Emaar's backlog hits AED 180 billion as collections rebound to 98%

Summary

• Alabbar says Emaar's backlog stands near AED 180 billion, with collections at 98% last year.
• Cancellations fell below 600 units monthly, down from roughly 1,200 during the regional tensions.
• Dubai's developer appears to have absorbed the conflict shock without lasting damage to cash flows.

The latest

Emaar's backlog of contracted work stands at about AED 180 billion, founder and managing director Mohamed Alabbar said, with receivable collections hitting 98% over the past year. Collections had slipped temporarily during the regional tensions before returning to earlier levels, he told the 9th Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 in a session on chief executives leading through permanent change.

Details

• The backlog: Alabbar put Emaar's accumulated backlog at roughly AED 180 billion, a figure that represents contracted work still to be delivered. He did not break the total down by project, asset class or delivery timeline, nor did he say how it compares with the previous year's level.
• Collections: The collection rate on amounts due reached 98% during the past year, according to Alabbar, after what he described as a temporary decline during the period of regional tensions. He said the ratio has since returned to its earlier levels, without specifying how far it fell at the low point.
• Cancellations: Booking cancellations dropped to fewer than 600 units a month following the de-escalation, compared with about 1,200 units a month while tensions ran high, Alabbar said. That is a halving of the cancellation rate once the regional security picture stabilised.
• Sales run-rate: Emaar typically sells around 4,000 units a month, Alabbar said, a figure that sets the scale against the cancellation numbers. At the peak of the crisis, cancellations were running at roughly 30% of that monthly sales pace, against about 15% now.
• Hospitality: Activity in the hospitality segment has risen by more than 60% compared with its earlier levels, according to Alabbar. He did not identify the baseline period used for that comparison, nor whether the increase refers to occupancy, revenue or another measure.
• Planning model: Alabbar said his companies work to five-year financial forecasts that are reviewed every three months, a cadence he presented as a way of managing continuous volatility. The quarterly revision cycle is applied across the group rather than to a single business line.
• Staff incentives: Ten percent of profits is allocated to senior employees under the group's compensation arrangements, Alabbar said. He gave no detail on how many executives fall within that bracket or how the allocation is calculated.
• The venue: The remarks came during the session titled "CEO Playbook: Leading Through Permanent Shifts" at the ninth edition of the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026, attended by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, chairperson of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, Shurooq.

Background

Dubai's property market has run through an extended upcycle, with developers taking large volumes of off-plan bookings. Regional tensions tested that model by raising cancellations and slowing payment flows, making collection rates and cancellation counts the clearest read on underlying demand.

Between the lines

The three figures Alabbar gave work as one indicator rather than three. A 98% collection rate protects the cash conversion of an AED 180 billion backlog, while cancellations at under 600 units against roughly 4,000 monthly sales suggest buyer attrition returned to pre-crisis range. The hospitality gain of more than 60% points to visitor flows recovering alongside residential demand, though Alabbar set no baseline for that comparison.

What's next

Emaar's next quarterly results will show whether the 98% collection rate and the lower cancellation run-rate hold, and how much of the AED 180 billion backlog converts into recognised revenue over the coming periods.

Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)