Dubai is doubling down on its bet that Gulf beachfront property will be in demand from luxury buyers for decades to come. The emirate has just 72 kilometers (45 miles) of natural shoreline, but artificial islands and peninsulas have provided far more beachfront for its 4 million residents, and the millionaires and billionaires who collect such properties. Its biggest offshore development to date, Palm Jebel Ali, will add another 90 kilometers of coast.
This week, state-owned developer Nakheel awarded contracts worth more than $950 million for 544 villas on the island, which should be ready by 2028. When the whole project is finished, it will be twice the size of the existing Palm Jumeirah down the coast, with 35,000 homes and 80 hotels.
Palm Jebel Ali has had a tough history. Started in 2002, it was put on ice during the 2008 global financial crisis. The Iran war is now another unwanted complication. Dubai’s luxury market was on a record run before the war, with 500 sales worth more than $10 million in 2025, the most of any city globally. Palm Jebel Ali ranked second only to Palm Jumeirah in luxury transaction volumes last year.