Real Estate Developers in Dubai: Profiles, Track Records and Projects

Developers shown: 7

• Dubai-wide

  Danube Properties

  Dubai, UAEEst. 1993

  Danube Group property arm with completed buildings and towers under construction across 14 Dubai communities.

  Partly completed

  Projects listed: 30View profile
• Jumeirah Village Circle

  Ellington Properties

  Dubai, UAEEst. 2014

  Boutique residential developer with five completed Belgravia buildings in JVC and Windsor House II in Dubai South.

  Partly completed

  Projects listed: 6View profile
• Dubai-wide

  Emaar Properties

  Dubai, UAEEst. 1997

  Dubai-listed developer of villas, apartments and townhouses in The Valley, Expo Living and Dubai Creek Harbour.

  Off-plan projects

  Projects listed: 4View profile
• Business Bay

  Omniyat

  Dubai, UAEEst. 2005

  Dubai developer of The Opus, The Lana and Marasi Bay; two completed Business Bay office towers listed.

  Completed projects in Dubai

  Projects listed: 2View profile
• Dubai South

  DAMAC Properties

  Dubai, UAEEst. 2002

  Dubai developer with a completed, furnished apartment building in Dubai South and master communities across the emirate.

  Completed projects in Dubai

  Projects listed: 1View profile
• Marina and JLT

  Select Group

  Dubai, UAEEst. 2002

  Private Dubai developer with Marina towers, Business Bay and Palm Jumeirah projects and a completed Dubai Marina tower we list.

  Completed projects in Dubai

  Projects listed: 1View profile
• Jumeirah Village Circle

  Iman Developers

  Dubai, UAEEst. 2016

  Dubai developer behind Oxford Terraces in JVC, with projects in Motor City and Al Sufouh.

  Completed projects in Dubai

  Projects listed: 1View profile

A directory of real estate developers in Dubai: what it is and how to use it

This page is the overview layer of our directory of real estate developers in Dubai. Above it sit seven developer cards, and each card opens a long, sourced profile of one company: Danube Properties, Ellington Properties, Emaar Properties, Omniyat, DAMAC Properties, Select Group and Iman Developers. A profile sets out who stands behind the company, what it has completed, what it is building, which projects we list and what the homes or offices on our listing pages cost. The text you are reading does a different job. It lines the seven up side by side, explains which developer plays which role in the communities named in the profiles, and gives a way to read the claims that appear in brochures, launch announcements and listing pages.

The seven profiles are linked to 45 distinct listing pages on our site: 30 for Danube Properties, 6 for Ellington Properties, 4 for Emaar Properties, 2 for Omniyat and 1 each for DAMAC Properties, Select Group and Iman Developers. They cover apartment towers, townhouse communities, villa communities and two office towers, and they sit in communities that include Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), Business Bay, Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), Dubai South, The Valley, Expo Living and Dubai Creek Harbour. That mix makes a side-by-side comparison of these real estate developers in Dubai useful, because a buyer who starts from a community often meets more than one developer there. For the wider picture of the city, read our Dubai real estate market guide; this hub does not repeat it. It adds the directory, the comparison and a description of how we prepare the profiles.

Prices come from our own listing pages and from the developers’ project pages, and they are converted at the fixed dirham peg of AED 3.6725 = USD 1, so AED 1,200,000 reads as $326,753. Every statement that comes from a company is attributed to it (“according to the developer”), and each profile ends with the date it was last checked. The profiles were checked on 11 October 2026 and this hub on 12 October 2026.

A sensible way to use the directory:

1. Start with the comparison table in the next section to see who owns each developer, where it builds and what stage its listed projects are at.
2. Read the completed and off-plan section to see which projects are finished and which carry a handover target stated by the developer.
3. Use the roles section to see who is the master developer of a community and who builds a project inside it.
4. Read the checklist of claims before you rely on a figure in a brochure or an announcement.
5. Open the profile of any developer that interests you, read its section on what to prepare when reserving, and compare its payment plan with our off-plan buyer’s guide.

