Will all the new RAK apartments make renting out harder?

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Will all the new RAK apartments make renting out harder?

Yes. Renting out an apartment in Ras Al Khaimah is likely to get harder as the next wave of new homes arrives, especially for ordinary studios and one-bedroom units in heavily developed waterfront areas.

The size of the pipeline is now large enough to change how the rental market works. Cavendish Maxwell currently tracks around 25,600 homes due between 2026 and 2030, with apartments making up 97% of future supply. Only a small part of that stock has reached tenants so far: around 170 homes were completed in the first quarter of 2026, with roughly 1,700 more expected during the rest of the year.

Demand is growing quickly too. Ras Al Khaimah is attracting more tourists, businesses, workers and residents, while Wynn Al Marjan Island is moving closer to opening. That gives the emirate a much stronger absorption story than the raw supply number suggests.

Still, the latest rental data is already becoming more selective. Bayut currently puts average Al Marjan Island apartment rents at around AED 70 per square foot, down 8.6% over twelve months. Mina Al Arab apartments, by comparison, are still around 8.5% above last year. We are starting to see the split you would expect once tenants get more choice.

The answer therefore depends much more on the apartment than it used to. A differentiated home in the right building can still rent well. A generic investment unit surrounded by dozens of similar apartments will probably require sharper pricing.

How big is the new RAK apartment pipeline really?

RAK is currently building enough apartments to make rental competition materially tougher, not just a little more noticeable.

Cavendish Maxwell estimates that about 25,600 residential units are scheduled through 2030. With apartments accounting for 97%, that implies roughly 24,800 additional apartments if the present pipeline is delivered as planned.

The timing makes the number more important. Delivery volumes remain relatively low today, then climb steeply. Around 23,900 of the pipeline units are expected after 2026, and 2029 alone is currently scheduled to bring roughly 9,100 homes.

That creates a very different market from the one recent buyers experienced. A landlord taking possession today competes with a relatively limited pool of newer stock. A landlord taking possession during the peak years could enter a market where thousands of investors receive keys within a fairly short period.

Scheduled period	New homes currently expected	What changes for landlords	Rental pressure
2026	~1,870	Supply remains relatively limited	Low to moderate
2027	~4,700	New competition accelerates	Rising
2028	~7,500	Large volume reaches the market	High
2029	~9,100	Current peak handover year	Very high
Through 2030	~25,600	Rental stock expands structurally	Lasting change

Are RAK apartment rents already starting to weaken?

Yes. RAK apartment rents are still healthy overall, but parts of the market are already cooling before the biggest supply years have arrived.

The clearest example today is Al Marjan Island. Bayut’s latest index shows apartments at around AED 70 per square foot, 8.6% below twelve months earlier. Studios have fallen about 10.2%, one-bedroom apartments about 5.1% and two-bedroom apartments about 3.2%.

The pattern gets more interesting building by building. Pacific apartments are around 7.7% below last year on a per-square-foot basis, while Bab Al Bahr is down almost 13%. Marjan Island Resort & Spa, however, is up roughly 5.6%.

That spread tells us more than an emirate-wide average. Tenants are already distinguishing between buildings instead of simply accepting whatever waterfront apartment becomes available.

Mina Al Arab currently looks stronger. Its apartments average about AED 73 per square foot, around 8.5% above twelve months ago. Yet even there, the very recent direction has softened: studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments have all moved lower over the past three months.

So rental conditions are still good in many parts of RAK, but the easy upward momentum of the previous few years is clearly becoming less uniform.

Current rental market	Rent per sq ft	12-month change	Latest picture
Al Marjan apartments	~AED 70	-8.6%	Clearly softer
Al Marjan studios	~AED 82	-10.2%	Weakest major unit type
Al Marjan 1-bed	~AED 67	-5.1%	Falling
Al Marjan 3-bed	~AED 46	+2.1%	Holding up better
Mina Al Arab apartments	~AED 73	+8.5%	Still strong year on year

Is Al Marjan Island where renting out will get hardest?

Al Marjan Island currently looks like the clearest pressure point because an unusually large amount of investor-owned apartment supply is converging on one small waterfront market.

The island has become the centre of RAK’s development boom. Its masterplan calls for thousands of residences alongside hotels, restaurants and resorts, while developers including Aldar, Emaar, Ellington, BNW and several newer entrants have launched projects there.

That creates a peculiar rental setup. Al Marjan should gain more visitors and workers when Wynn opens, but prospective tenants will also have far more choice. Two landlords in neighbouring buildings may be competing for basically the same renter with similar sea views, similar pools, similar gyms and similar furnished one-bedroom layouts.

Recent rent data suggests this pressure has begun before the main handover wave. Average Al Marjan apartment rents per square foot are currently below where they stood twelve months ago, while several established buildings have seen larger declines.

