It takes real capital to start a development company, not just buy into someone else’s project. Licensing data through mid-August 2026 shows that bar is still being cleared at a steady pace — 186 new entrants in just over seven months, most licensed through DET.

The rest spread across Trakhees, the SME Establishment, and Expo City Dubai — growth beyond the mainland alone. A more diverse developer base usually means more competition and choice for buyers ahead.

Bayut’s H1 2026 rental report confirms what DUR’s leasing conversations have suggested all year: rents kept rising across nearly every tier of Dubai’s market, apartments and villas alike. But the neighbourhood-level data shows the market is no longer moving as one block.

Prime and branded communities are still setting the pace — Al Barari rose 8.22%, Sobha Hartland climbed 6.45%. But Mirdif’s 3-bedroom villas barely moved, up just 0.56%, a sign tenants at the affordable end are starting to push back even as premium tenants keep absorbing increases.

Knight Frank’s H1 2026 figures confirm what DUR’s own desk has felt for months: demand at the very top of the market hasn’t just held up, it has kept setting records. Q2 alone produced 26 sales above $25 million, also a record for that band.

What makes this period different is the split underneath the headline: while $10M+ sales hit an all-time high, the broader residential market softened in most areas over the same stretch. For a buyer at this level, that split matters more than the headline figure.

Emaar’s founder Mohamed Alabbar publicly called this the company’s most ambitious project to date: five zones, a business hub, an urban district, family clusters, and a gated villa enclave, all built around “20-minute city” principles with schools, healthcare, and cultural venues from day one.

The announcement lands alongside strong Emaar numbers: Q1 2026 profit rose 35% to roughly Dh5 billion. For DUR clients, projects like this are worth watching from day one — pricing and the best-positioned plots are usually decided long before the public launch. We’ll update this entry once the name and location are confirmed.

Until this rule change, a buyer purchasing solely in their own name needed a Dubai property worth at least AED 750,000 to qualify for the 2-Year Property Investor Visa. As of April 2026, that floor is gone entirely for sole owners.

The application fee is AED 10,545, with renewal at AED 8,215. Applications run through the Dubai Land Department’s Cube Centre platform. This closes a gap that used to catch buyers of smaller Dubai properties who fell just under the old threshold.

Dubai Land Department’s own Q1 2026 figures show 718,160 real estate procedures processed, including 60,303 individual sale transactions, for a combined value of AED 252 billion — a 31% increase in value against just a 6% increase in volume versus Q1 2025.

The luxury segment brought in AED 87.71 billion, up 26%. One detail worth flagging on its own: 15,540 women investors placed AED 32 billion into the market in the quarter. Sustained, broad-based growth across luxury, foreign capital, and first-time buyers tends to matter more than any single record sale.