Emaar Explained: Dubai’s #1 Developer & Why Investors Trust Them

You've heard of the name, you've seen it on the skyline, and chances are if you're looking for a property here in Dubai, you've heard of Emaar. Well, here's the real question: is Emaar actually the best developer here in Dubai, or are they just the biggest? Today we're going to break it all down, talking about their best communities here in Dubai, discussing whether Emaar is still a good investment in 2025, and we'll even consider their flaws because every developer is not perfect, right? Let's start from the beginning. Emaar is not only the largest developer here in Dubai, but they're responsible for multiple projects worldwide. There's a reason that Emaar are this big and well-known. They don't get this big just from building houses and buildings. They built an entire city. They are the master developer of Dubai itself. They build the best communities in Dubai. That's literally what they're known for. They are known for the best developer to build communities here in Dubai. I don't see Emaar as just an ordinary real estate developer. I see Emaar as a key player in building the infrastructure of Dubai. The likes of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The Dubai Mall, the most visited place in the world in 2024. Downtown as a whole. The likes of Emaar Beachfront, Arabian Ranches 1, 2, and 3. And of of course many, many more. Let's take Arabian Ranches 3 as an example. It isn't just a load of villas in the middle of the desert as a lot of people seem to think, but it's actually an entire community with not only houses but a school, parks, a mosque, shopping facilities, fitness centers— pretty much everything you need within one community to make it livable and family-friendly. Because they've got so much experience in the market, they can literally tailor their projects to what their clients need. They know what they like, they know what they don't like, they know what's required in a community to make it successful. So that's why when you see these new launches in Emaar, you see these new projects coming up, they just get better and better. They know exactly what investors want, they know exactly what the end users want. That is why they're the best for building communities here in Dubai. But not only that, the way that they retain their customers is that they have the best customer care in the whole of Dubai, across all of the developers. They're literally one of the only developers here in Dubai that keep their customer care team in-house, meaning that you have any complaints, they get onto it straight away and they rectify situations immediately, every time. And that is The Emaar Playbook. Now, even Emaar, as big as they are, they still have their fair share of flaws. And I sell Emaar on a daily basis, so I'm going to give you 3 firsthand flaws that I hear from not only end users but investors. Now, one of the major complaints that I hear a lot is that Emaar delay the handovers. However, this isn't as big of an issue as it seems. The reason is they actually plan this strategically because they don't want to hand over all the units in one go. If you're an investor, do you really want to be in competition with everybody else getting the keys at the same time, reselling their unit, renting their unit? No, you wouldn't, because the supply would just outweigh the demand. It would be crazy. So we might actually hand over around 10 units per week. And yes, this can take up to 8, 9, 10, 12 months even at times. But categorically, from previous experiences and from selling units myself, I know for a fact that the difference between the price of the units on day one to the price on the units a year later have increased exponentially. I'll give you a case study. One of my clients who is selling the property on handover in Arabian Ranches 3, we were selling a 3-bedroom townhouse there for around 2.4 million dirhams, and this was to an end user, a mortgage buyer. And at the time we signed the contract, they got the keys. They were one of the first to get the keys, actually. That owner who purchased that property has then sat on that asset for a whole year. They lived in it. They're an end user, they're not an investor. However, now they're a million dirham in equity because the handovers are still going on. They didn't oversupply the market, which meant that they always had consistent demand. And as there was this demand, the prices increased. As it should. Now we're a year down the line. One of my other owners is selling their property, and I just transacted on one of the highest sold 3-bedrooms in the whole of Ranches 3 so far, and that was at 3.55. That's 1,050,000 dirhams higher than what we sold them a year ago. So if you're an investor, I wouldn't complain about the delayed handovers. Now if we flip the coin on its head and you were the owner that got the handover first and you sold at 2.5, you'd be pretty annoyed, right? But what we find is that most of these owners who sell their properties as soon as they get the key, it's because they're putting the cash straight into another investment. So I advise all of my clients, if you are going to sell on handover, to put it into something that's 12 months away so you can recycle the cash. And it's a strategy I do a lot with my clients. They sell on handover in one community and then they purchase in the next cluster that's 12 months away, 6 months away, so on so forth. And they can maximize the return on equity. The second flaw that I hear a lot is that Emaar prices are too expensive. But that's all subjective because Dubai is actually only— on average, I should say— one-third of the price of London's price per square foot. So you compare both price per square foot of 3-bed apartment in London, 3-bed apartment in Downtown Dubai, it's literally one-third of the price of what you'd