Emaar

Who Emaar is

Emaar Properties was founded in 1997 by Mohamed Alabbar, who remains its founder and chairman, and is listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The Government of Dubai, through the Investment Corporation of Dubai, is its largest shareholder. Emaar is the developer of Downtown Dubai, the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall, and of master communities including Arabian Ranches, Emirates Living, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Creek Harbour and Emaar Beachfront. It is the largest developer in Dubai by sales and one of the few with a quarter-century of handovers behind it.

Signature projects

Beyond Downtown, Emaar’s most relevant work for a luxury buyer is its villa communities: Emirates Hills and the Lakes in the early 2000s, Dubai Hills Estate in the 2010s, and now The Oasis, a 9.4 million square metre masterplan announced in 2023 with more than 7,000 villas and mansions, around a quarter of its land given to lakes, canals and parks, and a 20-minute drive from Downtown. The Oasis is where Emaar is concentrating its top-tier villa product, including the Palace-branded collections.

What buyers should know

Emaar’s strength is predictability. It launches, builds and hands over at scale, its communities are managed by its own community-management arm, and resale liquidity in an Emaar address is generally the deepest in the market. Build quality is reliable for its tier; the palette and finishes are consistent rather than bespoke, and buyers who want individuality often upgrade after handover. Payment plans are usually straightforward construction-linked schedules with a sizeable instalment at handover, and all sales sit in DLD-regulated escrow. The trade-offs are that Emaar launches sell out fast, often by expression of interest and allocation, that early phases are priced to move while later phases are priced to the market, and that in a large masterplan the difference between a waterfront plot and an inland one is considerable. Choosing the right plot matters more than choosing the right launch.

Emaar projects in the Renaissance collection

• Palace Villas Ostra, The Oasis: four- to six-bedroom Palace-branded waterfront villas, from around AED 13.1M, under construction with handover in 2029. Our advisors prioritise the waterfront plots.

How Renaissance advises on Emaar launches

Renaissance presents only the Emaar collections that meet our threshold for design, position and scarcity, which in 2026 means the villa phases at The Oasis rather than the broader catalogue. A client receives a dedicated advisor who registers interest before launch, understands Emaar’s allocation process and can tell a lake-front plot from a merely lake-adjacent one on the plan. We also advise on resale homes in Emirates Hills, Dubai Hills Estate and Downtown Dubai, where Emaar’s earlier work sets the standard for the city.

Emaar: questions buyers ask