Who are the best property developers in Dubai? Several rankings agree on the fact that the top 3 property developers are EMAAR Properties, DAMAC Properties, and Nakheel. However there are many other good real estate developers in the UAE. So let’s go further.

Who are the Top 20 real estate developers in Dubai?

Here are the top 20 property developers in Dubai per website traffic (ranking per revenues comes after):

  1. EMAAR
  2. DAMAC Properties
  3. AZIZI
  4. The First Group
  5. Sobha Group
  6. Nshama
  7. Danube
  8. Omniyat
  9. Nakheel
  10. Cayan Group
  11. Wasl properties
  12. Meraas
  13. Meydan
  14. Select Group
  15. MAG
  16. Shapoorji Pallonji
  17. Dubai Properties Group
  18. The Alef
  19. Xtreme Vision

Visually, here is more details thanks to stats tracked by Joseba Umbelina:

Top 5 real estate developers in Dubai according to JustProperty

Naturally, ranking the developers by website’s traffic above isn’t enough. Indeed, in the ranking above a developer such as Nakheel Properties is only 9th. In reality, Nakheel is one the top 5 biggest developers in terms of revenues. So, who are the top 5 real estate developers in Dubai ? Let’s take a ranking done by JustProperty.com, one of the leading portals in Dubai:

EMAAR, DAMAC, and Nakheel always seem to be the top 3 developers in Dubai, whatever the ranking. Another ranking by betterhomes confirms once more this top 3, and ads two other names to complete the top 5: Meraas Development, and Aldar Properties.

Dubai Property Prices 2008-2020

Dubai’s property prices hit a record-high in September 2014. Since then, Dubai’s property prices have been going down a lot, from 172 in 2014, to 114 in 2020 (Property Monitor Dynamic Price Index), In other words, “Property prices in Dubai were 1.4 per cent less in August, reaching an 11-year low.” (thenational.ae).

So what is happening ? Prices in Dubai have been gradually declining since September 2014, due in part to an oversupply of units but also to a pivot to building more affordable units.

While this is not good for investors who bought a home in 2014, it makes us wonder: is 2020 a good time to buy a house or an apartment in Dubai? Indeed, as property prices have slipped to near 2010 lows (arabianbusiness.com), investing now might be a good timing.

Dubai's Property Price Index, 2008 to 2020 - data and graph by PropertyMonitor.ae - FBW
Dubai’s Property Price Index, 2008 to 2020 – data and graph by PropertyMonitor.ae – FBW

The end of the “Build it and they will come” period

The Financial Times published an article called: “Dubai fears the end of its ‘build it and they will come’ model“. Indeed, if property prices fell so much in the past years, it is in part the consequence of too much construction.

Beginning of a more active marketing phase for property Developers in Dubai

As a consequence, real estate developers are increasingly looking to market their properties globally. Indeed, foreign buyers represent 18,5% of buyers in Dubai (see analysis). For instance, the Chinese have become the #5 nationality of foreign buyers in Dubai last year. There are now around 230,000 Chinese nationals currently living in Dubai, and around 4,000 Chinese companies. Dubai is quite cheap compared to Shanghai (4 to 6 times cheaper), which partly explains this phenomenon.