The map of real estate developers in Dubai at a glance

Three points frame the table. One: the seven real estate developers in Dubai work at different scales on our site, from the 30 projects of Danube Properties to the single project each of DAMAC Properties, Select Group and Iman Developers. Two: they work in different asset types. Danube Properties sells studios, one- to four-bedroom apartments, townhouses, villas, penthouses and offices; Ellington Properties builds apartment buildings, townhouses and villa collections; Emaar Properties lists villas, apartments and townhouses; Omniyat is represented by office towers; DAMAC Properties by furnished apartments; Select Group by apartments from studios to four bedrooms; and Iman Developers by studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Three: the communities overlap. JVC appears in the profiles of Danube Properties, Ellington Properties and Iman Developers, Dubai South in those of DAMAC Properties and Ellington Properties, and Business Bay in those of Omniyat and Danube Properties.

The developers also describe their own scale. According to Emaar, it has delivered over 130,900 homes in Dubai and other markets since 2002. DAMAC states that it has delivered more than 50,000 units and has more than 54,000 in progress and planning. Select Group states more than 10,000 homes delivered, more than 24.7 million square feet developed and a gross development value of AED 35.2 billion (about $9.6 billion). Omniyat lists 18 masterpieces across three destinations on its website and states a USD 11.7 billion development pipeline as of March 2026. The five Belgravia buildings of Ellington Properties contain 181, 188, 260, 155 and 225 homes, 1,009 in total. These are statements about companies and groups. The project you buy has its own sale agreement, escrow account and handover schedule, which is why each profile reports project-level figures separately.

Capital-market disclosures differ between the seven. Emaar and its for-sale arm publish results through the DFM, Emaar’s listing announcement records the EMAARDEV trading start, and the Emaar Properties profile quotes its H1 2026 revenue of AED 23.9 billion ($6.5 billion) and a revenue backlog of about AED 164.9 billion ($44.9 billion). Omniyat publishes financial accounts for 2023, 2024 and 2025 on its investor relations page and has completed three US dollar sukuk issues, as the Omniyat profile records. A buyer who wants company figures can read those documents directly instead of relying on marketing material. For the other five, the profiles rely on the developers’ own pages, press coverage and Dubai Land Department material.

Completed and off-plan projects from real estate developers in Dubai

Homes and offices in Dubai fall into two kinds of purchase. A completed unit can be visited, measured and compared with its neighbours, and it is bought either from the developer’s available stock or from an existing owner. An off-plan unit is a contract for a building under construction, with instalments paid into a project escrow account. The table sets out which of the seven real estate developers in Dubai have completed projects among our listings, which have projects under construction, and the evidence the profiles give.

Across the seven profiles, 28 of the 45 listed projects are completed and 17 are off-plan or under construction. The completed group includes buildings handed over in 2009 (Bayswater Tower and The Royal Oceanic), 2017 (Belgravia and the Dreamz townhouse community), 2019 (Celestia and Belgravia II) and 2024 (Oxford Terraces and Pearlz). The off-plan group includes all four Emaar Properties projects, twelve of the Danube Properties towers and Windsor House II from Ellington Properties. In its July 2026 report, The Arabian Post quotes Danube Properties as preparing to deliver 11 developments across Dubai, naming Fashionz, Viewz, Elitz, Sportz, Diamondz, Oceanz, Bayz 101, Timez and Oasiz among them.

The purchase route follows from the stage. For a completed unit bought from an owner, the profiles of Ellington Properties, Select Group and DAMAC Properties describe the same sequence. The buyer and seller sign a memorandum of understanding (Form F) with a deposit, the seller obtains a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the developer, the parties attend a registered trustee office, pay the Dubai Land Department (DLD) transfer fee, and the DLD issues the title deed in the buyer’s name. For an off-plan unit the sequence runs from a reservation form through a sale and purchase agreement (SPA), interim registration in the Oqood register, instalments into an escrow account, snagging and handover, and finally the title deed. Our off-plan buyer’s guide covers the off-plan route step by step, and our freehold and leasehold guide explains the tenure that the listed projects carry in their areas.

