Beyond brokers and buyers: the real tastemakers of UAE real estate
2ND FEBRUARY 2026 BY NICK FARMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, URBAN EDGE STRATEGIC
THE REAL TASTEMAKERS SHAPING UAE REAL ESTATE
We have become very used to a familiar formula when it comes to the past two, largely successful, decades of UAE real estate development.
Secure land early. Access the capital required to develop. Launch fast. Sell faster. In a market defined by speed, ambition, and scale, velocity has usually been given primacy over nuance.
Things change. Things are changing. The formula is being replaced. Quietly, but decisively.
As the capital entering into, and maturing in, the UAE becomes more institutional and more global, it also becomes more selective. Long term success is no longer determined by who sells fastest, but by who is the most trusted.
Trust, in today’s environment, is shaped by a far broader ecosystem of tastemakers than many UAE developers recognise.
With that in mind, it is our belief that the next decade of UAE real estate will not be won on billboards, during roadshows, or by giving up your shirt in the form of endless broker incentives. The real estate market of tomorrow and beyond will be shaped by influence networks operating well beyond sales centres, and will be won by those who know how to influence them. For many this win/loss equation will be determined long before a project is even announced.
REDEFINING “TASTEMAKERS” IN THE UAE CONTEXT
In mature markets, tastemakers are rarely the celebrities or social media personalities – that categorization along does not a tastemaker create. Rather, the true tastemakers are the people and institutions that quietly define what is considered credible, investable, enduring.
In the UAE tastemakers sit at the intersection of CAPITAL CONFIDENCE, REGULATORY TRUST, DESIGN CREDIBILITY, NARRATIVE CONTROL, LIFESTYLE RELEVANCE.
We are talking about the actors who influence how a project is perceived by international capital, how smoothly it moves through regulatory processes, and whether the project can be seen as a key part of a lasting urban story – as opposed to being just a part of another development cycle.
Developers who are attuned to this, and who are not too proud to ignore it but embrace it, are those who naturally and purposefully build optionality and resilience into their businesses. Those who aren’t attuned to this shift, or too proud to break the status quo risk becoming increasingly transactional in a market that is rapidly professionalising and looking far beyond buy/sell.
So who are the tastemakers of UAE real estate?
THE FIVE TASTEMAKER GROUPS THAT MATTER THE MOST:
INSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL GATEKEEPERS
Family offices, private banks, sovereign-adjacent capital, and international real estate funds have become deeply embedded in the UAE market. Their influence reaches well beyond the funds they wire or the cheques they write.
These groups are the VALIDATORS. Their early involvement is a major confidence signifier to the rest of the pack. They shape perceptions of entire locations, and will often determine which developers can be considered as “repeatable partners” or “opportunistic players”.
So what developer behaviours are rewarded by this group? Simply put; CLEAR GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES, PREDICTABLE REPORTING, CONSERVATIVE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, a COHERENT LONG-TERM STRATEGY.
If we look at Ras Al Khaimah, for example, the growing presence of institutional capital is less focused on yield chasing and more about having confidence in master planning, commitment to infrastructure, and the maturity of development partners.
Developers who engage these groups early, and from the right side of the business (it is not about selling units, but securing investment in the corporate) are able to enjoy a much earlier onset of positive reputational compounding.
REGULATORS AND MASTERPLANNING AUTHORITIES
Consider this group as a passive approver at your absolute peril. Regulators are active market shapers. The Authorities, master developers, infrastructure bodies, utility providers, sustainability regulators are actively determining not only what is built, but how efficiently, at what scale, and the long term optionality.
Developers who treat these stakeholder groups as obstacles tend to only be optimised for the short term. However, those who engage them as partners will, over time, gain speed, trust, and flexibility.
If we look at Abu Dhabi, we can see how alignment with the planning vision and long-term urban objectives increasingly influences approvals and phasing.
In Dubai, regulatory confidence has become inseparable from institutional capital confidence. Governance, transparency, and consistency are no longer “nice to haves” – they enable infrastructure.
