Branded homes next to ADGM: who will live there?

Mostly the people who work in ADGM itself: fund managers, bankers, lawyers and family office teams. So that's where I start, and then I look at how many similar homes will be ready at the same time.

Buyers from abroad have noticed Abu Dhabi. In the first half of 2026, foreign investment in Abu Dhabi property was AED 13.8bn, more than in the whole of 2025 (Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre). I've already written about how ADGM grew, and why the homes usually follow the offices, in ADGM is Abu Dhabi's DIFC. This note is the practical side of it. I've followed and invested in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi for years, so I write about both, but Abu Dhabi here is market information only.

What is being built next to ADGM?

Homes with hotel brands on them, on Al Maryah Island, right next to the offices. Some branded residences there are already complete, and most of the new ones are due over the next five years.

Branded homes already launched there include The Ritz-Carlton Residences and The St. Regis Residences, both by SAAS Properties. Jumeirah has also unveiled homes on the island, scheduled to open in 2031.

There's a bigger plan behind them too. Mubadala and Aldar have announced an expansion of the island worth more than AED 60 billion, with more than 3,000 waterfront homes (Mubadala, December 2025).

Who will live there?

I think mostly the people who work next door. At the end of June 2026, 49,027 people worked in ADGM, up 34% in a year. There are now 190 fund and asset managers there, up from 102 in 2023 (ADGM).

Think about what someone in those jobs wants from a home. A short walk to the office, good service, and privacy. A branded home is built around exactly that.

And a lot of people in Abu Dhabi rent. In the Abu Dhabi region, 69% of occupied homes are rented (ADREC). So whoever lets one of these homes will most likely find a tenant among those people. Who they are matters more to me than the name on the building.

How many similar homes will be ready at the same time?

This is the second thing I look at, and it's the one people skip. Several towers on the island will finish over the same few years. When similar homes are handed over together, their owners go looking for tenants and buyers at the same time.

Across the whole emirate, more homes are due each year than Abu Dhabi has been handing over recently. ADREC counts about 409,000 homes today and projects about 71,000 more by 2030, peaking at about 21,800 in 2028. Cavendish Maxwell's view is that if new supply starts to grow faster than demand, new and existing homes will compete more, and that could put some pressure on price and rent growth.

Don't get me wrong, a big number on its own doesn't decide anything. Demand has been strong. Abu Dhabi's population grew 7.5% in 2024 (SCAD), while its housing stock has grown about 2.9% a year since 2022 (ADREC). Abu Dhabi also tends to finish fewer homes than scheduled. In 2025, about 7,000 of roughly 10,800 scheduled homes were completed, so about two-thirds (our calculation from Cavendish Maxwell's figures).

So I count. Not the whole city, just the homes like the one you're looking at, near the same offices, due in the same year or two.

What would I check before buying one?

I'm not recommending any project here. These are the questions I'd ask of any home near ADGM.

1. Who will live there. Who works within walking distance, and would they rent this home or buy it? Start with the people, then the building.

2. How many similar homes finish around the same time. Ask for the handover dates of the towers nearby, not just this one. Homes of the same size and the same kind of brand, due in the same year, are the ones you'll be competing with for a tenant.

3. The price against recorded sales. Compare the asking price with what similar homes nearby actually sold for, not with what other sellers are asking. Before I look at what a property can make, I look at what it can lose.

Where do these numbers come from?