be paying in Central London, which is crazy. So actually, Dubai is still massively, massively undervalued for what it is. Secondly, you'll have to consider the fact that back in 2014, 2015, before the market went on a slight downturn, the prices were at a similar price per square foot as they are today. So even though people think that they're paying a higher price, they're actually paying pretty much the same as what people were paying in 2014, 2015, only that now the economy is a lot more stable and we live in what is called an engineered economy. So Dubai's government actually plan in advance, and they are a lot more strategic about the way that they do things here. Now, they actually know exactly how many people are coming into Dubai, and they are actually matching the handovers to accommodate that. So no, they're not going to oversupply the market. They actually know in advance what they are doing. So as much as there's been many launches here in Dubai recently, that is only because there's going to be such a high influx of new residents moving here in Dubai over the next 3 to 4 years. So now we've looked at prices as Dubai as a whole, let's look at Emaar as an independent developer and why their prices may be perceived as slightly higher in the market compared to other developers. Firstly, you need to look at the brand. Who are you buying into and what's their reputation in the market? Yes, there may be other developers who are offering more attractive price per square foot, but what is their reputation? What are they known for? What have they done in the past? And can you actually see their communities, or are they new in the market? Because one thing to keep in mind is that when you're buying Emaar, you actually know what the finish is going to look like. You know what the buildings are going to look like, the quality is going to be like, and they complete on what they say they're going to do. Now, you might compare that to other developers and they might have a reputation for a lack quality on their handover, or they might have reputation for delayed handovers or bad customer service. You know, all of these factors have to be considered when buying off-plan from the developer. Secondly, we need to actually look at what are the other developers and what are the price per square foot. I'm sure that everyone's aware Emaar is not the most expensive developer here in Dubai. There are more expensive developers like Ellington and Shobha, but their reputation for quality and finish is phenomenal, and they are the top tier in the market. But the price per square foot reflects that. Yet why do they still sell out? It goes to show, price per square foot alone can be a vanity metric. You have to look at other metrics in order for you to make the best investment decision. Metrics such as location, accessibility— what is the infrastructure around it and what are the future infrastructures coming? We know real estate investment as a whole, as an asset, is not always the most liquid. It's not like a stock where you can just buy, sell, trade it, and take your cash out immediately. You have to go through a process of selling the property. You have to match the property with the correct buyer in order to complete a transaction, which can be a process that takes 2-3 months. However, it does help if you have the right brand and the right developer behind you, keeping in mind that the majority of the market here in Dubai already knows about Emaar. They already know what they have to offer. They already know about their upcoming projects. Their branding and their advertising is so vast that you wouldn't have an issue to sell your property. There's a reason why most of Emaar projects will always sell out on the day of launch, because they are the most desired developer. Here in Dubai, meaning that it's also the most liquid asset here in Dubai, easily resellable to majority of the market, making your exit so much easier. The third complaint that I tend to get is that Emaar don't offer the most attractive payment plans in the market. Well, this is not always true because they used to back in 2019, 2020, even 2021. They were offering a lot more attractive payment plans like post-handover payment plan, and that was purely because they were struggling to sell the stock. Now, if you're an investor and you're buying into a project that has an attractive payment plan, there's usually a reason why that payment plan is so attractive. They need to incentivize buyers to purchase into that project. Now, if I'm a developer and I hold all of the cards and I know that I'm getting loads of people coming to me regardless of the payment plan that I offer, why would I offer a more attractive payment plan? I'm already getting enough demand, the project's already selling out as it is. So in actual fact, the more aggressive the payment plan is, the more highly demanded the project would be so that developers can benefit. So these are the 3 biggest complaints that I tend to hear from clients, but in my eyes, they're not really flaws. If you're looking to invest in Emaar in 2025, then you need to consider the following framework, which is the staircase framework, which is basically showing different levels to area investments developed by Emaar, entry points, capital appreciation, rental returns, allowing you to pinpoint exactly where you need to enter the market for your investment goals. Or whether it's just the case that you want to live in the property yourself, you still need understand this framework. At the very top of the staircase, you've got Downtown Dubai. Second down the staircase, you got the likes of Dubai Hills Estate. Not as mature as Downtown Dubai, but still a very mature community, great for families and residents. What you'll find is the way that Dubai Hills Estate is located, especially now, it is effectively the heart