Dubai's programme for Emirati brokers: targets, partners and results

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Kooky

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Dubai's brokerage trade is large and young. Dubai Land Department data reported by the Government of Dubai Media Office on 9 March 2026 counted 32,294 registered brokers at the end of 2025, of whom 13,083 had joined during that year. Inside that crowd, the department has been running a separate effort since 2024: a programme reserved for citizens of the United Arab Emirates, built to bring more of them into a profession in which, by the department's own account, they held about one place in twenty.

This guide sets out what that programme is, as its sponsors and the press have described it. It covers the launch and its two phases, the target for the share of Emirati brokers, the link with the Dubai Social Agenda 33, the agreements signed with developers and brokerages, the training and the card, the registration form, the incentive announced for firms, the incubator for citizens who want their own brokerage, and every figure published since. It describes the position as read in October 2026. Every rule and number here belongs to the Emirate of Dubai, and each is attributed to the body that published it, with its date. Where the sources are silent or do not agree, the guide says so.

Target: Government of Dubai Media Office, 28 April 2024. Partners and transactions: Dubai Land Department figures as reported by Khaleej Times, 29 June 2025.

What the department launched, and when

The Dubai Real Estate Brokers Programme is run by the Dubai Land Department. The Media Office release of 31 March 2024 says the programme was launched to increase citizen participation in the real estate market and to encourage citizens to take part in real estate activities.

None of the official pages read for this guide gives the day of the launch. The nearest marker comes from the Media Office release of 28 April 2024, which says the department had received more than 1,000 registrations from Emirati citizens "since mid-March". The first dated event is the signing of 31 March 2024, when the department announced agreements with nine developers.

The same April release lists four components of the programme:

• licensing of Emirati real estate brokers;
• allocation of developer sales to Emirati brokers;
• empowerment of citizens in the real estate sector;
• fostering a UAE business group for real estate brokerage.

The first concerns the person: training and a broker card. The second concerns the work: a share of developers' projects to be sold through Emirati brokers. The third and fourth are stated as aims, and the release describes no mechanism for either.

The target: from 5 per cent to 15 per cent

The programme has one headline number. In the release of 28 April 2024, the Media Office says the proportion of Emirati real estate brokers will rise from 5 per cent to 15 per cent over three years. The department's acting director general at the time, Marwan bin Ghalita, is quoted there: "Emirati real estate brokers will increase from 5% to 15% over the next three years."

Three years from April 2024 runs to April 2027. Khaleej Times, on 29 June 2025, described the aim in almost the same words, as raising the share of Emiratis in real estate brokerage to 15 per cent within three years, without saying from which date the three years are counted.

A share is harder to move than a headcount, because the total moves too. A worked example: assume the register stayed at its end-2025 size of 32,294 brokers, the figure the Media Office reported in March 2026. Five per cent of that register is about 1,615 brokers (32,294 multiplied by 0.05). Fifteen per cent is about 4,844 (32,294 multiplied by 0.15). On that assumption the target would mean about 3,229 more Emirati brokers than the starting share implies. These are illustrative figures, not published ones: the 5 per cent baseline was stated in April 2024, when the register was a different size, and the register took in 13,083 new brokers in 2025 alone.

No source read for this guide gives the share reached at any later date. The only measure of progress published as a proportion is the one Khaleej Times reported in June 2025: the number of qualified Emirati brokers had reached more than 180 per cent of the annual target. The annual target itself is not stated in that article, so the percentage cannot be turned into a number of people.

The link with the Dubai Social Agenda 33

The department's 2024 releases place the programme under two of the emirate's long-term plans.

The first is the Dubai Social Agenda 33, which the April 2024 release says was launched under the theme "Family: The Foundation of Our Nation". The goal the department cites from it is to triple the number of citizens employed in the private sector. The department's release of 10 October 2024 goes further and describes the programme as part of the Dubai Social Agenda 33.

The second is the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which, according to the April 2024 release, aims to integrate 65,000 members of the new Emirati generation into the labour market.

Those references explain the design. A brokerage office is a private business, so a programme that moves citizens into brokerage counts towards a private-sector employment goal in a way that a government post would not. The programme accordingly has two exits, described further down: joining a company as a broker, or obtaining a national broker licence. The March 2024 releases write the social plan's name as "Dubai Social Agenda 2033"; it is the same plan.

Developer agreements, the quota and the partner list

The partner side of the programme began with developers. On 31 March 2024 the department announced what it called the first phase of a series of strategic partnerships, signed by its acting director general with officials of nine companies. The releases of the department and of the Media Office name them: Emaar Properties, Expo Dubai, Deyaar, DAMAC Properties, Azizi Developments, MAG, Sobha Realty, Ellington Properties and Al Bait Al Duwaliy Real Estate Development.

