01 · The scheme
What is actually being built
The north side of Al Maryah held the island's final undeveloped bank of land, roughly 500,000 sqm of it. This is the plan for all of it, executed through a joint venture owned 60% by Aldar and 40% by Mubadala.
- Gross development value
- AED 60bn+ Joint venture
- Total gross floor area
- 1.5m+ sqm Across all uses
- Grade A office added
- 450,000+ sqm ▲ doubles island supply
- Waterfront residences
- 3,000+ Luxury, on the water
- Retail & dining
- 40,000 sqm Plus a new marina
- Land area
- ~500,000 sqm The last empty bank
- Pedestrian corridors
- 2.5 km Air-conditioned
- Enabling works
- 2026 Start of construction
This is not solely an Aldar project. It is a Mubadala and Aldar joint venture, 60/40 in Aldar's favour, on land Mubadala controlled. That matters because it tells you the sovereign is underwriting the district's next decade, not just a developer taking a position on it.
02 · The headline
The island's office supply roughly doubles
The announcement's own wording is that the 450,000+ sqm of new Grade A space "effectively doubles the island's total supply". That implies today's stock sits at a broadly similar figure, and it is the single most consequential number in the whole scheme.
Grade A office space on Al Maryah Island
Approximate, square metres
View as table
| Stage | Grade A office, sqm | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Today | ~450,000 | — |
| After expansion | ~900,000 | +100% |
The 450,000 sqm being added is stated precisely in the announcement. The existing-stock figure is inferred from the word "doubling" rather than separately published, so treat the "today" bar as an approximation. The doubling itself is the developer's own claim, and it is the part that matters.
03 · The demand
Why they are building it: the district outgrew itself
Al Maryah houses ADGM, Abu Dhabi's international financial centre. In 2025 ADGM marked ten years of operation, and every measure of it grew at a rate the island's floorplates could not keep up with.
- Active licences
- 12,671 ▲ 30% in 2025
- People working there
- 44,339 ▲ 51% in 2025
- Assets under management
- +36% Year on year
- Operational entities added
- 3,495 ▲ ~40%
- Financial institutions
- 347 80 licensed in 2025
- Asset & fund managers
- 171 Running 244 funds
ADGM growth in 2025
Year-on-year change, full year 2025
View as table
| Measure | 2025 level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce | 44,339 | +51% |
| Assets under management | not disclosed | +36% |
| Active licences | 12,671 | +30% |
Headcount in the financial centre grew 51% in a single year, to more than 44,000 people. The office space to seat them is only now being doubled, with enabling works starting in 2026 and delivery years after that.
That gap between people arriving and space existing is the entire investment case, and it does not resolve quickly. Companies that cannot get floorplates on Al Maryah still need their staff living within reach of it.
04 · The money
Where you can actually buy, and what it costs
This is the part the announcement does not answer. There are two ways to take a position on this district, and roughly a two-fold difference in price between them.
Asking prices per square foot
Indicative asking ranges on listing portals, August 2026, AED per sqft
View as table
| Location | Asking, AED/sqft | Gross yield | Net yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Maryah Island | 1,850–2,272 | lower | n/a |
| Al Reem Island | 900–1,400 | 6.5–8.5% | 5.7–6.6% |
The two positions, side by side
Same tenant pool. Roughly double the entry price on one side of the bridge.
On the island · Al Maryah
AED 1,850–2,272/sqft
Scarce stock, and it stays scarce — the new 3,000+ homes are the last residential this island will produce. You are buying the address itself, walkable to the offices. Yields are compressed by the entry price, so this is a capital-growth and scarcity position, not an income one.
One bridge away · Al Reem
AED 900–1,400/sqft
Roughly half the entry price, housing much of the same workforce, with the deepest rental liquidity in Abu Dhabi at 6.5–8.5% gross and 5.7–6.6% net. Two new marine bridges opened in March 2026, cutting peak journeys by up to 15 minutes.
Both ranges come from live listing portals, which means they are what sellers are asking, not what buyers have paid. Achieved prices are typically below asking, and the gap widens on off-plan resale. Before you commit to either side of that bridge, ask me for the actual transacted comparables on the specific building — that is a different number and it is the one that matters.
Service charges on Al Reem run roughly AED 25–45 per sqft, which is what turns a 6.5–8.5% gross into a 5.7–6.6% net. Price the building, not the island.
05 · The honest part
What could go wrong with this thesis
Every broker will send you the AED 60 billion number. Here is what sits underneath it.
Nothing is delivered for years
Enabling works start in 2026. On a 1.5 million sqm masterplan, that means the offices driving the tenant demand arrive late this decade at the earliest, and no completion dates have been published. If you are buying for rental demand created by this expansion, you are buying ahead of a slow-moving catalyst.
New supply cuts both ways
3,000+ new waterfront homes on Al Maryah is a lot of stock arriving at once on a small island. It is scarce today, and less so on handover. Existing owners will be competing with brand-new branded product on the same waterfront.
Office growth is not automatic tenant demand
Doubling floorplates only converts to housing demand if firms fill them. ADGM's 51% headcount growth in 2025 makes that likely, not certain, and financial-centre growth is more cyclical than the announcement implies.
The premium may already be priced
Al Maryah asks roughly double Al Reem for a bridge crossing. The expansion was announced in December 2025 and the market has had months to react. Ask what the same unit was asking before the announcement before you accept today's price as fair.
Your move
Which side of the bridge is right for you?
The answer depends entirely on whether you want income now or the scarcer address later, and on what the specific building's transacted comparables and service charges actually look like. Tell me your budget and whether you are optimising for yield or growth, and I will come back with live inventory and real numbers on both islands.