DESIGNERS, ARCHITECTS, AND URBAN THINKERS
Design has shifted from marketing flourish to a very clear signal for capital. International architects, urban planners, retail placemakers, sustainability consultants, hospitality designers – to name a few now play a critical role in how UAE projects are perceived globally. These appointments influence awards, media coverage, analyst sentiment and reporting, and ultimately – institutional appetite.
This is particularly true in mixed-use waterfront projects, cultural districts – just look at Saadiyat Island, and branded residential. It is in these schemes where design coherence and authenticity play the increasing differentiation role – setting apart the enduring destinations from the short lived (but much hyped!) launches.
Developers who engage design leaders early, think concept and masterplanning stage, are not buying an aesthetic. They are buying credibility, exportability, and long term relevance.
NARRATIVE SHAPERS: MEDIA, ANALYSTS, AND RESEARCH DESKS
In the UAE, there is a growing gap between marketing and narrative. Many developers are investing heavily in the former, but paying little heed to the latter.
Global investors, family office, and institutional allocators do not rely on advertising. They rely on research, analyst commentary, trusted journalists, and comparative market narratives.
It is worth considering that WHO EXLAINS A MARKET OFTEN MATTERS MORE THAN WHO IS SELLING WITHIN IT.
When developers proactively engage analysts, researchers, and credible media voices, they are playing an active part in shaping the narrative. It is this which ensures that their projects, maybe even their cities, are understood internationally, or in the next door region. Through the eyes of global capital – this is how markets mature.
CULTURAL AND LIFESTYLE ANCHORS
This one goes out to all the heads of Sales misguidedly spending all of their time poring over unit schedules. This is not where you need to be spending your time! You need to be understanding your market and helping the development and design teams shape their products for the future.
The most valuable real estate is increasingly anchored NOT by unit count, but by LIFE SYSTEMS.
Hospitality brands, education providers, healthcare operators, cultural institutions, sports platforms, and mobility innovators all act as DEMAND MULTIPLIERS. They attract residents over buyers, communities over transactions. This is what winning in real estate development looks like.
In the UAE, projects that successfully integrate lifestyle anchors, create depth of demand and durability of value. In Dubai, perhaps the best example is ALDAR and its ATHLON project. Its attention to detail and focus on proposition first, signals its seriousness – not just to residents, but to long term capital.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR UAE DEVELOPERS?
The old playbook is becoming far less effective. How pedestrian, how boring, how out-dated does a launch-driven, broker-led, marketing heavy approach look now? We live in a market that increasingly values (whether you know it or not yet) predictability, governance, and narrative coherence.
We are starting at a new, emerging model – it sounds very obvious, but let’s be honest, if we look around – how many developers are actually leaning in?
RELATIONSHIP DRIVEN rather than TRANSACTION LED
INSTITUTION READY instead of SALES FIRST
DESIGN ANCHORED not COSMETIC
GOVERNANCE LED instead of FOUNDER CENTRIC
Just to be 100% crystal clear – this is absolutely not about becoming slow or overly conservative. This is about being TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY THE PEOPLE WHO SHAPE MARKETS OVER DECADES, NOT CYCLES.
A QUIET, BUT DECISIVE SHIFT
In summing up, the most successful UAE developers over the coming decade will not be those who SHOUT THE LOUDEST, LAUNCH THE FASTEST, DISCOUNT THE DEEPEST.
The winners will be the ones who understand that influence compounds quietly – through credibility, consistency, and long term alignment with the right tastemakers.
Those tastemakers are already choosing who they trust.
The real question for developers, is whether they are engaging, early enough, and seriously enough, to be chosen.
END OF ARTICLE
From amenities to ecosystems: why Ras Al Khaimah must build wellness, not just lease it
19TH JANUARY 2026 by NICK FARMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, URBAN EDGE STRATEGIC
LIMITATIONS OF THE CURRENT MODEL
Wellness, particularly in January, has become one of the most overused – and underthought words out there. Layer this on to real estate – and that truth compounds inexorably.
