Sobha Realty's 2026 Mega Community Expansion

Sobha Realty has entered a decisive new growth phase in 2026, rolling out two of its most ambitious master-planned communities yet. The company's expansion momentum has continued into 2026 with the launch of Sobha Sanctuary in Dubai and Sobha City in Abu Dhabi, bringing Sobha Realty's total UAE master developments to 16.

Sobha Sanctuary anchors the Dubai side of this expansion. Dubai's real estate market is set to welcome one of its largest new master-planned communities with Sobha Realty announcing the launch of Sobha Sanctuary, a sprawling Dh50 billion, 37.5-million-sq-ft development that underscores the emirate's continued appetite for large-scale, amenity-rich residential districts. Positioned as Sobha's most ambitious project to date, Sobha Sanctuary is planned to eventually accommodate about 20,000 families through roughly 20,000 homes, including 18,000 apartments and 2,000 villas. Located across a major land bank with connectivity to key districts, Sobha Sanctuary is built around a central destination park, a community mall, and a large wellness centre—amenities that developers are increasingly using to differentiate projects in a competitive off-plan landscape. Deliveries are slated to begin from the third quarter of 2029, with unit prices starting from Dh3.99 million.

Sobha Realty Managing Director Francis Alfred described the project as a "landmark moment" for the group and an expression of its long-term strategy to deliver wellness-driven neighbourhoods.

Across the border, Sobha City marks the developer's first large-scale foray into Abu Dhabi. Spanning approximately 38 million sq ft, the $10.8-billion (AED 40 billion) Sobha City will feature around 7,000 residential units, including 4,000 apartments and 3,000 villas, delivered across multiple phases. It covers 38 million square feet in the Al Bahiya area, near the E10 and E12 highways, making it easy to reach Zayed International Airport and Yas Island. Sobha City focuses on open space, with about 60% of the land earmarked for parks and green areas, and the plan includes over 50,000 trees and a 2km waterfront walk.

On execution, construction is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2026, with the first phase, representing one-third of the residential units, targeted for completion by the fourth quarter of 2029. "We are fundamentally a build-to-sell company, focused on designing and delivering products that meet customer expectations," said Francis Alfred, Managing Director of Sobha Realty. "Regardless of market fluctuations, we remain committed to maintaining our track record of early project delivery through our backward integration model."

The scale of this expansion is significant. As of 2025, the developer's UAE portfolio exceeded 39,000 units across 14 master-planned projects in Dubai and Umm Al Quwain. The launch comes soon after the realtor announcing its year-end sales figures for FY 2025 a total Dh30 billion, representing an uptick of 30 per cent year on year. The timing also coincides with a major corporate milestone, as the group was established in 1976 as an interior decoration firm in Oman by P. N. C. Menon.

For prospective buyers, entry points into these new communities vary sharply by product type. The apartment entry at just under AED 1 million is the notable headline within Sobha Sanctuary's first released cluster, The Woods, bringing a Sobha masterplan address within reach of a much wider buyer pool than the villa clusters. This tiered pricing, spanning compact apartments to multi-million-dirham villas, positions the new communities to capture demand across both end-user and investor segments.

The broader delivery pipeline reinforces Sobha's growth trajectory heading into the back half of 2026. Sobha Realty plans to hand over 6,819 homes worth AED21.6bn across five Dubai major developments in 2026, marking its largest annual delivery programme. Combined with the Sanctuary and City launches, this cements 2026 as a defining year for the developer's UAE footprint.