The island can still become a much bigger residential and tourism destination over time. For an individual landlord, though, the practical question is simpler: how many near-substitute apartments will be available when the unit comes onto the market? On Al Marjan, that number is heading sharply higher.

Is RAK’s population growing fast enough to fill all these new apartments?

RAK’s expected population growth is strong enough to absorb a lot of new housing, although the headline population number makes the rental outlook look easier than it really is.

Cavendish Maxwell currently cites a population of roughly 450,000, potentially rising to around 650,000 by 2030. That would mean about 200,000 additional residents against roughly 25,600 homes in the current residential pipeline.

Put another way, the planned supply represents roughly one new dwelling for every eight additional residents implied by that projection. At emirate level, this does not look like an obviously absurd amount of construction.

The problem is matching those residents with the homes actually being delivered. Much of the new stock consists of premium apartments in Al Marjan Island, Mina Al Arab and other investment-heavy developments. Population growth, meanwhile, includes hospitality workers, industrial employees, families, service workers, entrepreneurs and people with very different housing budgets.

A new employee earning enough to rent a beachfront one-bedroom apartment supports the investment case directly. A worker living in shared accommodation or an inland neighbourhood still counts toward population growth without absorbing that waterfront unit.

So the population forecast is reassuring for RAK as a whole. It cannot tell us whether an AED 70,000 or AED 90,000 apartment in a specific tower will find a tenant quickly.

RAK housing-demand measure	Current / projected level	Useful interpretation	Main limitation
Current population	~450,000	Large existing resident base	Spread across many housing segments
2030 population projection	~650,000	~200,000 potential additional residents	Still a forecast
Current residential pipeline	~25,600 homes	Substantial new capacity	Concentrated in apartments
Residents added per pipeline home	~7.8	Aggregate demand could absorb substantial supply	Does not measure affordability or location
Apartment share of future supply	~97%	Rental competition will be apartment-heavy	Villas face a different market

Will Wynn create enough tenants for all the new Al Marjan apartments?

Wynn Al Marjan Island will create a serious new source of rental demand, but its workforce will not automatically fill the surrounding apartment pipeline.

Wynn is preparing to recruit and onboard more than 9,000 colleagues for Al Marjan Island ahead of opening. Recruitment is already visible: the resort’s own careers platform lists roles across rooms, food and beverage, gaming, security, IT, facilities and other departments.

Nine thousand workers is a big number for Ras Al Khaimah. Higher-paid managers, specialists, hospitality professionals and international recruits should create meaningful demand around Al Marjan, Al Hamra and Mina Al Arab.

Still, nine thousand employees do not translate into nine thousand private leases. Couples can work at the same resort, families share one home, some employees will choose cheaper areas, and staff accommodation will cover part of the workforce.

Wynn should improve occupancy around the island considerably. It just should not be used as a shortcut for assuming every investor apartment will rent.

Is tourism growing fast enough to support thousands of holiday rentals?

RAK tourism is currently growing fast enough to create much more short-term rental demand, although holiday-home owners will face much more competition at the same time.

The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority recorded 1.35 million overnight visitors in 2025, up 6% year on year, while tourism revenue rose 12%. Its longer-term target is more than 3.5 million visitors annually by 2030.

That would be a huge expansion. If the emirate reaches the target, annual visitor volume would be more than two and a half times the 2025 level.

Wynn adds another major draw, and RAK continues expanding its air links, luxury resorts, mountain tourism and event offering. The demand side for short stays is much more credible today than it was when many early Al Marjan projects were launched.

Hotel developers have noticed the same opportunity. RAK Tourism wants hotel-room capacity to roughly double, with Four Seasons, Fairmont, Janu, Taj and other projects joining the pipeline.

So Airbnb-style owners are entering a growing tourist market alongside a growing number of hotels and serviced residences. A genuinely attractive beachfront apartment can benefit from the tourism boom. A mediocre unit cannot assume that visitor growth alone will protect its occupancy or nightly rate.

RAK tourism measure	Recent level	Direction	What it means for apartments
Overnight visitors	1.35m in 2025	+6% YoY	More potential guests
Tourism revenue	2025	+12% YoY	Spending growing faster than visitor count
2030 visitor target	>3.5m	More than 2.5× 2025 volume	Large potential demand expansion
Hotel-room supply	Current base	Targeted to roughly double	Much stronger competition
Wynn accommodation	1,530 suites and villas	Opening ahead	Adds demand and competing rooms

Will RAK’s business boom create enough long-term renters?

RAK’s business expansion is giving the long-term rental market a much broader demand base, although business registrations are growing much faster than the number of people who actually need premium apartments.

RAKEZ added nearly 19,000 companies during 2025, 44% more new registrations than in 2024. More recently, the economic zone announced that its active business community had reached 50,000 companies.

