Al Marjan Island Area Guide 2026

Updated 13 August 2026 · By the Cresco local market team

Al Marjan Island is four coral shaped man made islands off the Ras Al Khaimah coast, and it is the single most talked about address in the northern emirates. It holds the highest capital values in Ras Al Khaimah, it accounts for more than half of the emirate’s live sales listings, and in September 2027 it gets the first licensed casino resort in the United Arab Emirates. It is also an apartment heavy, off plan heavy, investor heavy market with thin resale depth. This guide gives you both halves.

What Al Marjan Island actually is

Four man made islands, named Breeze, Treasure, Dream and View, extending 4.5 km into the Arabian Gulf and adding 23 km of waterfront. Total area is around 2.7 million square metres. Reclamation began in 2004 and the island opened in 2013. The master developer is Marjan, which is backed by the Ras Al Khaimah government.

You will see the island described as 115 acres on some portals. That is wrong. 2.7 million square metres is roughly 667 acres.

Wynn Al Marjan Island, the facts

Prices

Two respected firms give apartment figures about 5% apart. That is a methodology difference, not an error, and we would rather show you both than average them into a number nobody published.

Al Marjan outperforms the emirate. RAK apartments overall grew 5.8% year on year in the same quarter. Al Marjan grew 9.4%. That gap of roughly 3.6 percentage points is the clearest measurable evidence of the Wynn effect that exists in published research.

But momentum has paused. Al Marjan apartments were flat quarter on quarter in Q2 2026, and the wider RAK index fell 0.5%.

Rents and yield

• Apartments let at around AED 65.14 per square foot per year, villas at around AED 40.97 (Cavendish Maxwell, Q1 2026)
• Against the same source’s capital values that works out at roughly 5.3% gross on apartments and about 4.0% gross on villas. Those two percentages are our arithmetic from published figures, not published figures themselves, and we label them that way deliberately
• The 5.3% apartment result matches ValuStrat’s emirate wide yield exactly, which is a good sign
• Rents rose about 6% on apartments and 5% on villas between October 2025 and March 2026

The villa figure matters. At roughly 4% gross, Al Marjan villas sit well under the headline number people quote. Villa stock on the island is very small and the sample is thin, so treat it as indicative, but do not assume villas and apartments perform alike here.

Who is building

• Marjan, the government backed master developer
• Aldar, which launched Nikki Beach Residences in December 2023, around 800 residences community wide with 357 apartments in phase one, and which bought Rixos Bab Al Bahr and the DoubleTree by Hilton on the island in 2022
• Emaar, with Address Residences Al Marjan Island
• Wynn Resorts, with RAK Hospitality Holding
• Existing residential includes Pacific on View Island and Bab Al Bahr Residences on Breeze Island

One correction worth making, because it appears on a lot of listings sites. RAK Properties is not an Al Marjan Island developer. Its portfolio is Mina Al Arab and Hayat Island. Similarly, Ellington’s confirmed RAK project Porto Playa is on Hayat Island, not Al Marjan.

Freehold and residency

Yes, buyers of any nationality can own freehold on Al Marjan Island. It is a designated freehold zone and the master developer confirms that both UAE residents and international buyers can purchase.

The UAE Golden Visa is a federal programme and applies in Ras Al Khaimah exactly as it does in Dubai. The published condition from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism is ownership of one or more properties with a total value of not less than AED 2 million, wholly owned, with comprehensive health insurance in place. The property may be mortgaged if the loan is from an approved local bank.

Getting there

• Dubai International Airport: around 73 km, roughly an hour to an hour and a quarter free flowing
• Dubai Marina: around 100 km, roughly an hour and a half
• Ras Al Khaimah city centre: 15 to 20 minutes
• RAK International Airport: around 28 minutes

These are routing estimates, not measured drive times. Check them yourself on the day and at the hour you would actually travel.

The risks

1. Resale depth. Only around 1,000 ready property transactions took place in the entire emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in 2025, down 18.7% year on year. That is the hardest number in this guide and it is the one to think about before you buy.
2. Rising prices on falling volumes. RAK sales transactions fell 17.4% in 2025 to about 6,600, and total value fell 24.7%, while prices rose. That combination signals thinning liquidity.
3. Supply. 23,900 units land across RAK between 2027 and 2030, peaking at 9,100 in 2029, and 97% are apartments. Al Marjan’s product is overwhelmingly apartments and the island already holds more than half of the emirate’s listings.
4. Buyer concentration. More than 60% of buyers are foreign investors and around 85% of RAK transactions are off plan. Investor led markets move with global sentiment.
5. Service charges. There is no defensible published figure for Al Marjan service charges and Ras Al Khaimah publishes no central index. Get the schedule per project, in writing, from the developer.

Al Marjan Island questions, answered

Can a foreigner buy freehold on Al Marjan Island?

Yes. Al Marjan Island is a designated freehold zone in Ras Al Khaimah and buyers of any nationality can own outright. Ras Al Khaimah was the second emirate in the UAE to open its market to foreign buyers. Confirm the designation of the specific plot with RAK Municipality as part of your due diligence.

How much does property cost on Al Marjan Island?

Apartments were valued at AED 1,160 per square foot by ValuStrat in Q2 2026 and AED 1,219 by Cavendish Maxwell in Q1 2026. Median apartment capital value was AED 928,000. Villas were around AED 1,034 per square foot, though villa stock on the island is very limited.

What rental yield does Al Marjan Island pay?

Roughly 5.3% gross on apartments, calculated from Cavendish Maxwell’s Q1 2026 rental and capital values, which matches ValuStrat’s emirate wide figure of 5.3%. Villas work out closer to 4.0% gross. Both are before service charges, agency fees and void periods.

When does the Wynn resort open?

September 2027, confirmed by Wynn Resorts in August 2026. The project now costs approximately 5.7 billion dollars. The date has moved several times from an original 2026 to 2027 target, so build tolerance for further slippage into any investment case that depends on it.

Does buying on Al Marjan Island get me a Golden Visa?

The UAE Golden Visa is federal and applies in Ras Al Khaimah. The published threshold is ownership of property worth not less than AED 2 million in total, wholly owned, with health insurance in place. Whether off plan purchases qualify is not addressed in the published criteria, so confirm that in writing before relying on it.