The clause that drew attention is the quota. Both releases word it the same way: efforts will be made to allocate a quota of 10 to 15 per cent of the developers' projects to be sold through Emirati brokers. The April release puts it slightly differently, saying developers are to allocate 10 to 15 per cent of their sales to be marketed by Emirati brokers.

The difference between the two wordings matters. "Efforts will be made" is a statement of intent, and "projects" is not the same base as "sales". None of the releases says how the share is measured, whether by number of units, by value or by project, over what period, or what follows if it is not reached. No published figure shows what share any of the nine companies has in fact placed with Emirati brokers.

A worked example of the range, if it were applied to value: on an assumed AED 1 billion of projects in a year, between AED 100 million (10 per cent) and AED 150 million (15 per cent) would be offered through Emirati brokers. These are illustrative figures, not any company's record.

The agreements contain more than the quota. According to the March 2024 releases, the developers also undertake to design and carry out joint projects with the department, to provide job opportunities for national talent in line with existing labour laws, and to work with the department on guidance, professional training and support for citizens, including help for those who want to establish their own real estate businesses. In return, the April release lists what it calls support packages for partners, in four general lines: development of quality projects, joint projects for the sector's growth, promotion of innovation and sustainability, and guidance and vocational training for citizens. No financial benefit to a partner is described.

The March 2024 releases announced that later phases would add developers and real estate brokers, and the published count rose at each step. On 28 April 2024 the Media Office reported 25 strategic alliances with development and brokerage companies. On 10 October 2024 the department said the partners had grown to 50, with 21 new members, developers and brokers among them. On 29 June 2025 Khaleej Times reported that the department had held more than 10 meetings and gatherings with 71 strategic allies.

Two details of these counts do not close neatly, and both are shown here as published. The October 2024 figure of 50 partners with 21 new members implies 29 before that phase (50 minus 21), while the April release had counted 25; the sources do not say when the other four joined. And Khaleej Times breaks its 71 allies into 26 real estate development companies, 38 brokerage firms and four training and qualification institutes, which add up to 68. The article does not describe the remaining three.

The breakdown does show a change in the mix. The first nine partners were all presented as developers. By June 2025, as reported, brokerage firms were the largest group, at 38 against 26 developers. Apart from the first nine developers, the partners are not named in any of the sources read.

Training and the broker card

Training was the first thing the programme delivered. The April 2024 release says more than 15 training workshops were scheduled through the end of that year, and that the first course was hosted by the New Economy Academy. It gives the workshops four purposes: to qualify participants for real estate broker licences, to open employment opportunities, to teach best practices and ethics, and to streamline buying, selling and leasing processes. The release places them inside what it calls the "Rehabilitation Project" in the brokerage sector, without describing that project further.

Khaleej Times reported in June 2025 that the department had run specialised courses with accredited academic institutions, and that graduates receive an official real estate broker card valid for three years. That last point sits beside a different statement on the department's own service page for the real estate practice card, which says a card's validity is linked to the validity of the trade licence. The two are not reconciled in any source read: the newspaper describes the programme's card as a three-year card, and the service page describes cards in general as following a licence.

Several things about the training are not published. None of the releases gives the length of a course in hours or days, its syllabus, whether it ends in the department's broker exam, or what it costs a participant. None says that a participant is paid, that any fee is waived, or that a commission rate is guaranteed. The second-phase launch of 10 October 2024 included introductory workshops on the programme, its benefits, how to join and its strategic partners.

How a citizen registers

The entry point is a service page of the Dubai Land Department. It states that the service is "only for UAE nationals and who do not hold a broker license". A citizen who already holds one is therefore outside the programme as the page words it, and non-citizens have no route into it.

Khaleej Times described the route in June 2025 as logging in with UAE Pass, the national digital identity, and then requesting to join the training course. The form on the department's page, as read in October 2026, runs in five stages:

1. Validation: the applicant enters an Emirates ID number and a date of birth.
2. Details: the applicant chooses between "Get National Broker License" and "Join Real Estate company as Broker", states their employment status and place of work, gives their highest qualification and an email address.
3. Documents: a CV is uploaded as a jpg, jpeg, png or pdf file of no more than 2MB.
4. Verification: the applicant is verified with a one-time code.
5. Confirmation: the page shows that the request has been submitted, with a reference number.

The form's first choice sets the direction: employment in an existing brokerage, or a licence in the citizen's own name. The page does not explain how the two paths differ after registration, in training, in cost or in time.

In October 2026 the form was not accepting new applicants. The page said that the required number of participants for the second phase had been reached and that registration for that phase was closed, and it pointed to the department's official channels for announcements about further phases. No date for a third phase appears on it.

The numbers published since

The department and the press have published figures on four occasions. Put in order, they are the only public record of what the programme has produced.

