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The Cavendish Maxwell report placed 2025 real estate transaction values in Sharjah at AED65.6 billion, equivalent to $17.86 billion and representing a 64 percent increase over 2024 levels. Momentum has continued into the current year with the same consultancy recording a 41 percent year-on-year rise in first-quarter transaction values to AED18.5 billion. Nearly 9,980 properties changed hands during the opening three months of 2026, an advance of 23 percent from the year-earlier period.
According to the report, Sharjah’s population stands at 1.98 million and is projected to reach 2.1 million by 2030 while the emirate’s lower living costs continue to attract residents. Rents in Sharjah run between 20 and 30 percent below those in neighbouring Dubai, prompting many to commute daily for work. Residential rental contracts reached almost 290,000 in 2025 compared with 278,000 in 2024 with total rental agreements for residential and commercial properties exceeding 368,500, up 4.4 percent.
Families formed 86 percent of residential rental contracts last year, single individuals accounted for 10 percent and staff or workers the remaining 4 percent, the data showed. Freehold ownership reforms launched in 2022 have widened the buyer base with purchasers from nearly 130 nationalities participating in the market in 2025. UAE nationals retained the largest share of purchases followed by Arab nationals while GCC buyers excluding UAE citizens constituted a smaller proportion.
Ali Siddiqui, research manager at Cavendish Maxwell, said foreign ownership reforms, infrastructure investment and competitive living costs were generating unprecedented demand. “Foreign ownership reforms, huge investment in infrastructure projects like Etihad Rail and major road improvements, and Sharjah’s relatively low living costs are driving new and unprecedented demand for real estate in the emirate, where the population is projected to grow from 1.98 million today to 2.1 million by 2030,” he added. The report identified 33,700 residential units in the development pipeline through 2030 consisting of 24,800 apartments and 9,900 villas or townhouses from developers including ARADA, Alef Group, BEEAH Group, Shurooq and Eagle Hills.
Approximately 2,600 new residential units were completed across Sharjah during 2025 with apartments comprising 81 percent of that supply while a further 1,100 apartments entered the market in the first quarter of 2026. A May 2026 OECD assessment found that foreign direct investment stock across the UAE has risen to more than half of GDP by the end of 2024, underscoring the federation-wide appeal that has also benefited Sharjah where FDI totalled AED7.7 billion last year. Gross domestic product expanded 4.4 percent in 2025 with a further 2.5 percent advance forecast for the current year and business licenses climbed nearly 9 percent to more than 77,500.
The Cavendish Maxwell report highlighted major infrastructure schemes that are reinforcing the real estate upswing with the AED40 billion Etihad Rail network improving connectivity to other emirates and supporting residential, hospitality and medical tourism segments. Widening of the E611 highway is expected to reduce peak-hour travel times to Dubai by 45 percent while a AED2.4 billion project at Sharjah International Airport aims to raise annual passenger capacity to 20 million by 2027. The developments coincide with buyer preferences shifting toward integrated communities that feature sustainable design, family amenities and open green spaces.