of Dubai. It's right in the center, although 5 years ago everybody thought it was too far away, ironically. But now Dubai Hills Estate is the most demanded community for The prices are actually insane. The appreciation that owners have made over the last 5 years is over 100%. And if you want to buy into one of the new launches now, there is still room for growth because there is still more projects coming, but there is not as much growth as other communities because over the last 5 years so many owners made so much appreciation. And Dubai Hills Estate has not got that many more amenities or infrastructure to come. All the roads are already well connected. You've got the likes of Dubai Hills Mall, you've got the golf course, you've got Dubai Hills park. It's pretty much a complete project, which is great if you want to live in it, and I'd live there myself. If you're an investor, great to rent it out to families, especially the villas. If you're buying into the villa communities, the townhouses, really good for that long-term family, meaning you're going to have a lot less headache. And most of the time, the families who move in, they stay there for 5, 10 years. It's not a high turnover, so there is still margin for growth, but not necessarily as much growth as other areas that are newly developed and not so as a hot spot just yet, such as Arabian Ranches 3. Now, why is Arabian Ranches 3 such a good investment? Well, it is third down the staircase. It's not as mature as Dubai Hills Estate, no, but it is still very well located. Only recently, so many developers have launched across what I call the Dubai land corridor, which is the likes of Arabian Ranches 3, The Acres by Madass. Al Dar have launched Haven, they've launched Athlon. All of this corridor, this, this whole row across Hamdan Street nearby Global Village. This is an area that's going to be booming over the next 3 years. The reason so many developers have launched there is because they see the opportunity, they see the attractive location, and they see where Dubai is heading. Now, Arabian Ranches 3 was launched back in 2019 when everybody was considering it as far away and in the middle of the desert. Only now people are really understanding how well located this community is, meaning that there is massive growth for capital appreciation over the next 3 years. The project is still not complete. There is only one-third of the project that is handed over. The souq is only just complete. The Central Park is not complete yet, nor is the school complete yet. Once these anchors hand over, there'll be more demand for families in this community. So if you're an investor, I'd advise to jump in now. From a rental perspective, you might not be able to rent it out as expensive as the likes of Dubai Hills Estate, but the demand is still there. People are going to the likes of Ranches 3 because you can get such a good deal for a 3-bed, 4-bedroom townhouse. So these are factors to consider. And over the years, of course, rental prices will increase to keep it in line with the market price of the properties. You could even go further down this staircase to the likes of The Valley. Now, The Valley, the price per square foot is insanely cheap. It's around 1,200 dirhams per square foot, yet there is nothing around it at the moment. It is far away and it is technically in the middle of the desert, as people would say. But what people don't know is that it's only 20 minutes to downtown Dubai. You have access onto Al Ain Road and you have access onto Lahab Road, which leads you to Al Maktoum Airport and Palm Jebel Ali. Again, This is Emaar showing that they locate projects strategically for the future growth of Dubai. So I guess the question is, should you invest in an Emaar property? Now I'm sure that the video explains itself on why Emaar is such a great product, and you can probably make your own judgment. But here's the thing, if you want stability, you want strong capital appreciation, and you want pretty much guaranteed rental return, then Emaar's perfect. Whereas if you're looking for the cheapest options in the market and you're looking for the most attractive payment plans, maybe Emaar's not right for you. But that's not always the key factor when considering investment. As explained before, you shouldn't always be looking out for the cheapest prices and the most attractive payment plans because these things just show that the developers are struggling to sell the stock directly and they need to offer these incentives for the likes of you to be attracted to go and buy them assets. Because Emaar is so confident in what they offer and they sell out so easily, they don't need to offer these attractive payment plans, nor do they to offer the cheapest options in the market. When buying with Emaar, just keep in mind that you buy the right property in the right location at the right entry point, whilst keeping in mind your investment goals and actually planning your exit. Because it's not just important to understand the entry point, you need to understand what your exit is as well. But here's my take: Emaar is Dubai's safest real estate investment. You know what to expect, you know what you're going to get. The projects stay desirable, family-oriented, the customer care is the You literally cannot go wrong with an MR product. Now, if you're considering investing in an MR product, I've got access to some of the most exclusive stock before it hits the market. So if you're interested in getting started in investing, drop me a WhatsApp message in the first link on the description below, and let's get started. And that's all for today, as promised, MR explained. Now let me know in the comments below which communities caught your attention and which ones you'd like me to delve a bit deeper into in upcoming videos. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.