Two of the completed groups show how a single developer can have both stages. Ellington Properties lists five finished Belgravia buildings in JVC, with floor plans and registered 2026 sales recorded by Property Finder, next to the off-plan Windsor House II in Dubai South, where Property Finder gives a sales start of 12 February 2026 and a construction start of 13 February 2026. Danube Properties lists completed buildings in Al Furjan, Arjan, Al Warsan, Liwan, International City and Dubai Studio City beside towers in Business Bay, JLT, Dubai Maritime City and Dubai Sports City that carry targets between 2026 and 2029. A buyer comparing the two kinds of unit from the same developer is comparing a finished building with a contract, and the profiles keep the two apart in their summary tables.

Master developers and community developers among real estate developers in Dubai

Three roles are easy to blur on a listing page, and the profiles use them in a consistent way. A master developer plans a district, provides the infrastructure and sets the framework for the community. A community developer builds one or more projects inside a district that someone else planned. A developer can also act in both roles, which is the case where a company names and builds its own communities. The table maps the communities named in the profiles onto those roles. Where a profile does not name a master developer, the table says so by naming the setting alone.

Emaar is a company that plans the districts and also sells the homes in them. The Emaar Properties profile lists ten UAE communities on the company’s website, among them Downtown Dubai, Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills Estate, The Valley and Rashid Yachts and Marina, and records that Dubai Hills Estate is developed with Meraas as a joint venture according to Emaar’s 2017 release. Emaar’s pages give area figures for the communities we list: a 32,000 sq m Town Centre, a 47,000 sq m Golden Beach and a 25,000 sq m Sports Village in The Valley, and a community of about 454,747 sq m at Expo Living with about 357,000 sq m of residential space. In these communities the company on the brochure is the company that plans the district, so the roles of master developer and project developer sit in one place.

Select Group and Omniyat show the community-developer role in districts planned by others. Select Group built a cluster of Dubai Marina towers between 2005 and 2012, among them The Royal Oceanic, completed in December 2009 according to its timeline. Select Group also launched its Peninsula waterfront community in Business Bay tower by tower from October 2021 and moved its headquarters there in November 2023. Omniyat handed over Bayswater in Business Bay on 3 June 2009 according to Property Week, which reported that the district plan covered more than 200 buildings, mostly offices, and that Omniyat had launched seven projects there. Its website also presents Marasi Bay as a waterfront destination, and the profile lists residential and hospitality buildings there that sit outside the two office towers we list.

DAMAC Properties names master communities of its own. Its timeline records DAMAC Hills in 2013, DAMAC Hills 2 in 2014, DAMAC Lagoons in 2021 and DAMAC Riverside in Dubai Investment Park in 2024, and its website features DAMAC Islands, DAMAC Islands 2 and DAMAC Sun City. Celestia, the project we list, is a different kind of asset: a completed two-building apartment project in the Residential District of Dubai South, which some portals show as NAIA Celestia. Danube Properties builds individual towers across 14 communities on our site, and its Greenz project, a gated community of 768 townhouses and villas near Dubai International Academic City, shows a community-scale product beyond the 30 listed buildings. Iman Developers organises its names by community: the Oxford series is its JVC and Arjan line, the One series sits in JVC, 15 Cascade and Sierra are in Motor City, and 113 Residences is in Al Sufouh.

Partners and contractors add a further layer. The Ellington Properties profile records that Ellington builds in its own name and, on some projects, with partners: Asem Holdings on Harrington House, Sol Properties (the real estate arm of Bhatia Group) as joint-venture partner on Oakley Square Residences, the contractor DUTCO on Belgravia III and China Railway 18th Bureau Group, awarded an AED 1 billion construction contract for Mercer House in October 2025. It also records that DMCC is the master developer of Uptown Dubai, where Ellington announced a sales and experience centre on 10 April 2026. Naming these parties does not change the buyer’s counterparty, which is the company named in the sale documents for the unit.

How to read developer claims: a checklist for real estate developers in Dubai

Launch announcements, brochures and listing pages use a shared vocabulary. The table sets out phrases found in the seven profiles, what each usually means in the way Dubai purchases are documented, and the document or figure a buyer can ask for. It describes a process, and every row applies to every one of the real estate developers in Dubai.

Two habits help across all seven profiles. One is to compare the same layout across projects and to divide by the area in the contract, as the formula in each profile does. Our price per square metre guide explains how to convert square feet to square metres and compare districts, and our guide to finding below-market-value property in Dubai shows how to read a price list against recorded sales. The other is to note who states a number. The profiles write “according to the developer” for a developer’s own figure, name the portal where a handover target comes from a portal, and give the date of the source, and a reader who copies that habit can check each figure against its origin.

The same habit applies to resale prices. The Ellington Properties profile labels each price as a registered sale, an asking price or a starting price, and the Iman Developers profile sets the 2022 launch prices of Oxford Terraces beside the recorded resale prices that Property Finder shows for 2025 and 2026. Those labels tell a buyer what kind of number is in front of them. A launch price describes the sale of a unit at launch, an asking price describes an owner’s request, and a registered sale describes a completed transfer.

Payment plans across real estate developers in Dubai

Payment structures differ between the seven developers, and they differ within one developer from project to project. The table collects the structures the profiles report, with the source the profile names. These are launch-era or listing-page terms, and the sale and purchase agreement for a unit fixes the dated schedule.

The structures fall into three families. One splits the price between construction and handover, such as the 10/40/50 launch plan of Oxford Terraces and the 20/50/30 breakdown shown for Windsor House II. Another puts the bulk of the price into the construction period, such as the 90/10 plan at Alana and the 10/70/20 plan at Ovelle. A third carries instalments past handover, which is the pattern in the monthly plans of Danube Properties, where launch-era terms on our listings show 40 months after handover at Wavez and 30 months at Sparklz.

Financing is a separate question from the plan. Ellington Properties announced a partnership with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in August 2026 for pre-approved home financing on ready and off-plan homes, with off-plan pre-approval of up to 50% of the property value, according to the release. Our mortgage guide for foreigners explains how lenders treat foreign buyers, and a buyer who plans to borrow can read it before choosing between a plan with instalments after handover and a plan that is settled at completion.

Escrow ties the plan to the construction. The text of Law No. 8 of 2007 on the Dubai Legislation Portal, as the profiles summarise it, requires a developer selling off-plan to open an account in the project’s name with an escrow agent and to deposit buyers’ payments into it. The profiles add that each project has its own account, that the account is dedicated exclusively to the construction of the project, that creditors of the developer cannot attach the funds in it, and that after the completion certificate the escrow agent retains 5% of the account value, released one year after units are registered to purchasers. The reservation paperwork should name the escrow account that receives each instalment.

Golden Visa and real estate developers in Dubai: the AED 2,000,000 condition

Residency is a frequent question for buyers, and the profiles apply one rule to every developer. According to our Golden Visa guide, the property route needs a property value of AED 2,000,000 ($544,588) or more. The Dubai Land Department valuation on the application day decides the value. Off-plan units from a developer approved by the Land Department are considered on that valuation, mortgaged property needs the lender’s no-objection certificate, and one property or several can be combined to reach the figure. The guide also records a federal circular of 20 February 2026 that removed the earlier minimum-equity requirement. The UAE Government portal lists a minimum capital of AED 2,000,000 for the investor category, and a Middle East Briefing report of 29 May 2026, cited in the Select Group profile, states the same threshold for the 10-year visa.

