In July 2025, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), issued Law No 7 of 2025 to encourage investment and regulate construction contract activities across the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven which make up the country. The new regulation aims to restructure Dubai’s construction and infrastructure sectors. A new regulatory body, the Contracting Activities Regulation and Development Committee, will be established, significantly transforming the construction and infrastructure sector by instituting a unified, digital-first regulatory regime to ensure only qualified, registered contractors operate within their certified capacity.
The new committee will be responsible for approving construction activities in Dubai, for new policies and legislation for the construction industry, supervising the implementation of the law and identifying entities responsible for supervising each construction activity. It will also be responsible for resolving jurisdictional disagreements that may arise between regulatory entities.
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The new committee will comprise members from key government authorities and entities related to the construction sector, and be chaired by a representative of the Dubai Municipality. The new committee will also implement a code of ethics for the construction sector, analyse and act upon recommendations submitted by the authorities, and coordinate with the public and private sectors.
Law No 7 of 2025 will be implemented from January 2026 and covers all construction activity across mainland Dubai, the Dubai International Financial Centre and free zones. The new law will also regulate joint ventures and turnkey construction contracts. The aim is to restrict unauthorised partnerships and unstandardised design-and-build agreements. Penalties and enforcement actions will be imposed on both the contractor and the worker for not adhering to the new regulations. For first-time violations, these penalties will be between Dh1,000 and Dh100,000 ($272.2 and $27,225.5) on the contractors, and will double for repeated violations within the same year. Construction companies will be required to keep original contracts, project-related documentation and records for at least 10 years once a contract is completed or terminated.
To implement the new law, the Dubai Municipality will launch a centralised electronic platform for all construction contract activities across the Emirate. The new system will integrate with the existing “Invest in Dubai” programme and serve as a main office for licensing and contractor classification. The new system will manage construction contractor renewal and registration, provide professional expertise certification and monitor regulatory compliance. The new system will mandate classification based on financial, technical and managerial capabilities and enforce strict oversight through a newly formed regulatory committee. The aim is to strengthen investor confidence and align construction contractors with Dubai’s strategic urban and sustainable development goals. The new system will replace the existing model in which the construction contract award is based on the lowest bid.
According to the latest data released by the Dubai Land Department (DLD), in July 2025 Dubai’s real estate market saw more than 125,538 transactions, totalling AED431 billion in the first half of 2025 – a 26% year-on-year (YoY) increase in number and 25% YoY increase in transactions values when compared to the same period of 2024. The total number of real estate procedures, comprising sales, leases and other transactions, surpassed 1.3 million in the first half of 2025, reflecting growing investor and stakeholder confidence.
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By GlobalDataAccording to the latest data, 59,075 new investors entered Dubai’s real estate market with a combined value of Dh157 billion in the first half of 2025 – a 22% YoY increase in the number of investors and a 40% YoY increase in investment value compared to the same period of 2024. According to the DLD, 24 real estate projects valued at Dh4.5 billion were completed in the first half of 2025, with 726 projects currently under construction across the Emirate. The new law is expected to boost construction activities, with GlobalData projecting the UAE construction industry to grow 5.2% in real terms in 2025. It is then anticipated to maintain an average annual growth rate of 4% between 2026 and 2029, driven by investments in energy and utilities, transportation, and oil and gas projects. Growth over the forecast period will also be supported by the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, which targets Dubai’s population to reach 5.8 million by 2040, up from 3.3 million in 2020, attracting investments in the housing, infrastructure, health and educational sectors.
Growth in the forecast period will also be supported by the government’s clean energy initiatives, such as the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aim for 100% clean energy production capacity by 2050.
