Emaar’s mall footfall down 10 per cent due to Iran war, says Alabbar

Footfall and retail sales at Emaar’s malls have fallen by about 10 per cent and hotel occupancy has dropped sharply as the Iran war weighs on tourism and consumer spending in Dubai, Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar said on Thursday.

“In our mall business, we are 10 per cent less in traffic. We were growing 10 per cent per year for the last five years,” Mr Alabbar told the Bloomberg Invest event in Dubai. He did not specify which malls were affected or over what period.

He also said retail was down about 10 per cent after growing by a similar percentage annually in recent years. The hospitality business was affected too, with occupancy levels falling to about 65 per cent from 80 per cent, he added.

The war, which started in late February with attacks by the US and Israel on Iran, has affected sectors in the UAE including property, tourism and aviation.

The countries have yet to reach an agreement to end the war, now in its ninth month. However, US President Donald Trump has hinted that he is not planning to resume the bombing campaign as he faces calls to wind down the conflict after his party's defeat in last week's midterm elections.

Mr Alabbar said the company was not slowing down its development activity, with construction continuing and projects being delivered ahead of time.

“Development contractors are moving on time … material coming in … cost increasing about 5 per cent, which is OK,” he said.

However, the company is “holding back” on tendering a big tower until the regional situation cools down. He did not provide further details on the new project.

In June, Emaar Properties announced an “extraordinary” Dh200 billion ($55 billion) megaproject in Dubai, set to house nearly 150,000 people.

The master plan, spread across more than 4.5 million square metres, is to feature residential towers, villas and mansions, Grade-A commercial offices, shops, luxury hospitality and other amenities.

“It will all depend on what happens between Donald Trump and the Iranian leadership. That's really the key to everything, and [if] that happens in one month, I think the market will take 12 months, and then [it] will be in good shape,” Mr Alabbar said.

He is also betting big on India, which he said “will be a major [market] for us” in the next five years as part of the company's global expansion plans. Emaar already has a presence in the country with projects in Gurugram, Mohali and other cities.

The company will continue to grow in the Middle East, including the UAE, Egypt and Syria.

Mr Alabbar’s developer Eagle Hills is working on two major projects in Syria, including a residential and tourism development, as part of a framework agreement the company signed with the Syrian government in October.

Data centres and Anthropic investment

Damac Properties founder and chairman Hussain Sajwani also spoke during the Bloomberg Invest event, outlining global expansion plans of the company.

Damac is looking to expand in the UK and Australia with new data centre projects, after announcing $20 billion of investment in US data centres last year.

The company is present in 14 countries and “we are in serious negotiations in the UK for a big parcel of land. We are in serious negotiation in Australia for a big parcel of land”, Mr Sajwani said. The company hopes to reach 10 gigawatts of capacity by the end of next year.

“Our focus is on large data centres, which are 100MW and above. We go into where the large populations are, so the US, the EU and Asia.”

The company also has investments in AI firm Anthropic and is making a lot of money from them, he said.

“What I have made in 30 years [since starting his business], I made in Anthropic in less than two years. At [an] $18 billion valuation, it is going public at $1.4 trillion.”

Last week, Anthropic reported revenue of nearly $17 billion in the period ending September 30, as investors brace for its potentially record-breaking IPO.

The maker of Claude, a family of large language models and an AI chatbot, reported $33.24 billion in revenue for the nine months ending on September 30.

“Between only three companies, OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic, we're making [a] few billion dollars a month.”

Mr Sajwani also spoke about Nvidia and its chief executive Jensen Huang, who is embroiled in controversy over alleged extramarital affairs.

“If he is forced to depart, it will be [a] big loss for the world, not for America, for the world. This guy has done a great job.”