Dubai property brokers double earnings to $880m in first half of 2025

Dubai's real estate brokerages doubled their earnings to Dh3.23 billion ($879.5 million) in the first half of 2025, riding the momentum in the emirate's robust property sector.

The 99.4 per cent year-on-year surge in earnings from Dh1.62 billion in the corresponding period of 2024 was driven by 42,181 transactions completed in the first half of the 2025, the Dubai Media Office said on in a statement on Sunday.

More than 6,700 new brokers registered with the Dubai Land Department through the January-June period, boosting the total by nearly a third to more than 29,000, according to government statistics.

“Dubai’s real estate brokerage sector recorded a remarkable performance in the first half of this year,” the DMO said.

Dubai's property market, which bounced back strongly from the Covid-driven slowdown, has maintained a sharp growth trajectory since.

Government measures such as residency permits for retired and remote workers and expansion of the 10-year golden visa programme have boosted foreign investment flows into the emirates property market over the past few years.

The robust momentum in the UAE’s economy, the Arab world's second largest, driven by the government's diversification efforts have also support the real estate market activity.

This month, a new scheme was also launched to help Emiratis and UAE residents, who do not own any freehold residential property in the emirate, get on the property ladder.

Under the initiative, first-time buyers will have priority access to new homes from participating developers as well as existing inventory, discounts or limited-time offers on the sales price of off-plan units, flexible payment plans and “improved” mortgage options with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees.

The DLD expects 5,000 more investors to enter the market this year following the initiative.

Last week, the DMO said that the volume and value of real estate transactions in Dubai rose sharply in the first half of the year, amid the entry of more than 59,000 new investors into the market, according to DLD data.

In a recent report, property consultancy Knight Frank showed that more than 51,000 homes were sold in Dubai in the second quarter of 2025, which was a year-on-year increase of 22.8 per cent, marking a quarterly record amid strong demand from buyers.

Total home sales surpassed 94,000, putting the market firmly “on track to exceed” 169,000 transactions recorded in 2024, it added.

On Thursday, Abu Dhabi's Masdar City and the DLD teamed up to allow the former's free zone companies to own properties in Dubai, in a bid to boost real estate investment across the UAE.