DUBAI (The Thursday Times) — Visitor numbers at Emaar Properties’ shopping malls, which include the Dubai Mall and Dubai Hills Mall, are down by about 10% because of the Iran war, the company’s founder, Mohamed Alabbar, said on Thursday. Before the war, he said, footfall had been growing by about 10% a year for five years.
“Still, retailers are very comfortable,” Alabbar told an investment conference in Dubai.
Occupancy at the group’s hotels has fallen to around 65%, from about 80% before the war, he said, a level he described as “fine”.
Alabbar said the cost of construction materials had risen by about 5%, but that Emaar was helping contractors where needed and its projects were on schedule. “I’m glad contractors are moving on time. In fact, we deliver ahead of time now,” he said.
He said Emaar would hold back the tender for “a big tower” until “the situation cools down”, without naming the project. Emaar said earlier this year that it would tender the redesigned Dubai Creek Tower, but the war began around the time the tender was due, according to reports.
Alabbar dismissed fears of a sharp fall in Dubai’s property market. The eight months of conflict had been a test, he said, adding: “I would say that if there was a bubble, it would have burst.”
Emaar’s own figures show it launched 14 projects in the first nine months of 2026, with net profit up 18% and revenue up 13% on a year earlier. Occupancy across its malls, retail, and commercial leasing business stood at about 98% at the end of September.
Last week Emaar Properties offered Dh15 a share in cash for the shares in its subsidiary, Emaar Development, that it does not already own. It said this week that it had “sufficient resources” to pay in full.
At the same conference, the UAE’s investment minister, Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, said the country wanted to draw more foreign capital into energy, industry, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and logistics.
The war has weighed on Gulf economies and shipping. A tanker was struck off Ras Al Khaimah this week, Iran’s army says four tankers have been hit near Hormuz since Wednesday night, and Qatar has reported a QR22.8bn budget deficit for the third quarter as oil revenue fell.
The UAE is home to one of the largest Pakistani communities abroad and is among the biggest sources of remittances to Pakistan.
