Dubai property market keeps its head above water in 1Q

What we’re tracking

#1- The UAE Media Office denied overnight that Iran had hit an Oracle data center there, responding to claims pushed out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The IRGC said earlier in the week that it would target 18 US tech and defense firms. Tehran claims these corporations are actively enabling US and Israeli military targeting operations, pointing to defense contracts and data processing capabilities as justification for the strikes.

The IRGC target list reads like a roster of the companies driving the GCC’s tech ambitions — Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Amazon, IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP, Palantir, Dell, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase, GE, Tesla, and Boeing. Non-US firms on the list include the UAE’s AI champion, G42, and Dubai-based tech security service provider Spire Solutions.

#2- A strong first two months of the year provided a cushion for 1Q property market figures out of Dubai. Property prices held steady while absorbing record capital inflows in 1Q 2026, according to Dubai Land Department and Property Finder data. Total real estate transactions hit AED 251 bn during the quarter, up 30% y-o-y — the highest quarterly performance on record — across 61.6k transactions, up 6% y-o-y.

The first two months of the year offset March, driven by a mix of international inflows and existing investors, Director of Business Development and Client Relations at Cavendish Maxwell Zacky Sajjad told EnterpriseAM. “January and February were phenomenal months, abnormal months even,” Sajjad said.

But momentum may not hold — with war or without: “No market just keeps going up indefinitely,” Sajjad said, pointing to the sharp price and volume gains over the past five years. “There was always going to be a stabilizing period.”

Moody’s expects a cooling phase ahead, though whether that tips into a correction depends greatly on how long the war ends.

Market watch

Dubai (#1) and Abu Dhabi (#2) maintained their standing as the top-ranked Mideast players on the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI), with Dubai cracking the top 10 globally. Doha followed in third place regionally, rising 14 spots, followed by Casablanca (+7). The index, which rates 137 financial centers as a place to do business, is based on factors including business environment, human capital, infrastructure, financial sector development, and reputational measures.