From being wellness themed, to introducing integrative wellness, the real estate industry has taken yet another word and pretty much stripped it of all meaning. Remember biophilic? We killed that word too.
So what do we think of wellness in real estate? Probably a branded spa, a yoga studio, a gym with a view. Essentially, we are talking about a cluster of amenities, often not very well thought through, and in some cases simply leased out to a third party.
What needs to be remembers is that amenities do not create ecosystems, and it is ecosystems where long term value is created.
In Ras Al Khaimah this distinction is important. The Emirate does not need more wellness tenants. Ras Al Khaimah needs a wellness strategy that is native to the place, scalable over time, and embedded into the way that communities actually function.
RAS AL KHAIMAH AS A NATURAL WELLNESS PLATFORM
Many “communities” across Dubai are defined by their high density, urban environments. Of course there are many lower density locations, but in the quest to monetize GFA to the absolute maximum, creating the space that allows wellness to exist in a meaningful fashion is a challenge.
Unlike Dubai, and even some parts of Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah already offers a number of the fundamentals that wellness destinations try to manufacture. The primary development locations in RAK are located with ideal proximity to mountains, sea, desert, and mangroves.
The lower density urban form helps to create a lifestyle rhythm that is geared towards balance over acceleration. This dovetails well with a growing resident and tourist population that is seeking longevity as well as leisure.
FROM WELLNESS AS AMENITY TO WELLNESS AS ECOSYSTEM STACK
In making the shift from wellness as amenity to wellness as ecosystem, we need to consider multiple layers of activity.
LAYER ONE: THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. Wellness should be embedded into the planning fundamentals. Is the community walkable? Does it have shade and thermal comfort? Does the community feature blue and green infrastructure as features designed for daily interaction and use rather than something to simply look at. Buildings need to be optimized for daylight, air quality and acoustic comfort – without this a home can never truly be a sanctuary.
LAYER TWO: PROGRAMMING. Wellness is something that shapes daily life – so it has to be something that can exist outside of architectural drawings or leasable area. What are the movement opportunities beyond the gym? Have walking, cycling, community sports been factored into both the public realm and the activation plan? Does the service offering include mental health and recovery amenities as standard? As multi generational living becomes more prominent in new communities and developments, have initiatives been put in place that can cater to youth, families, and those who might be “ageing in place”? Programming may also be designed to factor in climate and cultural considerations.
LAYER THREE: OPERATORS. It is too easy to take 1,000 sqm of leasable area and just throw in a small supermarket, a laundry, a pharmacy and a barber shop or nail salon. Furthermore when aggregated across a whole precinct, you seldom end up with any form of cohesive service offering. As such, developers need to think like long term operators. This means thinking more deliberately about curation. Medical wellness and curation; preventative and longevity-focused providers; local concepts supported to achieve scale; the selective addition of global practitioners.
LAYER FOUR: DATA & OUTCOMES: In order for wellness to be sustainably integrated across the Emirate – there needs to be understanding of usage, participation and outcomes. This will enable developers to better link wellness engagement to retention, dwell time and asset value impact. Better use of feedback loops can evolve programming and spaces.
LAYER FIVE: BRAND AND IDENTITY: This is not about positioning RAK as a luxury wellness destination. It is about positioning the Emirate as credible, nature-led, and as oriented around different life-stages.
THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF A MASTER DEVELOPER IN RAS AL KHAIMAH
No single operator an build this. It needs to be a master developer with land control, balance sheet patience and a long term vision. It needs to be a master developer that can act as an ecosystem orchestrator. This is not about adding cost – it is about shifting the development model.
COMMERCIAL REALITY: WHY THIS MATTERS
Wellness ecosystems have the potential to increase resident retentions and asset stickiness, and can also extend tourist dwell time. By building a true ecosystem, developers can move with confidence away from chasing superficial luxury, and support meaningful price premiums. The potential for recurring revenue is also evident – something that is of increasing importance as developers diversify away from lumpy construction based income recognition.
Far beyond this however, is the opportunity is that building a wellness ecosystem can align commercial success with a sense of social value – an increasingly important lens through which investors, regulators, and residents are looking at real estate opportunities.
CONCLUSIONS
Real estate is, and has always been, a confidence business. A genuine, and clearly considered wellness strategy is one of the strongest confidence signals in the market today.
END OF ARTICLE
Real estate is a confidence business. Elite football is a confidence factory.
12TH JANUARY 2026 by NICK FARMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, URBAN EDGE STRATEGIC
Make no mistake – if you thought you had seen a fair amount of GCC real estate in elite football – strap in – you are going to see a lot more – and for good reason. If done well it just makes sense.
There is a reason why industry players – known for their success, elite product, strong market positioning and attention to detail, such as ALDAR, SOBHA, and now BEYOND are connected and plugged in to the global ecosystems of sporting institutions such as Manchester City, Arsenal, and Paris St. Germain.
If done well – these partnerships simply work and can have a major impact on growth for the partner businesses. The following is a viewpoint on the opportunity and enduring power of proper partnerships between the intersecting worlds of elite football and premium real estate development.
SELLING SQUARE FOOTAGE OR SELLING BELIEF?
It has been clear for some time that in the world of global real estate, the days of trying to sell marble countertops and square footage are long gone. Today this is nothing more than the price of admission to an industry where the only real barriers to entry are cash, and the right amount of confidence.
The reality is, what is being sold is something much harder to distil – BELIEF. This is what successful real estate developers are selling. It is the belief that a place is on the rise. The belief that capital will be protected. The belief that others will follow.
This is why in 2026 some of the most powerful partnerships that the real estate space can crack are those with elite football clubs and global sports properties – it is the drama, the storytelling, the potency, the association.
There is a myopic view that persists in many a real estate boardroom that such relationships are sponsorships. Thankfully those with a more expansive and enlightened view see these partnerships for what they are – providers of a confidence infrastructure.
This infrastructure accelerates demand, elevates brand perception, attracts inward investment, and compresses years of destination building into a much shorter cycle. For the mid tier developers – the implications are profound.
FROM SPONSORSHIP TO STRATEGY
To treat sport as a marketing line item – logo placement, hospitality, a bit of brand awareness, a meet and greet - is an outdated approach. That was the model. That model is now obsolete. It is done. The returns were vague, the measurement week and the strategic value limited.
Elite football clubs are global consumer platforms. Not only do they hoover up, and deploy, valuable data and insights, but they combine mass reach with emotional intensity and cultural legitimacy. Fans don’t just watch a club – they belong to one.
The agreement between Chelsea and DAMAC was perhaps an example of the old model – in our view it lacked authenticity. But they key thing here is that this is not about buying media – this is about creating growth alliances and joining enormous, and unspeakably valuable commercial ecosystems.
So what should developers be asking? How can these platforms accelerate confidence in our destination, our brand, and our product – particularly in markets we cannot reach on our own?
AUDIENCE AND MARKET GROWTH: COMMUNITY OVER GEOGRAPHY
Every developer talks about community – very few know how to seed one, grow one, curate one. Elite football offers this on a silver platter – pre-assembled global communities. Engaging hundreds of millions of supporters in every corner of the world, football cuts through borders and demographics, all the while retaining a sense of shared identity and loyalty.
This requires a refining of approach for real estate developers – a shift away from blunt geographic targeting and moving towards community led demand generation.
So who are these communities? International supporters who travel and invest globally; diaspora audiences with strong purchasing power and brand affinities; high net worth individuals who are drawn to access, exclusivity and prestige; families aligned with strong positive values around community, legacy and belonging.
When real estate investment opportunities are introduced and presented through a trusted club ecosystem, the developer is able to fast track past the ground floor. The partnership has already pre-loaded trust, resulting in friction reduction, shorter sales cycles, and improved conversion quality.
SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS AS TOOLS OF INWARD INVESTMENT
Too often sport is underappreciated when it comes to capital formation, but make no mistake – it is significant factor. This is on account of elite sport’s ability to signal legitimacy.
When a globally recognised football club aligns with a city, a destination, or a developer, it creates a narrative that investors can immediately understand. Moreover – it is a narrative that can be repeated.
This narrative is simple – this place matters; this story has momentum – and scale.
In emerging destinations and for masterplan developers this sign posting is powerful. It supports efforts to de-risk unfamiliar locations for international investors; makes it easier to attract co-investors and other strategic partners; anchors conversations with institutional capital; and lastly, supports the broader tourism, trade and FDI agenda of the developer’s market.
So really it is possible to see the function of the elite football club as a reputation bridge – providing the channel that allows global capital to cross from awareness into action.
BRAND ELEVATION: TRANFROMING FROM DEVELOPER INTO DESTINATION-MAKER
Competition among real estate developers – particularly the mid-tier is tightening rapidly. You cannot differentiate on product and words alone won’t elevate your business. Really it is about creating something that endures tomorrow over something that may sell today.
Elite football clubs are cultural institutions. They bring heritage, ritual, scarcity, identity, a sense of place and belonging. That instant association, once again fast tracks a path that would otherwise take years to complete.
Credibility transferred through partnership creates tangible impact. This impact is felt through stronger pricing power relative to comparable housing stock; faster sales absorption driven by global affinity; and the overarching repositioning of the developer from housebuilder to placemaker.
This is why the future of such alignments between real estate development and elite football is not in superficial co-branding, but in deep integration.
This deep integration manifests in authentic branded residences, curated experiences, thoughtful use of IP, member driven access, destination programming.
Above all it is authentic rather than decorative.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: HOW REAL ESTATE CAN LEARN FROM ELITE SPORT
What we often overlook is the operational aspect of such partnerships – but this is where some of the real benefit lies. Global sports businesses are awash with talent – both internal to the organisation, and within their partnership ecosystem.
Global sports is increasingly data driven – and the relentless pursuit of incremental gains drives performance like no other industry. Elite clubs excel at building lifetime relationships over one-off transactions; they use data and CRM systems to personalise journeys; they monetise experiences at multiple levels; and crucially, they turn moments into rituals which in turn transform loyalty into advocacy.
Too often developers, particularly in the GCC treat the primary market sale as both the beginning and the end of the entire race. By contrast, developers who successfully engage on a deep level with their sporting partners, learn how to build communities over customer lists and extend value way beyond completion and handover.
WHEN THE DESTINATION IS ALWAYS ON RATHER THAN EPISODIC
At every level of elite sport, assets are being reimagined as year round destinations. Stadiums and their surrounding areas now blend hospitality, multi sports, retail, public realm and experience. A great example is the current redevelopment of the Camp Nou – fully integrating the stadium into its surrounding neighbourhood.
With that in mind, an expansive view of a partnership between a football club and a real estate developer, can drive seasonal events and international footfall; content creation that is anchored in a compelling destination; youth and grassroots programming; and hospitality and lifestyle driven experiences that sell the destination itself.
This is the inflection point that moves such partnerships from marketing and into becoming a core part of the developer’s economic infrastructure.
THE REAL RISK: CONFUSING EXPOSURE WITH ADVANTAGE
Many partnerships fail because one side does not understand what they are entering into. Most see it as pure visibility. Without connection to proposition, heritage, product, long term vision and purpose and a clear activation strategy and programme – this just becomes an expensive badging exercise.
The winning developers are those who understand that partnerships with elite football clubs need to be treated with the same discipline as any serious investment in growth. This means clear KPIs around demand generation, sales velocity, brand elevation, market expansion, capital access. Proper frameworks and rigour yield proper results.
WHY THIS MATTERS NOW
Real estate is a confidence business. Elite football is a confidence factory. In a world where capital is more discerning, buyers are more global, and destinations compete at unprecedented scale, confidence is the ultimate currency.
