United Arab Emirates Real Estate Services Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

United Arab Emirates Real Estate Services Market Trends and Insights

Foreign direct investment-led transaction growth

Record capital inflows remain the single largest catalyst for the UAE real estate services market. The Ministry of Investment confirmed USD 30.7 billion in FDI during 2023, a 35% year-on-year increase, with real estate securing a notable share. Recent rules allowing free-zone companies to operate onshore are widening the corporate buyer pool while Mubadala’s USD 1 billion alliance with Fortress Investment Group signals deeper institutional participation. These trends expand the transaction pipeline for brokerage, valuation, and due diligence providers over the medium term.

Tourism-fuelled demand for short-stay assets

Dubai welcomed 9.31 million international visitors in H1 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and creating an acute need for vacation-rental management and hospitality-oriented brokerage services. Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Strategy 2030 targets 39 million arrivals, requiring 18,000 additional hotel keys. Branded-residence schemes backed by Wyndham and Kamah Hotels exemplify how developers bundle hospitality and residential inventory, generating recurring fee income for property-management specialists^{[2]Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, “Tourism Strategy 2030,” Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, dct.gov.ae}.

Mandatory green-building regulations in Dubai & Abu Dhabi

The Emirates Green Building Council and Dubai Development Authority now enforce higher energy-efficiency standards, elevating demand for ESG auditing, retro-commissioning, and green-lease structuring. Serco’s buy-out of local sustainability adviser Climatize in February 2024 underlines the commercial appeal of such expertise. Developers integrating on-site solar and smart-waste solutions are reporting multi-million-dollar operating-cost savings, a proof point that is encouraging wider market adoption.

Rapid build-out of hyperscale data-centre campuses

Khazna Data Centers is constructing the country’s first AI-optimised 100 MW facility in Ajman, due online in Q3 2025, while Aldar and DP World are co-developing 1.55 million sq ft of Grade A logistics space that can be converted to edge-data capacity. These projects create new fee pools for site-selection, project-management, and critical-facility operations—capabilities that few local service firms presently possess, giving early adopters an advantage.

Mortgage-rate plateau & costlier project finance

The 12-month EIBOR stood at 5.306% in June 2024 while leading banks priced resident mortgages from 3.94%, squeezing affordability for mid-income buyers. Lenders have raised minimum loan thresholds for non-residents and curtailed tenors, slowing transaction velocity. Service providers are responding by structuring Islamic rent-to-own models and advising on alternative funding vehicles, yet commission revenues tied to conventional sales remain under pressure.

Persistent mid-market residential oversupply

Fitch Ratings projects more than 200,000 units will reach the Dubai market by 2026, outpacing absorption and pressuring prices. Landlords in peripheral zones face eroding yields, prompting an uptick in refinancing, restructuring, and distressed-asset mandates. Specialists capable of repositioning under-performing inventory—through conversion to co-living formats or green retrofits—are best placed to offset the softness in traditional agency fees.

Segment Analysis

By Property Type: Logistics Drives Industrial Transformation

Residential apartments and condominiums accounted for 46% of the UAE real estate services market share in 2024, a lead sustained by the steady inflow of expatriate professionals and investors seeking resilient rental income streams. Warehouse and distribution assets, although representing a smaller base, are projected to record the fastest 1.04% CAGR to 2030 on the back of e-commerce expansion and supply-chain re-routing toward the Gulf. Dubai’s prime warehouse rents climbed more than 20% in 2024, while Abu Dhabi witnessed 14% growth, signalling tight occupier markets that support premium advisory fees. Aldar Properties committed USD 270 million to new industrial parks, a move highlighting institutional confidence in the segment’s outlook. Developers are increasingly incorporating cold-storage and last-mile nodes, elevating the technical specifications demanded of property-management providers.

Commercial office assets display a split personality. Grade A towers in the DIFC and Abu Dhabi Global Market enjoy 94-96% occupancy, yet secondary stock wrestles with double-digit vacancy. This performance divergence is prompting landlords to commission adaptive-reuse studies and smart-building upgrades, generating additional consulting and project-management mandates. Retail centres are benefiting from the rebound in footfall, but the growth of omni-channel retailing is pushing mall operators to craft experiential formats and entertainment clusters, again expanding the scope of design and leasing services.

By Service: Technology Reshapes Traditional Models

Brokerage and transaction services retained a 41% revenue share of the UAE real estate services market in 2024 as high-end residential deals and record FDI transactions bolstered commission pools. Yet digital disruptors are compressing margins; more than 100,000 deals were closed on Dubai Land Department’s REST platform in 2024 without traditional agent intervention. Property and facility management, the fastest-growing service line at a 1.09% CAGR through 2030, is benefiting from the institutional shift toward income-stabilised assets and the complexity of operating green-certified buildings. CBRE’s global integration with Turner & Townsend illustrates how scale economies and cross-selling opportunities can unlock value in this vertical.

Valuation and advisory services are also evolving. Tokenisation initiatives, such as Prypco Mint, point toward fractionalised ownership structures that will require continuous portfolio valuation and digital-asset servicing. AI-powered design tools are shortening development cycles and reducing change-order costs, compelling surveyors and cost-consultants to upgrade their modelling capabilities to remain relevant.

By Client Type: Institutional Demand Accelerates

Individuals and households contributed 53% of total turnover in 2024, sustained by the UAE’s Golden Visa programme and a widening pool of high-net-worth expatriates. Corporates and SMEs, however, are slated to grow at a 1.1% CAGR—the quickest across client segments—as regional headquarters activity and supply-chain localisation intensify. 

The corporate client pivot reinforces demand for integrated workplace solutions, portfolio optimisation, and cross-border transaction advisory. Meanwhile, sovereign wealth funds, pension managers, and Shari’a-compliant REITs are building larger domestic allocations, raising the bar for reporting, ESG compliance, and yield-enhancement services delivered by asset-management firms. Dubai Holding’s oversubscribed REIT launch is emblematic of this deepening institutional appetite.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Dubai dominated the UAE real estate services market with a 61% share in 2024. Visitor arrivals surged to 18.7 million last year, and the resident population reached 3.8 million, fuelling sustained demand for residential lettings, hospitality management, and retail leasing. Landmark schemes such as Emaar’s USD 3.8 billion Creek Tower and the USD 408 million Dubai Mall expansion underline developers’ confidence despite cyclical price headwinds. Service providers with strong downtown and Palm Jumeirah coverage benefit most from the emirate’s premium-asset resilience.

Abu Dhabi stands as the second-largest contributor, driven by an expanding government sector and the execution of its Tourism Strategy 2030. The plan aims to lift tourism’s GDP share to AED 90 billion (USD 24.5 billion) and scale hotel capacity by more than 50%, offering a multi-year pipeline for brokerage, fit-out, and facilities-management firms. Lunate’s USD 1 billion residential venture with Brookfield adds further momentum, indicating sustained interest from global capital providers.

Ras Al Khaimah is projected to register the fastest 1.055% CAGR through 2030 as it rolls out mega-resorts and mixed-use precincts. Wynn’s USD 2 billion Marjan Island scheme, slated to draw 5.5 million tourists by 2030, exemplifies the scale of upcoming opportunities for development-management and hospitality-asset operators, damacproperties.com. Sharjah and the remaining emirates offer more price-accessible inventory but lag in growth, directing service firms to balance portfolio exposure toward high-velocity Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah mandates while preserving income stability in Abu Dhabi’s institutional market^{[3]Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, “Marjan Island Visitor Forecast 2030,” Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, raktda.com}.