Al Reem Island

Al Reem was announced in 2004 as an AED 35 billion development programme across 8.8 square kilometres of natural island 600 metres off Abu Dhabi Island. It mattered from the start for a legal reason as much as an architectural one: in February 2006, the Pearl of the Emirates project on Reem became the first Abu Dhabi property offered for sale to all nationalities, on 99-year leaseholds. The 2019 ownership reforms then allowed foreigners to hold full freehold title in investment zones, Reem included.

The land was split between three original master developers. Tamouh holds roughly 60% of the island and is behind Marina Square and City of Lights. Sorouh master-planned Shams Abu Dhabi in the north; its merger into Aldar Properties became effective on 27 June 2013, with the combined company trading from 30 June 2013, so Shams assets sit with Aldar today. The remainder is held by smaller developers, and the current off-plan cycle has brought many more names onto individual plots — our own catalogue lists 15 developers active on the island right now.

Two decades in, the result is a genuine mixed district rather than a masterplan render: 59,725 usual residents at the 2024 census, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi on the island since December 2009, and around 27,500 completed homes at H1 2026 — the largest residential stock of any Abu Dhabi investment zone, according to ADREC's H1 2026 report.

On 24 April 2023, the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Market — the emirate's international financial centre, previously confined to Al Maryah Island — was expanded to cover all of Al Reem. That took ADGM's footprint to 14.38 million square metres, which ADGM describes as one of the largest financial-district areas in the world. This is not a branding exercise; it changed the island's legal plumbing in two concrete ways.

First, businesses. Companies operating on Al Reem had until 31 December 2024 to convert from mainland (DED) licences to ADGM commercial licences. ADGM completed the transition with more than 1,100 entities on Reem — over 600 new set-ups and over 500 conversions — and cut commercial licence fees by 50% or more from 1 January 2025. For owners, the practical effect is that the island's office and retail tenant base now operates under ADGM's English-language common-law framework, and any company you use to hold or operate property on the island falls within ADGM's remit.

Second, property itself. On 1 January 2025 the Al Reem real estate register transferred from Abu Dhabi Municipality to the ADGM Registration Authority under the ADGM Real Property Regulations 2024. Titles, leases and mortgages on Reem are now registered at ADGM, and property disputes go to ADGM Courts. Buyers should budget for ADGM registration fees on purchase — as one live example, the Radisson Residences Tower 3 payment plan includes a 2% ADGM registration fee at reservation. No other completed residential district in Abu Dhabi carries this combination of freehold title and common-law registration.

Al Reem is best read by master developer. The north belongs to Shams Abu Dhabi (Aldar, ex-Sorouh), home to the island's most recognisable completed towers. Tamouh's land — around 60% of the island — includes Marina Square, one of the earliest completed clusters, and City of Lights, where much of the current branded-residence pipeline sits. Najmat covers the island's next growth front, and Reem Hills adds the island's main villa and townhouse offer. Each is covered in detail in the sub-district guides below; the short version is that established resale liquidity sits in Marina Square and Shams, while the new-launch premium is concentrated in City of Lights and the waterfront plots.

The recent numbers are unusually strong, and worth attributing precisely. In Q2 2025, off-plan weighted average prices on Al Reem rose about 38% year-on-year — the sharpest increase of any Abu Dhabi district, ahead of Khalifa City (24%) and Jubail Island (20%) — with apartment rents up about 21% year-on-year. That analysis comes from developer MERED, using Quanta transaction data; MERED has its own Reem project, so treat it as a directionally useful but interested source.

The independent H1 2026 data is consistent on volume. Cavendish Maxwell recorded Abu Dhabi apartment prices up 16.4% versus H1 2025, with Al Reem dominating apartment sales at more than 4,470 transactions — the island and Al Hudayriyat were the emirate's volume leaders. Sales moderated in Q2 2026, which is worth knowing before you underwrite continued double-digit growth.

What does the money buy? At the entry level, off-plan studios and one-bedroom units start from AED 900,000 in our current catalogue. At the top, the Elie Saab Waterfront tower launched in May 2024 at AED 2 million to AED 45 million per apartment. Between those poles: completed resale in Marina Square and Shams generally trades below new-launch pricing for equivalent space — in our experience the gap is the island's main value story — while branded off-plan carries the premium. We deliberately do not publish island-wide AED-per-square-foot bands here, because the publicly available figures are not reliably sourced; ask us for live comparables on the specific building you are pricing.