For developers with ambition — particularly those shaping emerging destinations — partnerships with elite football clubs offer a rare opportunity: to accelerate belief, compress timelines, and reposition themselves on the global stage. Done well, these partnerships do not just sell homes.
They create momentum and an enduring legacy.
END OF ARTICLE
From Entrepreneurial Capital to Institutional Capital: Why UAE Real Estate Developers Must Professionalise – Now.
7TH JANUARY 2026 by NICK FARMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, URBAN EDGE STRATEGIC
For the past twenty years, the UAE’s real estate landscape has been powered, and dominated by, entrepreneurial, familial, and private, energy. Businesses built on, and shaped by, intuition, agility, market timing, and relationships forged and honed across multiple sectors and interests.
Yet in a country where one of the only constants is change, we are seeing a quiet, but fundamental shift taking place before our eyes. The UAE isn’t simply attracting more capital – it is attracting different capital. This capital behaves differently, assesses risk differently, and demands a higher standard of governance, planning and communication. This is structural, not cyclical change – and it is going to have a profound impact on smaller and mid tier developers.
A CHANGING OF CAPITAL
Today’s marginal dirhams are increasingly coming from institutional private equity, structured credit funds, sovereign, and sovereign adjacent investors, pension style long term allocators as well as pre-IPO and public market adjacent capital.
This is different to funding from high net worth individuals and family offices. This is not about underwriting a charismatic founder, a single project, or a market upswing. This is about underwriting systems, controls, repeatability. This is the prioritisation of predictability over upside narratives; downside protection over best case IRRs; governance over personality; transparency over discretion.
In short – capital is no longer betting on the entrepreneur – it is underwriting the platform.
A SENSE OF FRICTION
Many small and mid-tier UAE developers are well-run in practice but poorly structured on paper. This gap is only going to become more costly. Across the spectrum we see founder (or one-man) decision making; informal investment approvals, project by project thinking; limited portfolio visibility; and ad-hoc/ reactive investor communication.
On their own, none of these are fatal – probably, and in years gone by, some of these traits may have been competitively advantageous. In today’s market however, they look dated, risky, expensive. In today’s economy that perception risk is credit risk.
GOVERNANCE: FROM AN INSTRUMENT OF CONTROL TO A DRIVER OF CREDIBILITY
Move fast and break things – or so the Silicon Valley mantra goes. We suspect a lot of real estate entrepreneurs want to carve out their own slice of Paolo Alto in the Emirates. Governance is bureaucracy, it slows things down, is control dilutive for the CEO – thinking like this today though will lead to challenges tomorrow.
Institutional capital sees governance as a signal. It sign posts decision discipline, risk awareness (different to risk aversion), scalability beyond one person. We know of one institutional investor that will only invest in a company once they have sat through a minimum of 8 quarterly earnings calls – that’s two years of demonstrating good governance.
At a minimum, investors expect clear Board/ Advisory oversight; defined decision rights; separation between ownership and management; documented approvals and controls. Good governance is not about removing entrepreneurial agility – it is about creating confidence that this very agility is being exercised responsibly.
Don’t look at governance as being about losing control. Look at it is becoming investable.
BUSINESS PLANNING BEYOND THE PROJECT FEASIBILITY
An excel based project level feasibility study will take you some of the way – but where is the business level investment narrative?
Institutional capital is not interested in isolated development projects. It invests in capital allocation strategies; portfolio logic; scalable operating models.
This means moving beyond one off IRRs; optimistic absorption assumptions and standalone project justifications. It means moving towards multi-year business plans; portfolio level risk management; scenario planning and downside analysis. It also means mapping a clear path towards growth across landbanks, across products, and across geographies. It also requires consideration of where the exit, and other liquidity events will occur.
COMMUNICATIONS AS AN UNDERRATED CAPABILITY
Time and time again In real estate development, communications is often mistaken for marketing, and bundled into the hurly burly of broker engagement and sales launch fluff.
