Alabbar Puts Dubai Tower Tender On Hold Until Iran War Eases

Dubai, UAE — Emaar Properties founder Mohamed Alabbar has put a new Dubai tower tender on hold until the Iran war eases, he said on Thursday.

“I have a big tower that I’m going to tender, I am holding that back until the situation cools down,” Alabbar told the Bloomberg Invest forum in Dubai, Arabian Business reported. He did not name the project or give its size, cost or location.

The paused Dubai tower tender is the second sign this year that Dubai’s biggest developer is pacing new construction around the conflict. In June, Alabbar said the Dubai Creek Tower tender would slip by three to four months because of port disruption and higher material costs. For Indian buyers, the more direct news is that Alabbar named India as a market where Emaar plans to grow fast.

Dubai Tower Tender Waits, Current Projects Continue

Alabbar said work on existing projects had not slowed, even as construction materials became more expensive. “Materials are still coming in, costs are increasing five per cent which is OK,” he said. He added that contractors were on schedule and that Emaar would help them if problems arose.

The distinction matters for buyers who have already paid for off-plan units. A delayed Dubai tower tender affects a project that has not been sold. Delays on projects under construction would affect handover dates and payment schedules that buyers have already signed.

Alabbar did not say whether the Dubai tower tender he is holding back is for the Dubai Creek Tower. That project was first unveiled in 2016. In January, he said its tender would be launched within three months, before the June delay.

Malls, Hotels And The Bubble Question

The Iran war has now run for about eight months. Alabbar said it had tested Dubai’s property market and shown there was no bubble. “If there was a bubble it would have burst,” he said, adding that the UAE Central Bank was “very strict” on lending to real estate companies.

Other parts of the business have been hit harder. Footfall and retail sales at Emaar Malls each fell 10% during the instability, Alabbar said. He also said hotel occupancy had decreased 65%. He did not say over what period those changes were measured.

The housing market faces separate pressures. CBRE put Dubai rents 7% lower in the third quarter, and Cavendish Maxwell expects 136,100 homes to be completed in Dubai in 2027. A slower pace of new tenders would reduce supply further out, though Emaar has not said how many projects it is deferring.

Also read: Dubai Mortgage Registrations Hit AED 150bn As Off-Plan Sales Halve

India Will Probably Be Major For Emaar, Alabbar Says

Emaar plans to grow rapidly in India over the next five years, Alabbar said. The company already has homes and commercial projects there through Emaar India, which is based in Gurugram and has projects in Delhi-NCR, Mohali, Lucknow and Indore.

“India probably will be major for us,” he said. He said Emaar struggles to find large plots in other markets, but can find them in India.

Emaar said in September 2025 that it was no longer considering selling a stake in its Indian business. It said it would instead consider a joint venture with large Indian groups, including Adani Group. It has not announced a partner since.

Emaar’s main Indian market is growing on price more than volume. Average home prices in Delhi-NCR rose 12% from a year earlier to Rs 9,980 per sq ft in the third quarter of 2026, according to property consultancy Anarock. Sales in the region slipped about 1% to 13,765 units. Across India’s seven largest cities, sales rose 3% to about 1 lakh units and new launches rose 18%.

A Stronger Dirham And 5% Higher Building Costs

For Indian buyers in Dubai, the cost picture has also shifted. The dirham has gained about 6.8% against the rupee this year. A 5% rise in building costs, if passed on to launch prices, would add to the rupee price of new Emaar units. India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme caps transfers at USD 250,000 per person a year, and remittances above Rs 10 lakh attract 20% tax collected at source.

Investors will look for when Emaar reopens the deferred Dubai tower tender, and whether the Dubai Creek Tower tender follows. Emaar’s next quarterly results will show whether higher costs have reached its margins, and whether mall and hotel income have recovered.

For investors, the paused Dubai tower tender points to slower new supply from Dubai’s largest developer while current projects stay on schedule. End-users buying off-plan face less risk from the deferral than from any delay to towers already sold. For Indian buyers, an expansion on the scale Alabbar described would add Emaar homes to a Delhi-NCR market where prices are rising faster than sales.