Aldar

Aldar was founded in January 2004 and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange the following year. It is the developer most closely tied to Abu Dhabi's own growth plans: it built Yas Island, including Yas Marina Circuit and Ferrari World, and the Al Raha Beach and Al Raha Gardens communities. Its history is not unbroken. After the 2008 crash its credit rating was cut to junk in 2010 and the Abu Dhabi government supported it with a rescue package in 2011. In 2013 it merged with Sorouh Real Estate, and the combined company is the Aldar that exists today.

The modern group has two halves. Aldar Development sells homes, mainly on Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, and Aldar Investment owns and manages rental property, with AED 56 billion of assets under management at mid-2026. It also manages large government housing and infrastructure programmes. Outside the UAE it owns SODIC in Egypt and London Square in the UK. In 2023 it entered Dubai through a joint venture with Dubai Holding, which launched the Athlon and Haven communities in 2024, and in October 2024 it formed a second venture with Expo City Dubai.

Aldar's buyers are largely from abroad: in 2025, international buyers accounted for AED 27.4 billion, or 77%, of its UAE sales. Payment terms differ by project and by launch, so we have not quoted a standard plan.

The numbers show both strength and the 2026 slowdown. For 2025 Aldar reported record group sales of AED 40.6 billion and net profit of AED 8.8 billion, up 36%. In the first half of 2026 net profit still rose 18% to AED 4.9 billion, because revenue is recognised from homes sold earlier, but UAE sales fell 46% to AED 9.4 billion and second-quarter UAE sales fell 61%. The company attributed this to a deliberately slower launch programme. Its development backlog stood at AED 71.6 billion at the end of June 2026, which it says gives two to three years of revenue visibility.

The pace picked up again later in 2026. Aldar reported group development sales of AED 18.9 billion for the first nine months of the year, including AED 6.8 billion in the third quarter, and said it had introduced seven projects in that quarter alone, among them Talay, the first homes at its new Marsa Al Saadiyat destination, and the Yas Riva Reserve villas, which together drew more than AED 5 billion of sales in their launch week. Overseas and expatriate buyers made up 78% of its UAE sales in the nine months. Beyond Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Aldar is also building two beachfront apartment projects, Rosso Bay Residences and Nikki Beach Residences, on Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah.