SPECIALISTS IN RAK REAL ESTATE
WHY RAK · OUR VIEW
Why Ras Al Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah is where the UAE is building next. Within two years a new bridge, a wider motorway, a bigger airport and the country's first casino resort open here, 1 hour from Dubai. Companies and people are already arriving.
This page is our case for RAK: the figures behind it, what opens and when, what we watch, and where we think the growth will be.
Karolina Dean, Managing Director & Co-Founder · Updated October 2026
Image: Al Hamra
RAK IN NUMBERS
Eight figures behind our view
650,000
people by 2030, from 450,000 today
Cavendish Maxwell, Jul 2026
$5.7bn
Wynn Al Marjan Island, opening September 2027
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
19,000
new companies in RAKEZ in 2025, up 44%
RAKEZ, Feb 2026
$10.6bn
greenfield foreign investment in 2025, the most of any emirate
Emirates NBD, Feb 2026
1.35m
overnight visitors in 2025; 3.5 million targeted for 2030
RAKTDA, Jan 2026
8,500
new hotel rooms planned, 2027 to 2030
CBRE, Sep 2026
1 million
airport passengers in 2025, up 51%
RAK International Airport, Jan 2026
A
credit rating from S&P, stable outlook
S&P Global, Sep 2026
WHAT'S COMING
What opens, and when
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Late 2026
Marjan Bay Bridge opens
Al Marjan Island linked straight to the E311 and E611, the roads to Dubai
Wynn Resorts, Feb 2026
Sept 2027
Wynn Al Marjan Island opens
The UAE's first casino resort
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
End 2027
1.5 million airport passengers
The airport's target, with a new terminal for 4.5 million a year
RAK International Airport, Jan 2026
2027 to 2030
8,500 new hotel rooms
Nearly doubling today's 9,000
CBRE, Sep 2026
2029
Peak year for new homes
About 9,100 completing
Cavendish Maxwell, Jul 2026
2030
650,000 people, 3.5 million visitors
Forecast and target
Cavendish Maxwell; RAKTDA
1 · INFRASTRUCTURE
The roads, the bridge and the airport are being built now
People can only live and holiday here if they can get here. RAK is building the links now, ahead of demand, and it can afford to.
Marjan Bay Bridge
A 548-metre bridge linking Al Marjan Island via Marjan Avenue to the E311 and E611, the roads to Dubai. 48% built in February 2026 and due late 2026.
Wynn Resorts, Feb 2026
A wider E11
The main coast road is being widened from two lanes to four each way between Al Hamra and the E311, with new junctions and tunnels, including at Mina Al Arab. Work began in September 2025.
The National, Aug 2025
A bigger airport
1 million passengers in 2025, up 51%. A new terminal for 4.5 million a year is being built, and the airport is aiming for 1.5 million passengers by the end of 2027.
RAK International Airport, Jan 2026
Marjan Beach District, as planned. Developer's image: Marjan
The money to pay for it
S&P rates RAK A/A-1 with a stable outlook and expects budget surpluses of about 3% of GDP a year from 2026 to 2029. Fitch rates it A+, with public debt at 11% of GDP.
S&P Global, Sep 2026; Fitch, Oct 2026
2 · BUSINESS
Companies are moving to RAK
New companies bring jobs, and jobs bring tenants. It is the part of the RAK story most buyers miss: this is not only a resort economy.
19,000
new companies set up in RAKEZ, the emirate's economic zone, in 2025: up 44% on 2024, taking it past 40,000. The largest groups came from India (33%), Pakistan (8%) and the UK (7%).
RAKEZ, Feb 2026
$10.6bn
of greenfield foreign investment in 2025 across 17 projects, more capital than any other emirate. Most of it is one $10bn manufacturing plant.
6.7%
growth in RAK's economy in 2024, up from 3.6% in 2023.
Fitch, May 2025
Emirates NBD, Feb 2026
3 · WYNN AND TOURISM
The UAE's first casino resort opens in September 2027
Wynn Al Marjan Island, as it will look on opening. Developer's image: Wynn Resorts
The top of the Wynn tower, December 2025, looking over Al Marjan Island. Image: Wynn Resorts
$5.7bn
total budget
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
Sept 2027
opening
Wynn is building on Al Marjan Island, a man-made island off RAK's coast. Wynn Resorts owns 40% of the project and expects it to open in September 2027. In August 2026 it raised the budget by about $600 million, to $5.7bn.
Hotels are following: RAK has about 9,000 rooms in 60 hotels today, with 8,500 more planned by 2030. Over 80% are five-star and about two-thirds are on Al Marjan Island.
RAK's tourism authority is aiming for 3.5 million visitors a year by 2030, from 1.35 million in 2025, when numbers grew 6%.
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026; CBRE, Sep 2026; RAKTDA, Jan 2026
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
3.5m
visitors a year targeted by 2030
RAKTDA, Jan 2026
4 · PEOPLE AND HOMES
450,000 people today. 650,000 by 2030.
RAK is 1 hour from Dubai, with beaches and islands on one side and the Hajar Mountains on the other. About 450,000 people live here, and about 200,000 more are forecast by 2030.
To house them, 25,600 new homes are due by 2030, 97% of them apartments. Most complete in 2028 and 2029.
Cavendish Maxwell, Jul 2026
The beach at Al Hamra. Image: Al Hamra
IF YOU ARE BUYING
Demand is building ahead of the homes. Where you buy, close to what is being built, matters more than when.
IF YOU ARE RENTING
More new homes to choose from as buildings complete, most of them in 2028 and 2029.
IF YOU ARE LETTING
More people looking for homes, and more new homes competing for them. Location and condition will count.
WHAT WE WATCH
What could slow it down
No plan runs exactly to time. These are the five things we track for clients.
Supply
Cavendish Maxwell counts 25,600 new homes due by 2030; CBRE counts more than 34,000 from 2026 to 2030. If people arrive more slowly than homes complete, rents and prices could fall around 2029.
Cavendish Maxwell, Jul 2026; CBRE, Sep 2026
Hotel earnings
Hotel visitors rose 2.7% in the first half of 2026, but occupancy averaged 49% and revenue per room fell 28.6%. Fewer visitors came from abroad; more from within the UAE.
CBRE, Sep 2026; RAKTDA, Jul 2026
Wynn's timing
The opening has already moved once, to September 2027. A further delay would push back the visitors and jobs that come with it.
Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
The regional conflict
The conflict involving Iran reached the UAE in February and March 2026. Dubai's listed property shares fell about 21% in under two weeks, and about half of Wynn's $600 million budget rise came from the conflict: materials, shipping and the longer timeline. A new flare-up would slow visitors and buyers. Our analysis, March 2026, updated October →
DFM Real Estate Index, Mar 2026; Wynn Resorts, Aug 2026
Forecasts
650,000 people and 3.5 million visitors are a forecast and a target, not counts.
Cavendish Maxwell, Jul 2026; RAKTDA, Jan 2026
Al Marjan Island and the Wynn resort, as planned. Developer's image: Al Hamra
OUR VIEW
The next two years in RAK are already funded and under construction. Most new homes arrive in 2028 and 2029, after the bridge, the airport terminal and Wynn are open. We think the homes that gain most will be close to what is being built, from developers who have delivered before. That is where we focus.
Population: Cavendish Maxwell, July 2026
WHERE
Where we think the growth will be
Wynn, most of the new hotels, and the new bridge.
Golf, marina and beach, next to Al Marjan Island. Where we live.
Ask us about any of them. We live in Al Hamra, and we take you out on the boat to see the coast from the water: the view few buyers get before they choose.
Waterways and mangroves, on the widened E11.
A new community by the sea. First homes targeted for 2029.
The new CBD. First homes due late in 2027.