Institutional capital views professional and strategic communications as a risk management tool. Many smaller and mid-tier developers struggle with reactive disclosures; inconsistent messaging; over promising at launch and under explaining thereafter; and a poor reporting cadence.
Expectations continue to rise and this makes it incumbent upon developers – even privately held ones, to provide predictable updates; clearly articulate the strategy; track a consistent set of KPIs and OKRs; and better alignment between the sales, finance, and leadership narratives.
Silence creates uncertainty. Uncertainty increases risk premiums. Clarity builds trust. Trust lowers the cost of capital.
AND IF YOU DON’T ADAPT?
Doing nothing won’t make you fail tomorrow. It’s a subtle change, a quiet shift. The cost of capital starts to creep up; it becomes harder to access institutional partners; deal sizes stagnate; margins compress; there is a narrowing of exit optionality. Capital doesn’t leave the party and slam the door. It inches out of the room, quietly, politely – it moves on. Without you.
SO WHAT NEXT?
What is the question smaller and mid-tier developers should be asking themselves? “would an institutional investor back my business, and not just my next project?”
Some practical immediate steps would be to assess governance gaps beyond the legal minimums; upgrade business planning to a portfolio level; professionalise communications with capital providers. This is not a case of cosmetic change – this is about strategic enablement.
We are barrelling headlong into the UAE’s institutional era – don’t think of it as a threat, but an opportunity. If you adapt, and adapt swiftly and cleverly, then you will scale faster; gain access to cheaper capital; gain stronger partners; and build a business that can endure beyond the next cycle.
Those who do not, are designed to remain small – in size and in capability. This next decade will not be defined by who builds fastest, but who builds with credibility.
END OF ARTICLE
2026: A year of structure over cycle
2ND JANUARY 2026 by NICK FARMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, URBAN EDGE STRATEGIC
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As we enter a new year, now seems like a good moment to take a look at where the UAE’s real estate market could head over the next twelve months – a year in which we will continue to see the results of the post COVID development boom come to fruition.
It is our view that 2026 – for the smart developers at least, will be a year in which, old patterns will be shelved, and new disciplines will emerge. By this we mean that there will be a marked shift away from volume and performative real estate and into approaches that focus beyond the primary market sale and into the enduring legacy of a particular project. 2026 will also be a year in which cashflows will be tested as collections have to keep pace with delivery and those developers who are disciplined with their capital will be rewarded. Strategic operators are likely to be rewarded, and it is no longer a given that land holders will automatically benefit as margin compression continues for those looking to acquire plots for development.
SELECTIVE AND SOPHISTICATED CAPITAL
The UAE continues to be a destination for capital – but that does not mean capital is cheap – incoming capital is increasingly sophisticated, smart – and portable. As more private credit enters the market, family offices, both local and international, we expect this increasing institutionalizing of money and approach to investment to change behaviour of real estate developers.
We expect greater scrutiny to be placed on development phasing, sales velocity, and optionality around exiting of investments. We expect to see developers recognizing the need to adapt their approach to enable sales of whole buildings, or phases, rather than selling unit by unit or floor by floor. The nature of sales will also change as customers evolve into investors at the development stage, entering the capital stack and having a greater input into what the end product may look like.
For the small to mid sized developers out there – this means needing to be more agile, more global in their view viewpoint, but also the focus on good governance, and the willingness to operate with rigour and transparency will never be more crucial.
SHIFTING FOCUS FROM WHAT SELLS TO WHAT ENDURES
In the pressure cooker of UAE real estate, selling has become the king metric for so many market participants – but what then? We see 2026 as they year where the end-user logic catches up and possibly even overtakes the sales logic.
Practically what does this mean? A more disciplined approach to unit mixes – fewer micro units and more liveable layouts – larger balconies, better storage, more flexibility.
We see an expansion of the, often unhelpfully named, mid-market bracket. This section will become more design led.
