Abu Dhabi branded residences: an 87% premium and 126% transaction growth (CBRE)

Branded residences have been a fixture of every Dubai investment briefing for years — Armani, Bugatti, Aston Martin, a theme we have covered separately for car-brand towers. Abu Dhabi barely featured on that list, not because the model does not work there but because there was simply too little branded stock to talk about. CBRE's 2025 UAE Branded Residences Report shows that changing, and changing faster than in Dubai.

What the CBRE report shows

In the first nine months of 2025, branded-residence transaction volumes in Dubai rose 26%, total value climbed 51%, and buyers paid an average 64% premium over comparable unbranded homes. For Abu Dhabi, CBRE projects transaction growth of 126% year-on-year — twice Dubai's rate — with an even steeper premium: 87%. The gap has a simple explanation: with far less branded supply on offer, each new hotel-branded project captures a larger share of limited demand.

Metric	Dubai	Abu Dhabi
Transaction growth, 9M 2025 / full-year forecast	+26%	+126% (CBRE forecast)
Growth in transaction value	+51%	not broken out separately by CBRE
Average brand premium	+64%	+87%

Why branded supply is so scarce in Abu Dhabi, and what that means for timing

Until recently, the capital's list of branded projects ran to just four names: Waldorf Astoria, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons and Nobu. Dubai's equivalent list runs into the dozens, from car-brand collaborations to standalone Ritz-Carlton, Bvlgari and St. Regis residences. That scarcity explains the premium directly: with so few branded units on the market and demand for status and managed property rising alongside capital inflows into the emirate, entry prices climb faster than in a city with a wider choice.

The brand roster in the capital is expanding — St. Regis The Residences, managed by Marriott, is under construction on Al Maryah Island, and Al Reem Island is seeing projects built around name architects rather than hotel brands, a different kind of premium we cover separately in our Riviera Residences piece. The logic for an investor is straightforward: the earlier you enter a project's cycle, while the comparable list stays short, the more room the premium has left to grow. The flip side is thinner resale data — Abu Dhabi's branded secondary market has not yet reached Dubai's scale.

For one specific branded launch on Al Maryah, see our coverage of St. Regis The Residences on Al Maryah Island.