The table places the price points in each profile against that figure. It is a reading of listed prices, not a valuation, and it uses the prices as the profiles state them. A purchase supports an application where the valuation reaches AED 2,000,000, and the authorities confirm the category and value of each unit.

Read across the seven, five developers list units at or above AED 2,000,000 on at least one price point: Emaar Properties, Danube Properties, Ellington Properties, Omniyat and, at the upper end of its larger layouts, Select Group. The units of DAMAC Properties and Iman Developers sit below the figure individually, and the profiles note that the value of more than one property can be counted together, with the current treatment confirmed with the Dubai Land Department. Our property types guide and areas guide help match a unit type and a district to a budget planned around the AED 2,000,000 figure.

Fees and ownership costs when buying from real estate developers in Dubai

The profiles report the same core costs for every purchase, and they attribute each to its source. The table lists them as the profiles state them. Amounts that depend on a particular service are left to the profile and to the Dubai Land Department service page.

Service charges for jointly owned buildings are administered through the DLD’s Mollak platform, which reflects Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property, according to the Iman Developers profile. The profile suggests asking the seller or the developer for the current schedule, since charges are set per building and per square foot. The Select Group profile adds that Bayut publishes a service-charge breakdown per square foot for The Royal Oceanic. Our Dubai property tax guide lists the fees and annual charges to budget for, and our guide to how much it costs to buy an apartment in Dubai adds a worked cost breakdown.

The Dubai Land Department’s initial sale service page is the primary source for the registration steps and fees of an off-plan sale, and the text of Law No. 13 of 2008 is the source for the Interim Property Register. Ownership costs also include the inheritance planning that foreign owners arrange, which our inheritance guide explains, and financing costs, which depend on the lender. A buyer who keeps the reservation form, the sale and purchase agreement, the payment schedule, the escrow account details and the service-charge schedule together has the documents that every one of the seven profiles lists under what to prepare when reserving.

How we research and verify the profiles of real estate developers in Dubai

Every profile follows the same method. We read the developer’s own website and project pages, its press releases and timeline, exchange announcements and results where they exist, trade and business press such as Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Zawya, Middle East Construction News and TradeArabia, listing portals such as Property Finder, Bayut and Bhomes for project data, the Dubai Land Department service pages and the Dubai Legislation Portal for procedure and law, and our own listing pages for prices, unit types and sizes. Each fact is attributed (“according to the developer”, “per Property Finder”) so that a company’s statement is presented as the company’s statement.

Dates and figures carry their source. Every profile ends with a “Last checked” line, and this hub carries one as well. Handover targets are labelled as the developer’s target or as a portal’s listing, and prices are shown in dirhams with a dollar equivalent at the AED 3.6725 peg. Where the developer’s own pages and a listing page give different details for a project, the profile uses the developer’s figure and the official project name on the developer’s site. Where two sources do not agree on a point and neither is the developer’s own record of its project, the profile leaves the point out. This hub follows the same rule: it uses a figure where the profiles agree, and it names the source for each statement that comes from a company.

If you spot an error or a fact we have missed, or you are a developer or a buyer who can document a correction, send it through our contact page with a link or a document. We check the correction against the same standard, update the profile and note the new check date. For help reading a specific contract or developer, ask us about a Dubai developer.

Other Dubai developers and where to read next

The directory profiles seven developers and makes no statement about others. It is not a register of every company that sells property in the emirate. A buyer who meets a developer that is not in the directory can apply the same method: ask who owns the company, which of its projects are completed, which carry a handover target, which entity signs the sale agreement, and which escrow account receives the instalments. Several of our guides help with that comparison, and none of them repeats the profiles.

• Our Dubai real estate market guide and areas guide place the communities named above beside the rest of the city.
• Our property types guide compares apartments, townhouses, villas and offices.
• Our guide to whether foreigners can buy apartments in Dubai and the freehold and leasehold guide explain eligibility and tenure.
• Our JVC guide covers the community where three of the seven developers have projects, and our article Danube property in Dubai gives a shorter buyer-side overview of the developer with 30 listings.
• Our below-market-value guide and price per square metre guide show how to test a price against recorded sales.

