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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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Real Estate news

Donald Trump draws crowds on the campaign trail in Conway, South Carolina; meanwhile his brand is a bonus in the Gulf

Trump still has ‘big pull’ for $2m branded villas in Oman

Donald Trump may be facing criminal investigations in the US, but the 45th president’s brand continues to wield substantial influence in the Gulf. Last week there were more than 100 expressions of interest in a launch of 20 Trump-branded villas in Oman, within 24 hours, according to the project’s developer. “Trump as a brand still […]

Empower’s profit falls 5% despite record revenue

Empower, Dubai’s, and the world’s, largest district cooling company, reported a net profit of AED960 million ($261.37 million) for 2023, down five percent from AED1 billion in 2022. Revenue was at a record high of AED3 billion, rising 8.7 percent year on year, the company said in a statement to the Dubai bourse on Monday. […]

Investcorp co-CEO Rishi Kapoor. The Bahrain-based company says it is particularly interested in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand

Investcorp lines up diverse strategies for east and west 

Multibillion-dollar asset manager Investcorp Capital is planning listing activity from its companies in the east in the next six months, but sees more profit in mergers and acquisitions in the west. The Bahrain-based company, which was listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange in November, on Monday reported income of $34 million for the first […]

Aldar, which has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, has expansion plans in Dubai and beyond

Abu Dhabi’s Aldar has big plans for projects in Dubai

Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest developer, plans to launch more projects in neighbouring Dubai this year. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Aldar’s chief finance and sustainability officer Faisal Falaknaz said the Abu Dhabi-listed developer is on track to launch its second master plan in Dubai in the second quarter of this year. The […]

Haven is the first of three new residential communities to be developed in Dubai as part of a joint venture between Aldar and Dubai Holding

Aldar profit climbs 40% as sales hit $7.6bn in 2023

Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest developer, said net profit rose 40 percent year on year to AED4.4 billion ($1.2 billion) in 2023 as annual revenue jumped 26 percent to AED14.2 billion. Full-year property sales hit a record AED27.9 billion ($7.60 billion), with Q4 2023 reaching an all-time of AED8.5 billion, the developer said in a […]

shared rental Dubai apartment

Hope at last for Dubai expats seeking a shared rental home

Shared rental accommodation for expats in Dubai, something previously difficult to offer because of rules against subletting, is being developed by a company called Co-Living Legends, working with developers and landlords. Co-Living Legends was set up in 2021 to help female expats find house-share rental options in Dubai.  House sharing is well established in markets […]

Emaar Development waterfront high-rises

Emaar Development profit rises 74% to $1.8bn in 2023

Emaar Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai’s Emaar Properties, reported that net profit surged 74 percent year on year to AED6.6 billion ($1.8 billion) last year, propelled by 27 new project launches across Dubai. Property sales increased 22 percent year on year to AED37.4 billion. The developer’s sales backlog stands at AED57.1 billion, which […]

Aldar awards $6bn contracts for Abu Dhabi projects

Abu Dhabi’s largest-listed property developer Aldar awarded 49 contracts worth AED22 billion ($5.99 billion) across various projects in 2023. The contracts comprise infrastructure, residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported, citing a statement from Aldar Properties. The contracts were awarded to 36 UAE-based companies. Nearly 50 percent or AED10.5 billion […]

Total transactions in Dubai reached a new high of 1.6 million, rising 16.9 percent annually, across various real estate activities

Dubai real estate deals rise to $173bn in 2023

Dubai recorded 166,400 real estate transactions valued at AED634 billion ($172.61 billion) in 2023, according to official Dubai Land Department (DLD) data. Real estate investments grew 55 percent year on year to AED412 billion, propelled by 113,655 investors, including 71,002 new entrants, marking a 20 percent rise year on year, the UAE state-run Wam news […]

Dubai real estate bubble

Dubai real estate ‘hot’ but no bubble fears, say experts

Dubai’s real estate market is running “a bit hot”, but it is not heading towards a bubble or another catastrophic crash, experts say. Residential sales prices in the emirate increased 20 percent in 2023, while city-wide rents grew 9 percent higher, according to the latest research from Cushman & Wakefield Core. Although Dubai remains more […]

Aldar unveils $1.4bn plan for new real estate assets

Aldar Properties will invest AED5 billion ($1.36 billion) to develop a range of commercial, retail, hospitality and logistics assets within its prime real estate projects in Abu Dhabi. The assets, which will be part of the developer’s investment portfolio, will be delivered in a phased manner between 2025 and 2027, the Abu Dhabi-listed developer said […]

Silkhaus offers short-term rentals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and has plans for Saudi Arabia

Rental platform Silkhaus plans new Saudi home

Silkhaus, a property technology platform specialising in short-term rentals, plans to launch in Riyadh after more than doubling its revenues last year and completing a pre-series A financing round this month. The size of the round, with San Francisco-based Partners for Growth, was not disclosed.  Silkhaus launched in Dubai in 2021 and entered Abu Dhabi […]

Hive Coliv co-living

Millennial ‘co-living’ concept gains momentum in Gulf

The appetite for “co-living”, a form of communal housing that offers private rooms and shared spaces, is on the rise in the GCC, and more investors are entering the sector.  Co-living as a sub-segment of residential property has gained in popularity in markets such as the UK and the US, as developers seek to provide […]

From left: Ora Developers Group chairman Naguib Sawiris, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed S Al-Sudani and Iraqi housing minister Bangin Rekani at the contract award ceremony

Egyptian developer to build Iraq’s largest housing project

Egypt’s Ora Developers Group will build the largest residential city in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, which will feature 100,000 residential units. The contract was awarded by the Iraqi government. No details of the project cost were given. Ali Al-Wardi, a smart city project located 25 km southeast of Baghdad, will be built on an area of […]

National Bank of Kuwait mortgage reform

Kuwait banks boosted by likely mortgage law reform

Kuwait bank stocks are hitting highs as traders bet that a long-awaited liberation of  the country’s mortgage laws will come into force and provide a windfall for lenders. Currently only the government-controlled Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) provides financing to Kuwaiti citizens and companies for them to buy real estate, and commercial banks are not permitted […]

A view of Ajman Corniche. The emirate reported a strong increase in business license renewal

Ajman real estate deals surge 43% to $4.6bn in 2023

The number of real estate deals in Ajman increased 43 percent year on year to 11,474 last year, with a total value of AED16.9 billion ($4.6 billion), the annual report of the Ajman Department of Land and Real Estate Regulation reveals. The highest sale recorded was AED136 million in the Al Nakheel 2 neighbourhood, the […]

Tecom Group's revenue reached a record of AED2.2 billion, up 10 percent year on year

Tecom profit rises 49% on growing customer demand

Tecom Group saw net profit for 2023 rise 49 percent year on year to AED1.1 billion ($299.48 million) on robust demand from new and existing customers across all its six business clusters. The company registered broad-based growth across the business, owing to the group’s ongoing efforts to enhance operations and reduce costs. Revenue reached a […]

Adult, Female, Person The number of real estate deals fell in 2023 but residential sales accounted for almost 59 percent of sales property real estate keys

Value of Saudi real estate deals fall 11% in 2023

The value of Saudi real estate transactions fell 11 percent during 2023 to about SAR193.45 billion ($51.59 billion), but the number of construction material licenses awarded in the kingdom rose 39 percent in the same period. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice this week showed transactions fell from SAR216.7 billion to SAR193.45 billion. The […]