Commercial & Hospitality Real Estate in Abu Dhabi
With a commercial asset you are buying an income stream and the contracts behind it. We help buyers and owners read those contracts before they read the brochure.
What we do
We help buyers find and evaluate commercial and hospitality assets in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE, and we help owners present them for sale. Our part is the property itself — sourcing, the commercial terms, the numbers and the transaction. Legal structuring, tax and building surveys are done by specialists we work alongside, chosen by you or introduced by us.
Asset by asset: what decides the value
Offices. Location and jurisdiction (an ADGM tower on Al Maryah is a different legal environment from a mainland building), whole floors versus strata units, the length and quality of the leases, service charges, and how much fit-out a new tenant will expect. In Dubai, our commercial catalogue compares 15 office projects, with the developers' expected returns labelled as expectations.
Retail. Footfall and frontage, the anchor tenants that bring customers, how long the leases have left to run, and whether the rent is fixed or tied to turnover. A shop with a strong tenant on a short lease can be worth less than it looks.
Hotels, resorts and serviced residences. The contract matters as much as the building: whether there is a lease or a management agreement, the brand and its standards, the fees, the reserve for furniture and equipment, and the remaining term. We look at the operating history — occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room — and at the tourism licensing that applies. A branded residence or hotel apartment sold with a rental programme should be judged on the programme's terms, not on the brand.
Development land. Permitted use and density, whether the plot sits in an investment area where foreign ownership is allowed, the title type — freehold, musataha, usufruct or long lease — and the infrastructure and approvals still needed.
Portfolios. Several units or buildings held by one owner, often with mixed leases and service-charge histories. The work is mostly diligence: reconciling what is owned, what is let and what is owed.
The documents we ask for
- Title deed or register extract, site and affection plans, permits and completion certificate.
- Leases, a current rent roll, arrears and deposits held.
- Service charge budgets and actuals for the last few years.
- For hospitality: the operator or management agreement, recent trading accounts and the licence.
- Any mortgage, lease registration or other interest on the title.
If a seller cannot produce these, that is information in itself.
Where advertised yields mislead
Commercial brochures in the UAE often quote a single yield. It is usually gross: rent divided by price, before service charges, void periods, letting fees, fit-out contributions and, for some owners, VAT and corporate tax. On a hotel apartment, it may also be before the operator's share. We rebuild the figure from the actual leases and costs, and show both the advertised and the net number so you can see the gap.
Tax depends on who owns the asset. The sale or lease of commercial property is generally subject to 5% VAT, and a company holding property is within the UAE corporate tax regime; how either applies to you is a question for a tax adviser, and we make sure it is asked before the price is agreed.
Selling a commercial asset
Owners usually want two things at once: enough buyers to set a real price, and enough confidentiality to protect tenants, staff and trading. We prepare an information pack, approach qualified buyers privately where that makes sense, and run disclosure in stages. See Off-market property advisory for how that works.