Branded residential will doubtless continue, but with greater scrutiny – will those premiums actually deliver, and how will a branded strategy translate into service and offering – and who is actually profiting from it – the brand, the developer, or the user?
MASTERPLANNING AT THE CENTRE OF VALUE CREATION
Plots won’t outperform plans. The value opportunity for purchasers will be in walkable districts, mixed use waterfronts, community anchored developments. Proper curation and visioning for retail schemes, investment in public realm, and clearly defined and executed phasing strategy will attract the most interest, and command the real premiums.
This will naturally favour the developers who control masterplans, but those with the resources to own contiguous plots within larger schemes can operate as if they were a master developer, and benefit from their adjacency to the master development.
RE-ENGINEERING SALES, MARKETING, DISTRIBUTION
The broker-only model will face pressure in 2026. Developers, in seeking to exert greater control over the image and reduce their cost of sales as margin pressure continues, will focus more energy on direct-to-client channels. This will drive more active and sophisticated private client desks and international roadshows.
So called “launch hype” is becoming too performative, and will be replaced by better data driven forecasting. Smarter use of global agents, sports and lifestyle platforms, family office groups, and engagement with institutions will drive better velocity management and absorption.
a shift to operators to drive competitive advantage
Asset performance in 2026 will matter earlier than ever – this means better FM, more efficient use of service charges, and the post-handover experience. Institutional expectations means institutional service. Even in a D-Sell environment, developers have to think like operators – long-term operators, who recognise that the product as experienced by the user is the ultimate brand expression. This is where reputations are made or broken.
We expect to see reputational risk and secondary market sales pricing occupying more and more discussion around executive committee and board room tables.
GOOD GOVERNANCE IS JUST GOOD BUSINESS
The UAE is raising the bar – both noisily, and quietly. We expect that expectations will continue to rise around areas such as escrow, reporting and disclosure. No longer will governance expectations be high just for publicly listed entities. Even family run groups, private developers – and everyone in the value chain will be expected to level up.
Board structures, development strategies, five year plans, investor communications, sustainability reporting, purpose, and values will come under much greater scrutiny. Transparency will no longer be a nice to have – it will move into being a competitive advantage and then on to being the mandatory minimum.
SUSTAINABILITY AS AN UNDERWRITING REQUIREMENT
You want institutional capital? You better believe that your access to it will be in some way determined by your ESG approach. Not only does it signal your intentions in a world of social responsibility, it demonstrates that you are thinking for the long term.
Operating costs, energy efficiency, water, cooling, maintenance – these are the questions that are going to be asked earlier and earlier in the planning stages, and not just at the point of delivery.
ESG will move fully from the ideological and into the practical.
ACCELERATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENTIATION WITHIN THE UAE
Each Emirate is building and sharpening its own proposition.
Dubai is reaching a level of maturity, and with that comes greater segmentation and margin compression. Abu Dhabi is more about institutional scale and long term capital. Ras Al Khaimah is all in on the upcoming Wynn resort and the other Northern Emirates are looking to the master developers and national infrastructure projects to drive growth.
Understanding your position in your respective market and how you align will be key. Failure to act accordingly will no longer be tolerated. If you say you are a market maker – then you must be bold. In short – taking a copy-paste approach from one Emirate to the next will not work. Implant your DNA, yes – but be sympathetic to the surrounding.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Winning developers will be capital-disciplined, deliberate in their intentions, and will be operationally serious – on this last point – the “back office” has never been more important than it is today. Losing developers will be the ones who overpay for their land, are over-leveraged, and are those who prioritise the initial sale and under deliver on the user experience.
2026 will be the separation year between house builders and platform developers.
THE NEXT PHASE OF UAE REAL ESTATE
We have been optimistic, but cautious for the past twelve months or so – at times even becoming somewhat bearish. However we do not see a market that is slowing – we see a market that is professionalising and institutionalising – fast!
There is still plenty of opportunity, but the execution risk is high.
As a closing thought, we believe that the next cycle will reward clarity of strategy far more than speed of launch.
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