The seven profiles remain the place for developer-level detail: Danube Properties for 30 projects grouped by community, Ellington Properties for the Belgravia family and Windsor House II, Emaar Properties for The Valley, Expo Living and Dubai Creek Harbour, Omniyat for the Business Bay offices, DAMAC Properties for Celestia, Select Group for The Royal Oceanic and Iman Developers for Oxford Terraces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which real estate developers in Dubai are profiled in this directory?

The directory profiles seven: Danube Properties, Ellington Properties, Emaar Properties, Omniyat, DAMAC Properties, Select Group and Iman Developers. Together these real estate developers in Dubai have 45 listing pages on our site, with the profile of each developer linked from the cards above.

Which real estate developers in Dubai have completed projects, and which have off-plan projects?

Among real estate developers in Dubai, according to the profiles, Danube Properties, Ellington Properties, Omniyat, DAMAC Properties, Select Group and Iman Developers each have completed projects among our listings, 28 in total. Off-plan or under-construction projects appear in the listings of Danube Properties (12 towers), Ellington Properties (Windsor House II) and Emaar Properties, whose four listed projects all carry handover targets from Q3 2027 to Q4 2030 on Property Finder and Bhomes.

How do payment plans differ between real estate developers in Dubai?

The profiles report launch-era structures such as 10/40/50 at Oxford Terraces, 90/10 at Alana, 10/70/20 at Ovelle, 70/30 at Windsor House II and a 50/50 plan on ready Belgravia homes. Danube Properties describes a monthly plan of 1% of the price per month on its 1% payment plan page. Among real estate developers in Dubai the dated schedule for a unit is set out in its sale and purchase agreement.

Which projects from these developers reach the Golden Visa threshold?

For real estate developers in Dubai the property route needs a property value of AED 2,000,000 ($544,588) or more on the Dubai Land Department valuation on the application day, according to our Golden Visa guide. In the profiles, price points at or above that figure appear at Alana, Ovelle, Diamondz private-pool apartments, larger Bayz 102 units, Dreamz townhouses, the Windsor House II three-bedroom and the larger Bayswater Tower units, while the units of DAMAC Properties and Iman Developers sit below it individually.

Can foreigners buy from real estate developers in Dubai?

Among real estate developers in Dubai, foreign buyers can hold freehold title in areas the Ruler of Dubai designates, under Article 4 of Law No. 7 of 2006. The profiles state freehold tenure, or a freehold area, for every project we list, in communities such as JVC, Business Bay, Dubai Marina, Dubai South, The Valley, Expo Living and Dubai Creek Harbour. Our guide on foreigners buying apartments in Dubai explains the rules.

How are off-plan payments handled by real estate developers in Dubai?

Real estate developers in Dubai that sell off-plan are subject to Law No. 8 of 2007: a developer opens an escrow account in the project’s name and deposits buyers’ payments into it. The sale is entered in the Oqood interim register, which the developer submits within 90 days from signing according to the Dubai Land Department service page. The reservation documents name the escrow account.

What fees come with a purchase from real estate developers in Dubai?

For real estate developers in Dubai, the profiles report a Dubai Land Department registration or transfer fee of 4% of the property value in total, split 2% and 2% on the service page, plus service charges per square foot from handover, a developer administrative fee and agency commission where they apply, and DEWA registration after a completed purchase. Our property tax guide lists the annual charges.

How are the developer profiles prepared, and how can I send a correction?

Each profile is built from developer pages and releases, exchange announcements, press, Dubai Land Department material and our own listings, with statements attributed to their sources. Every page carries a last-checked date, here 12 October 2026. To correct an error or add a fact about any of the real estate developers in Dubai, write to us through the contact page with a source.

Ask us about a Dubai developer

Last checked: 12 October 2026.