Between May 2024 and the end of 2025, Al Reem went from having no branded residences to hosting the densest branded pipeline in Abu Dhabi. The sequence matters because it shows both demand depth and how fast developers moved.

Elie Saab Waterfront (Ohana Development, launched May 2024) was the first branded residence on the island and only the second in Abu Dhabi: 39 floors, 174 apartments from AED 2 million to AED 45 million, with phase one sold out and completion stated by the developer for Q1 2027.

Radisson Residences Reem Island (Royal Development Holding with Radisson) followed in December 2025 — an AED 1.2 billion three-tower scheme on a shared podium, reported as the world's first standalone Radisson-branded residential project. Arabian Business reported the first release selling out within 24 hours. Handover is phased; the final tower's payment plan runs to a September 2029 (Q3 2029) handover.

Rotana Residences (also Royal Development Holding) comprises two towers and 439 residences — 197 in the North Tower, 242 in the South — a scheme of about AED 1 billion reported sold out ahead of its official launch, with construction from Q2 2026 and completion stated for Q4 2028.

Seamont Autograph Collection Residences (RDH with SAAS Properties, under Marriott's Autograph Collection) brings 497 units across one- to four-bedroom apartments, penthouses and townhouses, with phase two released and handover stated for Q4 2028.

Rixos Al Reem Residences (East & West Properties with Accor's Rixos) is a six-tower waterfront scheme of 25 to 33 storeys, with 386 residences in the first release — figures from the project's own marketing, so developer-stated.

Every completion date above is a developer statement, not a guarantee; see the risks section.

As of September 2026, Impala's Al Reem catalogue holds 23 active off-plan projects from 15 developers, with entry pricing from AED 900,000. A further 17 projects on our records are completed or sold out — a useful signal of how quickly this cycle's launches have absorbed.

The active list includes the full branded set — Radisson Residences Towers, Rixos Al Reem Residences, Rotana Residences and Seamont Autograph Collection — alongside Bab Al Qasr Beach Resort Residence 77 and Royal 28, One Residence, The District and Rivage, among others.

One worked example of current deal structure: Radisson Residences Tower 3, the final tower of the Radisson scheme in City of Lights, is a 29-storey fully furnished tower of 440 residences (350 studios, 85 one-bedroom apartments and five two-bedroom townhouses). The payment plan is 40/60 — 5% on reservation plus the 2% ADGM registration fee, 5% on SPA signing, then 5% instalments through January 2029, with 60% due on handover in September 2029. The service charge is AED 17 per square foot, and a single buyer taking AED 12 million or more of stock receives a flat 4% discount. Expressions of interest are open ahead of launch.

Three completed buildings on the island are selling homes directly from their developer, Foster Developers, as separate projects: Al Durrah Tower in Marina Square, with one-, three- and four-bedroom homes that are vacant with keys at transfer or tenanted, the lowest price per square foot of the three, and the 2% ADGM transfer fee waived on three- and four-bedrooms; Marafid Tower, with one- to three-bedroom homes that are vacant, tenanted, or show apartments, and the same fee waived on one-bedrooms; and Baheen Tower, designed by Foster + Partners, with one- to three-bedroom homes that are vacant or tenanted. They are the only ready-to-move-in developer stock on Al Reem Island in our catalogue, and the first stop for a buyer who needs a move-in date rather than a handover date.

We publish each project's payment plan, unit mix and handover schedule on its own page; the catalogue changes monthly as releases sell through.

The island's retail anchor is Reem Mall, which soft-opened on 16 February 2023 after a build cost reported at around US$1.2–1.3 billion (Al Farwaniya Property Developments). It carries more than 400 stores and roughly 85 food-and-beverage outlets, a Carrefour hypermarket trading since February 2022, and Snow Abu Dhabi — the capital's first indoor snow park. For residents this ended the island's early-years dependence on off-island shopping.

