Dubai Has 175 Branded Residence Schemes, More Than Twice Miami

Dubai has 175 branded residence schemes either completed or in development, more than twice as many as Miami, the next city on the list, according to Knight Frank's Residence Report 2026-2027, published at the end of September. Sixty-eight of the Dubai schemes are already completed. The other 107 are still in the pipeline, which means most of the city's branded supply has not yet been handed over to its buyers.

The ranking puts Miami second with 73 schemes, New York third with 38, Phuket fourth with 35 and London fifth with 30. Dubai alone has more schemes than Miami, New York and London put together.

A regional story, not just a Dubai one

The count is not limited to one city. Knight Frank puts Abu Dhabi at 24 schemes, 19 of them still in development, and Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah at 23, all of them in the pipeline. Together, the UAE accounts for 19 percent of the global development pipeline for branded residences. The wider Middle East holds 25 percent of that pipeline and 20 percent of all live and pipeline schemes worldwide.

The consultancy links the newer markets to access. International flights to Ras Al Khaimah rose 44 percent between 2023 and 2026, the fastest growth among the top ten markets in the report, and flights to Abu Dhabi rose 37 percent over the same period.

For a buyer, the practical point is that the same product is now on sale in three emirates, at different stages of build, often from the same group of global brands.

The brand on the tower is changing

The more important shift is in who is lending the name. Hotel operators still account for about 70 percent of operational branded schemes worldwide, and about 60 percent once the pipeline is included, according to Knight Frank. Non-hotel brands, from fashion houses to carmakers, made up around 30 percent of the market in 2025, and the report expects that share to approach 40 percent by 2028.

Dubai is already past that point. Knight Frank puts non-hotel brands at 42 percent of the city's branded schemes, against 38 percent in Abu Dhabi and 52 percent on Al Marjan Island.

The automotive names are the most visible part of that shift. Binghatti's 42-storey Bugatti Residences in Business Bay is due to complete in 2026, with car lifts that bring the owner's car up to the residence. The same developer is building Mercedes-Benz Places, a 65-storey tower in Downtown Dubai and the carmaker's first branded residence, scheduled to open in 2027. Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Pagani and Brabus have also lent their names to schemes in Dubai and the wider UAE.

What the brand is worth to a buyer

Knight Frank's public summary of the new report does not give a city-level price premium for branded homes, and AVNET has not been able to verify one. The most widely cited global figure comes from a different consultancy. Savills, in its Branded Residences 2025/26 report, put the average premium for a branded home over a comparable unbranded one at 33 percent worldwide, with 39 percent in resort locations and 30 percent in established and emerging cities. Those are global averages across hundreds of schemes, not a Dubai price, and the premium on any single tower can sit well above or below them.

That premium pays for service, management and a name that resale buyers recognise. It also depends on the brand still meaning something when the owner comes to sell. With 107 more schemes due in Dubai alone, a buyer should expect that name to compete with many others on the resale market.

Knight Frank's own partners make the same point. "Brand remains powerful, but as the sector becomes more competitive, a name alone won't be enough," said Louis Harding, Partner and Head of Residential for the UAE. Clare Moukabaa, Partner in residential consultancy for the region, said the strongest developments "will be those that start with the buyer and location, then determine what brand can add."

The size of the global market

Globally, the sector has grown from 354 schemes in 2015 to 903 operational schemes at the end of 2025, according to Knight Frank. The consultancy expects about 1,088 by the end of 2026, with more than 170,000 units, and about 1,800 schemes with more than 300,000 units by 2031. Over half of schemes are now in coastal, island or mountain destinations rather than major cities, and the report expects that share to reach 57 percent by 2028. The top six brands account for just over 40 percent of developments.

The buyer behind this growth owns more than one home. Knight Frank estimates that the average ultra-high-net-worth individual now holds 3.8 properties, up from 2.9 a decade ago. That is the same buyer who flies privately between those homes, and the same buyer counted in Altrata's census, which found that 15 percent of the world's billionaires own an aircraft.

How the count compares with sales

The scheme count measures supply, not demand. Sales of Dubai's most expensive homes are a separate measure, and AVNET's analysis of Dubai's ultra-prime market tracks how many homes above USD10 million actually changed hands. The two figures answer different questions. One says how much branded product is coming. The other says how many buyers are paying at the very top.

Counts from different consultancies are also not directly comparable. Savills' 2025/26 report counted 64 completed and 87 pipeline schemes in Dubai, or 151 in total, using its own definitions. The direction is the same in both reports: Dubai leads the world, and most of its branded supply is still being built.

For a buyer weighing a branded tower in Dubai against one in Miami or London, the Knight Frank data gives the scale of the choice. It does not set the price. That still comes from the specific scheme, the specific brand and what comparable units in the same area are selling for.