Dubai's first tokenised property project sold out within a day of its launch, attracting 224 investors, with 70 per cent of them entering the emirate's real estate market for the first time.
The individual investors, representing 44 nationalities, paid Dh10,714 ($2,917) each on average for the tokenised shares in ready-to-own properties, the Dubai Land Department said in a statement on Thursday.
“As the region's first platform of its kind, the initiative continues to draw significant interest, with the waiting list exceeding 6,000 requests,” the government body said.
“This surge in demand reflects Dubai’s growing appeal to new segments of global investors seeking innovative and accessible property ownership models.”
The DLD developed the project in collaboration with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the Central Bank of the UAE and the Dubai Future Foundation through the Real Estate Sandbox. It is being executed through Prypco Mint.
Currently, only Emirates ID holders will be able to invest in the project before it opens up to international investors in the “near future, with additional platforms to be integrated in later phases”, the DLD said during the official launch of the pilot phase on May 25.
The initiative aims to broaden the real estate investor base while improving transparency and accelerating transaction processes.
The project offers investment opportunities through the purchase of tokenised shares in ready-to-own properties in Dubai, starting from Dh2,000.
All transactions are carried out exclusively in UAE dirhams, with no use of cryptocurrencies during the pilot phase, the DLD had said. Through the platform, investors can access all the property details, including pricing, risk factors, and technical specifications.
DLD is currently working to allow real estate developers to list their projects on the platform, further expanding the initiative’s scope and unlocking opportunities for digital property investment, it said on Thursday.
The project, announced in March, focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain, helping to streamline the process of buying, selling and investing.
Real estate tokenisation enables fractional property ownership, where each asset is divided into shares based on investors' budget and financial strategy. This allows investors to acquire a portion of a property without fully purchasing it.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is forecast to reach Dh60 billion by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to government data.