Green space is better than the tower-cluster stereotype suggests. Al Fay Park, designed by SLA and completed in 2021, is Abu Dhabi's first biodiversity park: 27,500 square metres with more than 2,000 native trees and bushes, using about 40% less water than a conventional park. Waterfront promenades run along the canals in Marina Square, Shams and City of Lights.

Education has an unusual anchor for a residential island: Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi has operated from its Reem campus since December 2009. The 2024 census population of 59,725 skews towards professionals and young families, and the ADGM licensing shift is gradually adding a financial-services tenant base to the island's offices.

The honest daily-reality caveat: Al Reem is a district under active construction. Several plots are live sites, and with around 27,500 homes already occupied, bridge traffic at peak hours is a real consideration. The March 2026 bridge openings were aimed squarely at that problem.

Built: the island connects to Abu Dhabi Island by multiple road bridges, and in March 2026 two new marine bridges opened — an AED 450 million project linking Al Reem directly to Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Highway (E12) and the mainland highway network. This shortened mainland commutes and, indirectly via the E12, improved runs towards Saadiyat and the airport corridor. The institutional infrastructure is also in place: the ADGM commercial-licensing regime completed its transition at the end of 2024, and the ADGM property register has been live since 1 January 2025.

Coming: mostly homes. ADREC's H1 2026 report projects around 71,000 new homes across Abu Dhabi by 2030, with six districts expected to drive 77% of that supply — and Al Reem, already the largest investment-zone community at roughly 27,500 units, is among the leading contributors. Expect continued internal road works, retail podium fit-outs and district build-out through the decade. Buyers should assume the island's skyline, and parts of its road network, will keep changing until at least 2030.

The case for Al Reem rests on three legs. Liquidity: more than 4,470 apartment sales in H1 2026 makes it the easiest Abu Dhabi district in which to exit an apartment, and exit optionality is undervalued in off-plan underwriting. Legal framework: freehold title for any nationality, registered at ADGM under common-law regulations, with disputes heard in ADGM Courts — a structure institutional and overseas buyers understand. Entry and momentum: AED 900,000 entry pricing, Q2 2025 off-plan growth of about 38% year-on-year (per MERED/Quanta), and rents up about 21% over the same period.

Who it suits: yield-focused investors buying studios and one-beds into a deep tenant pool; ADGM and Maryah-corridor professionals buying to occupy; Golden Visa buyers who can reach AED 2 million of paid equity; and first-time investors who want a landlord market with genuine resale volume. The branded towers add a second profile — buyers paying for hotel-grade management and brand-supported resale.

Who it does not suit: buyers wanting scarcity. Al Reem is the opposite of a constrained market — that is precisely why it is liquid — so the capital-growth thesis depends on Abu Dhabi-wide demand continuing to absorb the pipeline, not on limited stock. Villa buyers have only Reem Hills to consider. And anyone who needs a guaranteed move-in date should weight completed resale over off-plan.

Supply is the structural one. Al Reem already holds around 27,500 completed homes and sits among the six districts expected to deliver 77% of Abu Dhabi's roughly 71,000 new homes by 2030 (ADREC). The 2028–2029 handover cluster — Rotana and Seamont stated for Q4 2028, the final Radisson tower at Q3 2029 — will land a large block of stock in a short window. Landlords should expect rental competition around those dates, and off-plan buyers should not assume launch-to-handover price growth repeats the 2024–2025 run. Cavendish Maxwell already noted sales moderating in Q2 2026.

Handover dates are developer statements. A live illustration: the Radisson scheme was reported in the press at announcement as completing by end-2027, yet the final tower's own payment plan runs to a September 2029 handover. This is not unusual in phased schemes, but it is why we caveat every date in this guide — underwrite the payment plan, not the press release.

Data quality varies. The strongest Reem numbers in circulation (the 38% off-plan rise) come from a developer's analysis of transaction data, not an independent consultancy. We have flagged the source wherever we use it, and we have excluded widely repeated figures we could not verify.

Finally, the ADGM transition brings new mechanics: ADGM registration fees on purchase, ADGM commercial licences for any company structure holding or operating property, and a young registration regime whose fee schedules and practices are still settling. None of this is a reason to avoid the island — it is a reason to have the current fee position confirmed in writing before you sign.