That is a meaningful change in scale. Services made up around 40% of the new registrations in 2025, commercial and trading businesses another 33%, while e-commerce represented 17%. Those sectors can bring founders, managers, sales staff and professional workers who need housing.

Physical investment is growing too. Cavendish Maxwell reported around AED 39 billion of foreign direct investment across 17 projects during 2025. New industrial operations and the development of RAK Central should add workers beyond tourism.

We still need to be careful with the company figures. A newly registered consultancy may employ one person. An online business can be run remotely. Some owners register in RAK while living elsewhere in the UAE.

The business boom gives RAK a stronger rental story than a market driven purely by tourists and property investors. How much premium apartment demand it produces will depend on the jobs created on the ground.

Could RAK need more homes overall and still build too many luxury apartments?

Absolutely. RAK can face a genuine housing shortage in some segments while landlords compete aggressively for tenants in premium waterfront apartments.

Roughly 97% of the current residential pipeline consists of apartments. At the same time, some of the most heavily marketed projects are branded, beachfront or positioned toward international investors rather than ordinary local households.

The purchase data makes that tilt visible. Cavendish Maxwell found that the average off-plan home at the end of 2025 cost around AED 1.98 million, compared with roughly AED 1.16 million for a ready home.

Off-plan buyers were therefore paying around AED 820,000 more on average, a premium of roughly 71%.

That does not mean every new apartment is ultra-luxury. It does show that the construction boom is heavily exposed to the higher-value part of the market.

A growing emirate still needs family housing, workforce accommodation, affordable apartments, villas and homes near employment centres. Those needs do little for a landlord if the unit competing for a tenant is an expensive furnished studio among 50 similar furnished studios on the same island.

Are RAK developers creating thousands of future landlords at once?

Yes. The unusually high share of off-plan sales means much of the rental competition created during the property boom has yet to appear in the rental market.

Cavendish Maxwell counted around 6,600 residential sales worth AED 12.4 billion in 2025. About 85% of those transactions were off-plan.

That figure is crucial. Roughly five out of every six homes sold during the year were generally still being built. They could generate a sales commission and appear in market transaction data without yet adding a single apartment to the pool available to tenants.

Not every buyer will become a landlord. Some will resell, some will use the property themselves and others will keep it as an occasional second home.

Even so, RAK projects have been heavily marketed around rental yields, holiday-home income, payment plans and the expected effect of Wynn. It would be surprising if a substantial share of these units did not eventually reach the long-term or short-term rental market.

Today’s vacancy and rent data therefore capture only part of the investment boom. The real rental test comes after the keys are handed over.

Which RAK apartments are most exposed to rental competition?

Studios and one-bedroom apartments in investor-heavy developments currently look the most vulnerable because tenants can easily compare one unit with another.

The latest Al Marjan Island numbers are already consistent with that view. Bayut shows studio rents per square foot down about 10.2% over twelve months and one-bedroom apartments down around 5.1%. Two-bedroom units are down roughly 3.2%, while three-bedroom apartments are slightly higher.

Part of the difference comes from supply. Developers like smaller apartments because the lower purchase price expands the pool of off-plan investors. That can create dozens or hundreds of similar units within one project.

For the eventual tenant, those apartments are highly interchangeable. If one landlord asks AED 65,000 while several nearly identical owners accept AED 60,000, the expensive listing can sit empty.

Larger apartments can have fewer direct substitutes, especially when families care about layout, storage, schools, parking and whether the home actually works for daily life.

The takeaway is pretty clear: scarcity at the building and unit level will matter more than the overall prestige of the neighbourhood.

Al Marjan apartment type	Current rent/sq ft	12-month change	Current exposure
Studio	~AED 82	-10.2%	High
1 bedroom	~AED 67	-5.1%	High
2 bedrooms	~AED 64	-3.2%	Moderate
3 bedrooms	~AED 46	+2.1%	Lower so far

Will older RAK apartments lose tenants to all the new buildings?

Some older RAK apartments will have to get cheaper or better because tenants are about to gain access to much newer alternatives.

We can already see large differences between established Al Marjan buildings. Current Bayut data puts rents per square foot in Pacific about 7.7% below last year and Bab Al Bahr almost 13% lower, while Marjan Island Resort & Spa remains above its level twelve months ago.

Age alone does not explain everything. Layout, maintenance, beach access, furnishing, views, parking and management can outweigh whether a building is five or ten years newer.

Still, a wave of brand-new handovers changes the comparison. A tenant may suddenly be choosing between an older unit with worn furniture and a never-lived-in apartment with a new kitchen, new gym and fresher common areas for only a modest rent difference.

Established projects also have advantages. Tenants can see the finished building, inspect the actual apartment and judge how the community works in real life. New developments may suffer snagging problems, incomplete neighbouring construction or amenities that take time to settle.

