The real estate boom in Abu Dhabi and Dubai is reverberating across the rest of the Gulf.

Robust sales, rising values and growing investor demand are evident for both residential and commercial properties throughout the region, Markaz, the Kuwait Financial Centre, says in a newly issued report.

In the first quarter of 2025, the UAE real estate market led the region with transaction values reaching $65 billion. Dubai sales increased 30% from the same period in 2024.

Reviewing Saudi Arabia’s property market, Markaz noted the 37% increase in first-quarter sales compared to the previous year and a 4.3% increase in the real estate price index.

Citing lower interest rates, government fiscal support and sustained state investment in economic diversification, Markaz found signs that Kuwait’s real estate is rebounding, though the office market remains flat. Overall, first quarter property sales rose 45% to $2.6 billion from the year-ago quarter, the report said.

Investors in the UAE are showing greater interest in Indian markets.

To cultivate Emirati business, Kotak International, the global arm of India’s third-largest private lender Kotak Mahindra, said it plans to launch India-focused retail funds in the UAE.

Kotak announced on Monday that it’s been granted a license by the UAE’s Securities & Commodities Authority to sell investment funds and portfolios to onshore retail investors, the first Indian firm authorized for such sales.

Shyam Kumar, President of Kotak International, told Reuters that India’s young working population is appealing for foreign investors. “India has got a story which is extremely wide and diversified,” Kumar said.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bid a lucrative goodbye to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta stock after the tech company’s shares rose 28% in the second quarter.

The divestment by the $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund from Facebook’s corporate parent was one of the PIF’s biggest exits, according to a Bloomberg analysis of its latest 13F U.S. regulatory filing.

The Riyadh-based fund, which leads the kingdom’s efforts to diversify the economy from its historic dependence on oil revenues, also sold off holdings in FedEx, Shopify and Alibaba during the quarter ended June 30.

While divesting from Meta, the PIF made new investments in Uber and Lucid Group, as well as in video-game makers Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive Software, which now rank among the fund’s top holdings.

The PIF, meanwhile, cut the value of Neom, Red Sea Global and other mega-projects by 12% or $8 billion last year, amid lower oil prices and broad efforts to address the kingdom’s fiscal deficit, Bloomberg reported this week.

Saudia Airlines is talking with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet to more than 140 of its aircraft.

If signed, the deal would mark SpaceX’s entry into the Gulf’s largest economy, even as local rival Neo Space Group races to develop its own in-flight service, Bloomberg reports.

While Saudia, the country’s flagship airline, did not comment on the news, its chief guest experience officer, Rossen Dimitrov, said in a post on LinkedIn that he recently toured SpaceX’s industrial complex in Texas to explore “the exciting future they are bringing to aviation.”

Starlink’s airline service follows a subscription model, with upfront hardware costs of $300,000 to $500,000 per plane plus a monthly fee per seat.

SpaceX is also in talks with Emirates, Flydubai, and Gulf Air, the news agency added. 

Wall Street investment firms, corporate law firms and business conglomerates are lining up for scarce premium office space in Riyadh.

Responding to Saudi Arabia’s ongoing campaign to attract international business, the government reported that 616 international companies established their regional headquarters in the capital city during the first quarter of 2025, an 8% jump from the previous quarter.

Saudi Minister of Media Salman Al-Dosari also said at a press conference that the kingdom’s efforts to promote startups are paying off, with commercial registrations up 13% to 1.7 million by mid-2025.

The Saudi government established a policy this year, requiring international firms to maintain a regional headquarters in the kingdom as a prerequisite for winning state contracts.

The $5 billion in assets held by Gulf sovereign wealth funds is providing a soft cushion against ping-ponging regional conflicts from Gaza to Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and the rainbow of UAE sovereign funds, such as Mubadala and the Investment Corp. of Dubai keep building their influence in global markets despite the nearby mayhem, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in a broad examination of the phenomenon.

Among the geopolitical shocks this year was Iran’s missile barrage in June at an American air base in Qatar. Just hours after one of the most direct attacks on U.S. assets in the Middle East in years, it was business as usual in the capital city of Doha and its financial markets, the news agency said.

The Middle East, according to the BlackRock Investment Institute, finds itself at the intersection of three “mega forces” affecting investing now: geopolitical fragmentation, the energy transition and artificial intelligence, Ben Powell, BlackRock’s chief investment strategist for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, tells Bloomberg.

“We are back to feeling quite constructive,” Powell says, “while of course being appropriately nervous and watchful around the geopolitical risk, which is ongoing, real and unpredictable.”

Dubai expects to turn heads at Germany’s Gamescom 2025 next week when it unveils the first gaming pavilion sponsored by a Middle East government.

The emirate wants to use the world’s biggest gaming event to showcase its $1 billion effort to rank among the world’s top 10 gaming hubs by 2033, Arabian Business reports.

“Our presence at Gamescom underscores the strength of an ecosystem that combines innovation, education, advanced technology, and talent development,” Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture, said in a statement.

Some 350 gaming companies have set up shop in Dubai, 12% of them part of major global tech firms, the news site said.

Wynn resorts is in the midst of building the UAE’s first casino in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which is due to open in 2027.

AI firms that have raised billions of dollars from Gulf sovereign wealth funds and state-owned companies are running into trouble.

Many are discovering the pitfalls of required local partnerships and the difficulty of building and running data centers in the region, The Information reports.

AI chipmaker Groq, for instance, got a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Aramco but later had to cut its revenue projections because of the lack of data capacity in the region.

Rival Cerebras made what proved to be onerous concessions to Abu Dhabi’s G42 as part of a $300 million investment deal, the online news platform said.

In spite of the problems, foreign AI companies continue to seek cash from the Mideast’s biggest funds, The Information said.