Emaar Properties founder Mohamed Alabbar is setting his sights eastward, hinting at a potential move into China’s vast real estate landscape — but only when the time is right.
“I’m very interested in China, but it’s a different world. Let them recover first,” Alabbar remarked during a panel at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, suggesting a cautious but deliberate curiosity toward the world’s second-largest economy.
For now, Alabbar says Emaar’s energy is firmly anchored in regions showing strong momentum — Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and India. “Expanding into India is our next big step. We’ve been there for two decades, and it’s a major market for us,” he noted, underscoring the company’s deep roots and future ambitions on the subcontinent.
Emaar’s ventures in Eastern Europe are thriving, while the Middle East continues to deliver “fantastic growth and stability,” Alabbar added — a reflection of the region’s renewed real estate confidence and investor appetite.
China isn’t entirely new territory for Emaar. In 2019, the company signed a pact with Beijing New Aeropolis Holdings to co-develop an 11-billion-dollar project around Beijing Daxing International Airport — a sprawling urban destination blending homes and leisure spaces, envisioned to unfold over a decade.
As Alabbar maps out Emaar’s next horizon, his tone suggests patience — not retreat — when it comes to China. The ambition is clear, but the timing, as always in real estate, is everything.