The first phase can be read from the first two rows: more than 1,000 registrations by late April 2024, and more than 500 broker cards by October. Both figures are stated as "more than", and the department does not present them as a ratio.

The department also said in October 2024 that Emirati brokers had completed transactions totalling AED 200 million. By the end of April 2025, according to Khaleej Times, transactions since the launch had exceeded AED 500 million, two and a half times the earlier figure (500 divided by 200). The same article reported that 231 new brokerage firms had been licensed since the launch; it does not say who owns them.

The March 2026 release is the least precise. It says the market recorded a notable increase in the number of Emirati brokers and in their successful transactions, which it describes as worth billions of dirhams, and gives no count, no value and no share.

Two cautions apply to all of these figures. They are transaction values, not what the brokers earned; the AED 13.59 billion that the Media Office reported for brokerage commissions in 2025 is a different measure and cannot be set against them. And none of the sources says how a transaction is attributed to an Emirati broker when several brokers are involved in one deal.

The programme's partner list is documented at four dates. The share of Emirati brokers, the number the target is written in, has been published once, at the start.

Points for firms that employ Emiratis

The programme's one published incentive for employers is not money. Khaleej Times reported on 29 June 2025 that the Dubai Land Department would introduce an incentive points system for brokerage firms that employ Emirati citizens. Firms employing more Emiratis would receive a higher ranking in the department's approved evaluation system, which, the department was reported as saying, would strengthen their competitive position in the market.

The article presents the system as part of the Dubai Real Estate Broker Programme. It does not give the number of points per employee, the date from which the system applies, or what a higher ranking brings in practice.

A wider effort sits behind this. On 14 September 2026 the department published the results of the Real Estate Empowerment Programme, which it runs with the Emirati Human Resources Development Council in Dubai, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and Nafis. That statement says the programme created more than 2,100 employment opportunities for Emiratis in real estate between 2023 and 2026, its first initiatives having been launched in 2023. It is a figure for jobs in real estate, not a count of brokers, so it is not part of the same series.

From broker to firm owner: the incubator

For citizens who choose the licence path, the department added a second scheme. The Media Office release of 9 March 2026 names it the Real Estate Brokers Incubator Programme, launched by the department with Dubai Silicon Oasis and several academic partners. Its stated purpose is to help Emirati brokers move from working individually to founding fully integrated brokerage companies.

Gulf News, in an article last updated on 12 May 2026, reported the opening of a second phase aimed at 25 additional UAE nationals who want to establish locally owned brokerage firms. As the newspaper describes it, the programme lasts six months, registration was open until 25 May, and the partners are Dubai Silicon Oasis, New Economy Academy and Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai. The training covers the legal, regulatory, operational, marketing and financial sides of running a brokerage, along with technology and artificial intelligence, professional standards and ethics. Participants also receive mentorship.

The chief executive of the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, Abdullah Ahmed Al Shehhi, is quoted in that article: "The first phase highlighted the strong potential of Emirati talent." The article gives no number of first-phase participants and no count of firms founded through it.

The incubator is small beside the main programme: 25 places in its second phase, against 1,000 in the second phase of the brokers programme. The first produces firm owners; the second, card holders.

Beside the ordinary broker card route

The programme does not replace the standard route into the profession. It runs next to it.

The department's practice card service page lists 13 activities for which a card is issued. The real estate broker card and the national broker card are two separate entries on that list, and both are priced at AED 500. The same page puts the broker exam at AED 700, plus a knowledge fee of AED 10 and an innovation fee of AED 10. Its conditions are a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police and a pass in what the page calls the annual test to practise the mediation profession. The application is made on Trakheesi, the department's licensing system, and the card is issued as an e-card.

Set against that page, the programme changes the way in, not the published price of the card. A citizen in the programme enters through a dedicated form, in a cohort, with workshops arranged by the department and partner companies on the other side. The service page shows no lower fee for the national broker card, and no source read says that programme participants are exempt from the exam or from its fee. The page's three exam exemptions, for individuals over 55, for brokers with five consecutive years in the same office and for holders of a start-up licence, are not tied to the programme.

Nothing in the sources closes the ordinary route to citizens either. The programme's page excludes only those who already hold a broker licence, and its registration has been closed since the second phase filled.

What the published sources leave open

Several points could not be confirmed from the pages read for this guide.

The launch date. Registrations are counted "since mid-March" 2024. No exact day is given.

The current share. The 5 per cent starting point and the 15 per cent target are published. The share reached since is not, and neither is a count of Emirati brokers on the register.

The quota in practice. No source reports how much of any developer's projects or sales has been placed with Emirati brokers.

Money. No source read mentions a salary subsidy, a fee waiver, a grant or a set commission for participants.

The next phase. The department's page says further phases will be announced on its official channels. It gives no date.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →