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Naguib Sawiris is not worried about the Iran war. He is buying more land.
The Egyptian billionaire and chairman of Ora Developers told The National in Abu Dhabi on April 16 that the downturn affecting the UAE property market since the outbreak of hostilities between US-Israeli forces and Iran is a temporary pause rather than a structural reversal, and that current price declines represent a buying opportunity that sophisticated investors should not pass up.
"I am expecting the property market to continue booming," Sawiris told The National. "Once this crisis is off the news, it will return to the previous boom... now, it's a matter of pause."
The comments came as Ora Developers announced the expansion of its Bayn project at Ghantoot, the development zone on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi between the two emirate capitals, to Dh30 billion ($8.17 billion) following the acquisition of additional land from Modon Properties. The acquisition brings the total development area to 9.6 million square metres, making Bayn one of the largest privately led residential and commercial projects in the UAE.
What Bayn is
The project, which Sawiris describes as a "mini city", will feature 16,000 homes alongside business parks, hospitals, schools, retail outlets, offices, shopping malls and a hotel. Its strategic location along the Abu Dhabi-Dubai corridor is central to the commercial proposition: residents can commute to either city while living in a purpose-built community that Sawiris believes will set a new standard for integrated urban development in the Emirates.
"The second plot we want to do in a way that adds value to the first plot," Sawiris told The National. "People will speak of Ghantoot city, a new city between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. You can work in Abu Dhabi and live here, you can work in Dubai and live here."
Construction of the first phase began in 2025, and the company recorded Dh2.7 billion ($735 million) in sales that year. Ora Developers is targeting approximately $1 billion in sales for 2026, a target Sawiris indicated the company remains confident of hitting despite the softness in the broader market.
The pause he is betting against
The UAE property sector entered 2026 in strong form. In the first quarter of the year, Dubai real estate transactions surged 31% year-on-year to Dh252 billion, with 60,303 transactions sealed, a 6% increase on the prior period. Government reforms including expanded residency permits for retirees and remote workers, and the broadening of the 10-year golden visa programme, have underpinned demand, particularly in the luxury segment.
But the Iran conflict, which broke out in late February 2026, has introduced uncertainty. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, disrupting shipping lanes and elevating geopolitical risk across the Gulf. Drone and missile attacks targeting Gulf states, including the UAE, have rattled some investors. In March 2026, Dubai property valuations recorded their first monthly decline since the pandemic, with villa values falling 5.8% month-on-month and apartment values dropping 6.3%, according to property analytics firm ValuStrat.
Sawiris is reading those price moves as an entry point. There is a "pause" in the market with "prices going down", he told The National, and it can only "reflect that it is time to buy. You buy when people are willing to give a discount."
On the Strait and the war
Sawiris was direct on the conflict itself. He told The National he has been "outraged" since it began, saying Iran fired "60 per cent of its weaponry on a peaceful country like Emirates" — an act he attributed to "jealousy, hatred, because the Emirates exposes all other countries and their life values." The UAE, he noted, had thwarted 98% of missile and drone attacks launched from Iran.
On the Strait of Hormuz, he was equally blunt about the timeline he expects: "The Hormuz story cannot be too long. It's a short film, because nobody can afford to keep that ongoing," he told The National, adding that the matter would "end peacefully amid talks or Iran's defeat."
His confidence in the UAE's longer-term trajectory rested on what he described as the country's fundamental appeal as a destination. "Which country will compete with all of that?" he asked. "Which country will give you that regardless of your religion, your colour, where you come from?"
Who Sawiris is
Naguib Sawiris was born on June 15, 1954, in Cairo, the eldest son of the late Egyptian industrialist Onsi Sawiris. He studied mechanical engineering and administration at ETH Zurich. His fortune was built primarily through telecommunications: he led the $15 billion leveraged buyout of Wind Telecomunicazioni, Italy's 3rd largest telecom, in 2005 through his Weather Investments vehicle, and later merged those assets with Vimpelcom in a transaction that created the world's 6th largest mobile operator at the time. Forbes estimates his net worth at approximately $5 billion.
Beyond telecom, Sawiris controls approximately 70% of La Mancha Resources, a gold mining investment vehicle with stakes in Endeavour Mining and Evolution Mining, and holds 88% of Euronews, the pan-European broadcaster. His Ora Developers portfolio spans luxury projects across multiple countries, including Silver Sands in Grenada, Ayia Napa Marina in Cyprus, Eighteen in Islamabad and a planned development in Iraq. The Bayn project at Ghantoot is his most ambitious UAE commitment to date and, at $8.17 billion, his largest single development anywhere.
