UAE Property Markets Log H1 Growth Across Five Emirates
A syndicated Zawya item based on UAE real estate authority data showed first-half property growth across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, led by AED117 billion in Abu Dhabi transactions.
UAE property authorities recorded first-half growth across five emirates in 2026, with Abu Dhabi transactions more than doubling and Dubai completing more projects at a higher investment value, a syndicated Zawya item based on real estate authority data showed.
Abu Dhabi carried the strongest capital-growth signal.
Total real estate transactions reached about AED117 billion between January and June, up 112 percent from the same period in 2025, while transaction volume rose 61.7 percent.
Sales accounted for AED86.1 billion across 16,838 transactions, and mortgage activity reached AED26.7 billion.
Foreign direct investment in Abu Dhabi property reached about AED13.8 billion in the first six months, a 309 percent increase that exceeded the total recorded for all of 2025.
Non-resident foreign investors came from a broad nationality base, and investment zones attracted about AED75 billion.
The Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre's first-half report put residential unit sales at AED70.4 billion.
Off-plan properties represented 89 percent of sales value and 82 percent of the total number of transactions, while apartment resale prices rose 20 percent and villa resale prices rose 12 percent.
Active residential tenancy contracts carried a total value of AED9.3 billion, up eight percent year on year.
Dubai's construction pipeline expanded at the same time.
The emirate completed 104 real estate projects worth more than AED111 billion in the first half, compared with 75 projects worth AED73 billion a year earlier.
That represented growth of 38.7 percent in project count and 52 percent in investment value.
The number of new units in Dubai rose by more than 36 percent to 24,537.
Ready-for-handover construction space increased by more than 23.4 percent to 1.95 million square metres, while land allocated to completed projects more than doubled to about one million square metres.
The cost of land allocated to projects rose by more than 135 percent to AED19.46 billion from AED8.27 billion.
Other emirates added smaller but still active transaction pools.
Sharjah recorded about AED29.5 billion in real estate transactions, up 9.3 percent, with AED7.6 billion in mortgage deals.
Ajman logged 6,815 transactions worth more than AED10.8 billion, including AED7.64 billion in trading transactions and AED1.88 billion in mortgages.
Ras Al Khaimah completed the first-half map with about AED2.89 billion in transactions.
Sales contributed AED1.353 billion across 1,274 deals, mortgages added AED1.160 billion across 463 deals, and property transfers accounted for about AED380 million.
