Editor’s note: As featured in REM Times · Print edition · Takeaways from the feature are expanded on below
Dubai closed the first quarter of 2026 with AED 252 billion in real estate transactions, up 31% year-on-year. Abu Dhabi posted AED 66 billion, a 160.7% jump. The UAE market isn’t just growing, it’s accelerating. And according to Sabya Sen, VP and Head of IMEA & APAC at Alteryx, that pace is changing what it takes to win as a developer.
In a recent feature for REM Times, Sabya makes the case that spotting opportunity is no longer the hard part, it’s predicting how the market will respond once you act.
Why forecasting became non-negotiable
In the UAE’s off-plan market, developers routinely sell units months or years before a project is finished. That means pricing, inventory releases, construction sequencing, and cash flow planning all depend on demand that hasn’t happened yet.
“Because sales are secured well before completion, developers must make decisions based on projected demand and absorption rates months or even years in advance.”
Sabya Sen, VP and Head of IMEA & APAC, Alteryx
Get that forecast wrong, and the effects compound: mispriced units, too much or too little inventory released at once, and slower reactions to what’s actually happening on the ground.
From fragmented data to real-time intelligence
Sabya points to a familiar problem — critical data spread across CRM systems, broker networks, market intelligence platforms, construction schedules, and finance tools, with little talking to each other. The shift he’s tracking is developers consolidating that sprawl into integrated platforms that turn disconnected information into real-time business intelligence.
Research shows AI-enabled forecasting can:
- Reduce forecasting errors by 20–50%
- Improve construction productivity by 14–15%
- Reduce costs by up to 6%
Real-time decision making is the new baseline
With multiple large projects launching in parallel across the market, catching shifts in buyer behavior early before they surface in headline transaction data is becoming a defining trait of successful developers.
“Developers will increasingly rely on real-time data and scenario modelling to test multiple outcomes rather than depend on a single forecast.”
Sabya Sen, VP and Head of IMEA & APAC, Alteryx
Key takeaways
- UAE developers are increasingly relying on forecasting to guide project decisions.
- AI-powered analytics improve both accuracy and speed of decision-making.
- Integrated data platforms provide deeper market and operational insight.
- Real-time intelligence is becoming a key competitive differentiator.
- Forecast-driven strategies help reduce risk and improve project performance.
Where this leaves developers
The throughline across Sabya’s comments is a simple one: the developers who out-perform over the next cycle won’t necessarily be the ones with the biggest pipelines, they’ll be the ones who can see further down the road.
As launches multiply and buyer behavior shifts faster than quarterly reports can capture, forecast intelligence stops being a nice-to-have analytics layer and starts being the thing that determines whether a launch is priced right, staffed right, and timed right.
That’s the conversation we’re having with developers across the region right now, not “should we invest in forecasting,” but “how fast can we get from fragmented data to a single, trustworthy view of what’s coming next.”
REM Times: Forecast Intelligence: The New Competitive Edge for UAE Developers