Property guide · Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Emaar as a developer: record and projects
Emaar before you sign: listed in Dubai, Dubai Holding its largest shareholder since 2026, master developer at some addresses and a plot developer at others.
- Checked2026-09-12
The company
Listed, with Dubai Holding as largest shareholder
Its shares trade on the Dubai exchange, so more can be checked about Emaar than about most off-plan developers.
Its largest shareholder is the government-owned Dubai Holding, which completed the purchase of a block from the sovereign fund ICD on 12 May 2026 and holds 29.73%Dubai Holding. That is a large minority and not state ownership, and the difference matters if you are buying the reassurance rather than the flat.
One number carries the scale of the company: over 129,100Emaar homes handed over since 2002, on its own release. Read the name beside it carefully — the group and its separately listed development subsidiary publish different totals, and the two are quoted interchangeably in the market. The figure here is the group's.
- 1997Registered as a company
The year only: the one citable source is a secondary company profile, and sources disagree on the day and the month.
- ListedShares trade on the Dubai Financial Market
The company states the listing but gives no date for it.
- 2002 onwardsHomes handed over across its markets
over 129,100Emaar, on the company's own release of 11 May 2026. It measures volume.
- 12 May 2026Dubai Holding becomes the largest shareholder
It bought 22.27%Dubai Holding of the company from ICD, taking its combined holding to 29.73%Dubai Holding — a large minority, which is not the same as state ownership.
- —On-time record: not published
Neither the company nor the Land Department publishes promised against actual handover dates.
Master developer
Master developer at The Valley, not at Beachfront
At The Valley Emaar answers for the whole district; at Emaar Beachfront it builds inside another developer's plan and inherits its promises.
At The Valley this company is the master developer: one company answers for the beach, the town centre and the roads inside the gate. At Emaar Beachfront it is not — that community is a plot inside Dubai Harbour, whose developer the Dubai Media Office names as another company entirely.
The distinction is invisible on a brochure and shows up years later, in who is answerable when a promised promenade, marina or bridge arrives late. Ask us which of the two you are buying into before you ask about the finishes.
Communities
Emaar Beachfront and The Valley
Two very different buys: Emaar Beachfront, a gated waterfront strip where Emaar is a plot developer, and The Valley, its own low-rise master plan on the Dubai–Al Ain road.
- Dubai
Emaar's gated beachfront towers between Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina: a private shoreline, prices per unit and per square metre, handover not yet dated.
- Dubai
Emaar's villas and townhouses on the Dubai–Al Ain road: a man-made beach, a town centre and a sports village, prices paid per square metre, far from the metro.
- Other projectsAsk about a project
A project of theirs not listed here
Name any other Emaar address and we send what is registered for it and what Emaar has published, each with its source.
Not published
No on-time record, and two competing totals
Whether Emaar delivers on time cannot be checked, and the group and its listed subsidiary publish different handover totals.
The first is the delivery record. Promised against actual handover dates, project by project, is what a buyer most needs, and no source publishes it — not the company, not the Land Department.
The second is the founding date: the only citable source is secondary and the day is disputed. The third is the confusion between the group and its listed development subsidiary, which publish different counts of homes handed over; the figure here is the group's, and the two should never be added together.
- Delivery record—
neither the company nor the Land Department publishes delay statistics or the share of projects handed over on time
- Founding date—
two different days in 1997 circulate, and the only citable source is secondary
- Listing date—
no source found gives the date the shares began trading
- What the sovereign fund still holds—
the release announcing the sale does not say how much ICD kept
- Who built the tower—
Downtown Dubai is on record as Emaar's community, but no statement readable on its own site names Emaar as the tower's builder
- Superlatives—
largest, first and most trusted have no independent source, and in property advertising here they invite the regulator
Checked 2026-09-12
Sources
Emaar and Dubai Holding releases, the regulator
The handover count is Emaar's own and marked as such, the shareholding comes from Dubai Holding, and escrow and project numbers from the Land Department.
- Company
Emaar Properties, results release of 11 May 2026
The count of homes handed over since 2002, carried with attribution.
- Shareholder
Dubai Holding, release of 12 May 2026
The stake bought from ICD and the combined holding that made it the largest shareholder.
- Catalogue
Emaar's community catalogue and map, read 12 September 2026
Which communities the company calls its own — the list is the company's, not a register's.
- Regulator
Dubai Land Department
Where a registered project's number and escrow account are held.
- DocumentsGet the documents
The source documents
We send the releases and the regulator's pages, current on the day you ask, with the relevant lines marked.
Questions
Ask about Emaar
Name the address and we send what is registered, what Emaar has published and what it has not, each with its source and the date it was checked.