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How to Start a Real Estate Valuation Services Business in Dubai with Meydan Free Zone
Real estate valuation is the professional business of assessing what a property is worth, for sales, purchases, mortgage lending, accounting and dispute resolution. In Dubai it is a foundational service, because every financed transaction and many corporate and legal processes depend on a credible valuation.
Demand tracks the wider market, which is substantial. Dubai recorded around 226,000 real estate transactions worth AED 761 billion in 2024. 1 Mortgage lending, which relies on valuation, reached a record 36,600 registered loans in the same year, up 30.2 per cent, and continued to grow into 2026. 2
Average values across the emirate reached roughly AED 1,916 per square foot for apartments and AED 1,594 for villas. 3
For qualified valuers, the volume of financed and corporate transactions makes valuation a consistently demanded activity to hold under a Meydan Free Zone business license, subject to the approval noted below.
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Why Valuation Demand Tracks the Market
Every financed purchase and many corporate processes need a credible valuation. The figures below show the transaction and lending volumes that drive valuation demand.
Sources: Cavendish Maxwell; Dubai Land Department; Driven Properties
Who Is This Activity For?
6820.94 - Real Estate Valuation Services
Activity 6820.94 sits within the broader Real Estate Activities on a Fee or Contract Basis class, which expressly includes appraisal services for real estate. Within that class, this activity is the valuation function: producing a professional opinion of a property's value for a defined purpose.
The activity is valuation. It does not extend to brokering the sale of the property, advising on investment strategy, or managing the property, which are separate licensed activities, as the exclusions below make clear.
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It is important to note what valuation services do not cover. Assessing a property's value is distinct from brokering its sale, which is a separate licensed activity. It also does not extend to general investment advice or to managing the property on the owner's behalf, both of which are licensed under their own activities.
In short: if you are producing a professional opinion of value, you are in. If you are brokering the sale, advising on strategy, or managing the property, those are separate activities.
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Compliance
THIRD-PARTY APPROVAL
This activity requires pre-approval from the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) before a business license can be issued by Meydan Free Zone. This license cannot be combined with other activities except those within RERA Activity Group 3.
ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING COMPLIANCE
This business activity is not subject to AML compliance requirements.
References
1 Dubai Land Department. Dubai's real estate sector records AED 761 billion in transactions in 2024.
2 Cavendish Maxwell. Dubai Residential Market Performance 2024: mortgage lending reaches record 36,600 loans.
3 Driven Properties. Dubai real estate market guide: average prices per square foot.
