Developers must start thinking like private equity funds

The GCC real estate market is in the middle of a structural awakening, but most developers haven't caught on yet.

- Neeraj Mishra

Too many are still playing yesterday’s game, where they build fast, sell faster, and move on. It’s a mentality rooted in short-term arbitrage rather than in long-term value creation. And it’s time for that to change.

No longer a commodity play

In the 2000s, developers in Dubai and across the Gulf thrived on momentum. Rising land values, quick capital cycles, and a steady influx of investors chasing yield made for a high-growth environment. Real estate was essentially treated as a commodity, meaning the more you built, the more you gained. But that model is ageing out. Interest rates are sticky. Cap-

ital is selective. Buyers are more informed, and sovereign strategies are reshaping urban demand. To concretise the entire image, the Gulf is no longer building for growth, but it’s building for legacy. This calls for a different playbook, for one borrowed from private equity instead of from traditional real estate development.

What developers must learn