Older landlords will not automatically lose. The mediocre ones will have less room to overprice.

Are branded apartments protected from RAK oversupply?

No. A strong brand can help an RAK apartment attract tenants, but branded residences still have to earn enough rent to justify their much higher purchase and ownership costs.

Al Marjan has attracted a long list of hospitality, fashion and lifestyle brands. These projects can offer better management, stronger amenities and instant name recognition, which may help with wealthy tenants and holiday guests.

Yet branding has become common enough that it is losing some of its scarcity value. A renter choosing among several premium waterfront projects can compare brands, views, layouts and rents rather than accepting a large premium simply because one tower carries a famous name.

Owners also need to look beyond gross rent. A branded apartment purchased at AED 2 million with substantial service charges can generate more annual rent than a AED 1.2 million non-branded apartment and still produce a worse net yield.

The strongest branded projects should retain an advantage. Paying a large premium for the logo alone is becoming a much riskier rental strategy now that so many branded developments are competing in the same area.

Is long-term renting safer than Airbnb in RAK now?

For an ordinary investment apartment, a good long-term tenant currently gives us a more predictable rental case than relying on permanently high Airbnb occupancy.

Long-term rental demand has several independent sources: RAK’s resident population, Wynn recruitment, hospitality employment, new businesses, industrial investment and office development.

Holiday rentals benefit from fast tourism growth and the emirate’s improving international profile. They also require landlords to compete every night against other holiday homes, hotels and new resorts while dealing with management fees, cleaning, seasonality and changing daily rates.

The right waterfront property can do very well on short stays. A strong sea view, beach access, attractive interiors and professional management become especially valuable there.

A generic investment unit needs a more conservative assumption. If the numbers only work at very high occupancy and an optimistic nightly rate, the investor is depending on several things going right at the same time.

Annual renting is less exciting on a spreadsheet. These days, that predictability has real value.

What would prove that RAK has actually built too many apartments?

We would know RAK has moved into genuine apartment oversupply if rising completions are followed by persistent rent declines, longer leasing periods and widespread landlord incentives even while population and employment continue growing.

One quarter of softer rents would not prove much by itself. Neither would one weak building.

A much stronger warning would be Al Marjan rents continuing to fall as thousands of units complete, followed by Mina Al Arab and other apartment districts showing the same pattern. Free-rent periods, included utilities, unusually flexible payment terms and aggressive agent incentives would add further evidence that landlords have lost pricing power.

Vacancy would be even more useful, although reliable public vacancy data for individual RAK communities remains limited.

We also need to compare actual population growth with the forecasts. If RAK moves toward 650,000 residents while Wynn hires thousands of workers and business activity keeps expanding, absorption becomes much easier. If residential deliveries arrive on schedule while resident growth falls well short, the pressure rises quickly.

For now, the evidence points more toward a localised and unit-specific oversupply risk than an emirate-wide housing glut.

So will all the new RAK apartments make renting out harder?

Yes. The next wave of RAK apartments should make renting out noticeably harder, with the biggest pressure likely to fall on ordinary studios and one-bedroom units in places where investors own large amounts of similar stock.

We have enough evidence now to be fairly confident about that direction. The construction pipeline is large, apartments dominate it, off-plan purchases account for most recent transactions, and the heaviest handover years still lie ahead. Al Marjan rents are already lower than twelve months ago even before most of that stock arrives.

At the same time, we do not see evidence for an emirate-wide rental collapse. RAK’s population is growing, tourism continues setting records, RAKEZ now has 50,000 active companies in its community and Wynn expects a workforce of more than 9,000. Mina Al Arab rents are still well above last year despite recent cooling.

The market is moving from scarcity toward competition.

That is a pretty big change. During the boom, investors could rely heavily on the fact that there were relatively few modern waterfront apartments available. Over the next few years, tenants should be able to compare many more buildings, negotiate harder and reject overpriced units more easily.

The apartments that stand out through their view, layout, building quality, service charges, furnishing or location should still find tenants. Generic units bought at ambitious off-plan prices will have a tougher time, particularly if their owners expect yesterday’s rents to keep rising automatically.

RAK can keep growing quickly while rental investing becomes harder. Right now, that is the most plausible outcome.

Fact-checked and reviewed by our local expert

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Jean-Charles Salvin 🇫🇷

Co-Founder, Best Dubai Condos

With over 13 years of real estate expertise, Jean-Charles co-founded BestDubaiCondos to help clients navigate the dynamic property market across the UAE. Whether it’s Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or any other thriving emirate, Jean-Charles is a trusted advisor for making smart, strategic property investments in the UAE. We spoke with him at the final stage of writing this blog posts and used his ideas to fix, expand, and personalize the content.

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