Al Hudayriyat Island Took 27% of Abu Dhabi's Home Sales in the First Half of 2026

Al Hudayriyat Island alone took Dh19 billion of Abu Dhabi's Dh70.4 billion in first-half home sales, with nearly 90% of deals struck off-plan.

One island accounted for more than a quarter of everything Abu Dhabi sold. The Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre's first-half 2026 report, published on 21 August, put residential sales on Al Hudayriyat Island at Dh19 billion ($5.2 billion) — about 27% of all residential units sold in the emirate, and the second consecutive quarter in which the island led the market. Total residential sales across Abu Dhabi came to Dh70.4 billion.

The island league table

Behind Hudayriyat, Saadiyat Island recorded Dh13.3 billion, Reem Island and Al Maryah Island together Dh10.5 billion, and Yas Island Dh7.3 billion. That is a market where four addresses do most of the volume, and where a single masterplan's launch calendar can reorder the rankings quarter by quarter.

Nearly 90% of transactions were off-plan. That share matters more than the headline value: it means the bulk of this Dh70.4 billion is committed capital against units that do not yet exist, and the emirate's price record over the next three years will be set largely by whether those handovers land on schedule and get absorbed.

Supply is growing slowly now and quickly later

Abu Dhabi's total residential stock stands at roughly 409,000 units, up nearly 3% year on year — a modest addition for a market moving Dh70.4 billion in six months. The investment zones, where foreign buyers can hold freehold title, make up 22% of that supply, or about 72,000 homes, with Reem Island the largest single concentration at around 27,500 units.

ADREC expects a further 71,000 units by 2030, with deliveries peaking in 2028. That is a 17% addition to today's stock, arriving unevenly and concentrated in exactly the zones foreign investors buy into. ADREC director general Rashed Al Omaira described the market as reflecting "a resilient market, supported by sustained demand, clear regulations, transparent data."

How Abu Dhabi prices against Dubai

Glopra's Abu Dhabi snapshot, dated 23 July 2026, records a city average of $4,826 per square metre and a gross rental yield of 5.76%, with prices up 27.8% over twelve months in dollar terms. Our Dubai row from the same snapshot date shows $7,244 per square metre and a 5.53% gross yield. Abu Dhabi still trades at roughly a third below Dubai per square metre while yielding slightly more — and, like Dubai, the UAE levies no tax on rental income in our standardised non-resident case.

Both carry warnings in our index. Abu Dhabi sits in the elevated bubble-risk band and Dubai in the high band, which is the arithmetic consequence of price growth of that speed against local income and rent levels.

The question the report does not answer

ADREC's figures are transaction values, not price indices, so a Dh19 billion quarter on one island tells you where capital went rather than what happened to the value of a home already owned. The genuine test is 2028, when the delivery peak meets whatever demand exists then. Off-plan concentration of nearly 90% means the market has already taken that bet.

Sources: The National https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/property/2026/08/21/al-hudayriyat-island-tops-abu-dhabi-property-sales-in-first-half-of-2026/; ADREC via Zawya https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/government-news/hudayriyat-island-tops-the-abu-dhabi-real-estate-market-for-the-second-consecutive-quarter-of-2026-with-aed-19bln-in-sales-463405

Market data: Abu Dhabi · Ras Al Khaimah · United Arab Emirates · Dubai