rent as a holiday apartment. Demand is outstripping supply in the area

Dubai’s rich switch from home buyers to investors

Wealthy foreigners are increasingly eyeing luxury Dubai homes as investments, driven by a dearth of available real estate at the high end of the market. This is a shift from last year, when affluent buyers primarily saw purchases of homes in the emirate as main residences, or vacation or retirement homes, Knight Frank said in […]

Dhahran is home to the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. Retal will build almost 2,000 homes in the city

Retal wins $770m contract to build in Dhahran

The Saudi builder Retal has signed a SAR2.9 billion ($770 million) contract to design and build nearly 2,000 residential units in Dhahran, Eastern Province, for the giga-project developer Roshn.  Retal “will develop and design the detailed master plan, design and execute the infrastructure, landscape, construct 1,962 residential units and public amenities building in Aldanah project,” […]

People on the Ain Dubai ferris wheel on Bluewaters Island admire the view of Palm Jumeirah. Both locations were popular with Russian property buyers

From buyers to sellers: Russians cool on Dubai real estate

Russian property owners in Dubai are cashing in and moving to alternative foreign enclaves, pushed out by currency issues and the rising cost of living in the emirate. Emigrants from Russia flocked to Dubai in 2022 at the start of the country’s war with Ukraine. The UAE, although condemning the invasion, proved a safe haven […]

A construction site in Cairo. Egypt received the final tranche of ADQ funding for Ras El Hekma last week

Work on ADQ-backed resort in Egypt ‘to start this year’

ADQ will begin building the infrastructure for its Ras El Hekma development on Egypt’s north coast before the end of this year, according to housing minister Assem El Gazzar. The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund had said it would break ground in early 2025, but it has yet to announce the names of contractors or […]

more than 420,000sq m of new Grade A office space is expected to become available before the end of the year 2WXWXWP Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Mar 25 2024,King Abdullah Financial District , KAFD business towers

Foreign companies push up cost of Riyadh’s scarce office space

Rental rates in Riyadh’s office sector rose by up to 36 percent in the first quarter of this year as a result of increased demand from foreign companies and occupancy rates approaching 100 percent. Three quarters of all enquiries for office space directed to the real estate company Savills in the first three months of […]

The first phase of the luxury residential tower 'DG1' in Dubai, built by Dar Al Arkan's international arm Dar Global, should be completed this year

Dar Al Arkan Q1 profit rises 31% on higher property sales

The net profit of Saudi Arabian real estate company Dar Al Arkan rose 31 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to SAR154 million ($41 million).  The earnings increase was driven by higher property sales, a fall in operating expenses, and higher non-operating income from Islamic deposits. Property sales increase drove revenue higher by 13 […]

One of the four restaurants in the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel, which is listed on the Emirates Auction website

Palazzo Versace hotel sale aims to ride Dubai tourism wave

Owners of Dubai’s ultra-luxurious Palazzo Versace hotel are looking to capitalise on the emirate’s tourism boom before it peaks, offering it for sale at nearly AED1.4 billion ($380 million). A source familiar with the asset told AGBI the hotel is being “readvertised” as it has not found a buyer willing to meet its price tag […]

UAE Spain Marbella

Marbella beckons for Abu Dhabi real estate developers

A joint venture with a high-end Spanish residential developer has been launched by two Abu Dhabi real estate companies to build ten hectares of luxury homes in the Golden Mile, a premier area in Marbella. The deal with Mabel Real Estate to co-build Mabel Marbella Residences is the first luxury project in Europe for Bloom […]

Saudi REITs need more exposure to 'sheds and beds' – warehousing and hospitals – says one expert

Investor interest wanes as Saudi real estate trusts underperform

Saudi Arabia’s publicly listed real estate investment trusts lag the kingdom’s main stock index as investor enthusiasm for the REIT asset class wanes. This is despite steady returns and an upbeat outlook in the property sector. REITs are often listed on bourses and invest in various property types such as offices, residential, education facilities and […]

Dubai’s Emaar sets quarterly sales record of $3.7bn

Dubai-listed Emaar Properties reported its highest-ever quarterly sales, driven by sustained real estate demand in the emirate. Sales surged 47 percent year on year to AED13.5 billion ($3.7 billion), the developer said in a statement. Despite a 9 percent decline in net profit year on year to nearly AED3 billion, net profit before tax rose 16 percent […]

The Kuwait Boursa trading hall in Kuwait city. BIG shares will list in the premier market segment

Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group to list on local bourse 

Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group (BIG) has announced plans to offer a 30 percent stake on the local bourse, the first in nearly two years. The final offering price will be determined through a bookbuilding process, which will be held from May 19 to 23, the company said in a statement.  The shares are slated to […]

Amit Arora the new CEO of Arada, says 'we are seeing a diverse group of investors and residents that want to buy in our communities'

Overseas buyers dominate in Sharjah’s reformed real estate

Overseas buyers in Arada’s two mega-developments in Sharjah have vastly outnumbered locals in the year-and-a-half since the emirate expanded full real estate ownership rights to non-GCC nationals. From when Aljada, Sharjah’s biggest mixed-use project, launched in 2017 until the land reform of late October 2022, Emirati nationals bought more than 63 percent of the value […]

Dubai Lifestyle City as it was meant to look. Two different developers failed to complete the project

Plots from failed Dubai Lifestyle City project up for auction

Plots of land from a never-completed AED2.4 billion ($650 million) development in Dubai, once endorsed by tennis star Maria Sharapova, have been put up for auction. The abandoned Dubai Lifestyle City project was announced in 2007 by developer ETA Star Projects, a division of the ETA-Ascon business group. It promised buyers “high style living” in […]