Construction and real estate players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases
Who the players are by region, what changed from 2024 to 2026 (including Gulf giga-projects, framed neutrally), regulation basics, prompts, traps and drills.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Construction and real estateFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Construction and real estate cases usually ask whether to build or buy, how to fix a loss-making contractor, how to value or reposition a property, or how to deliver a large public project.
- Common traps: Treating a developer and an owner as the same business.
- Dubai: real estate transactions reached about AED 917 billion in 2025, up about 20 percent on 2024, with more than 270,000 transactions (Dubai government figures).
- Interest rates: higher rates from 2022 raised cap rates and lowered property values in many markets, and made development finance more expensive.
Key idea
Construction and real estate cases usually ask whether to build or buy, how to fix a loss-making contractor, how to value or reposition a property, or how to deliver a large public project. Start with who carries which risk, then with the few numbers that drive value: cost, price or rent, occupancy and cap rate.
| Region | Developers and owners | Contractors and materials |
|---|---|---|
| Gulf | Emaar and Dubai Holding (Dubai), Aldar (Abu Dhabi), ROSHN and Dar Al Arkan (Saudi Arabia) | Large local and international contractors; local cement producers |
| India | DLF, Godrej Properties, Lodha; REITs such as Embassy Office Parks REIT and Mindspace Business Parks REIT | Larsen and Toubro, Tata Projects; UltraTech Cement |
| Singapore and wider Asia | CapitaLand, listed S-REITs, Sun Hung Kai Properties (Hong Kong) | Samsung C&T (Korea), China State Construction Engineering |
| Europe | Vonovia (German housing), listed property companies and funds | Vinci, Bouygues, ACS and Hochtief; Holcim and Heidelberg Materials |
| United States | Prologis (logistics real estate), many REITs | Bechtel, many regional contractors |
| Africa | Local developers and pension fund investors | Local contractors and Chinese contractors on infrastructure; Dangote Cement (Nigeria) |
So-what
In the Gulf, many large developers are owned or backed by governments or sovereign funds, so national plans shape what gets built.
Trends 2024 to 2026 (checked 28 September 2026)
- Dubai: real estate transactions reached about AED 917 billion in 2025, up about 20 percent on 2024, with more than 270,000 transactions (Dubai government figures).
- Offices: Cushman & Wakefield's US report for the second quarter of 2026 says national office vacancy fell slightly, by 0.1 percentage points over the year, and declined in over half of US markets, while new office completions slowed to a 14-year low. Demand has moved to newer, better-located buildings, while many older offices struggle.
- Interest rates: higher rates from 2022 raised cap rates and lowered property values in many markets, and made development finance more expensive.
- Gulf giga-projects: Saudi Arabia's very large projects have been reviewed and reprioritized. AGBI reported in July 2026 that NEOM had rewritten its public pitch for The Line after engineering complexity, costs and execution forced a rethink, and now describes a "phased, demand-led approach". In a case, treat such projects as large, long programs with phasing decisions, not as fixed plans.
- Logistics and data centres: warehouses and data centres remained among the strongest asset types, driven by e-commerce and cloud computing.
- Supply chains: the 2026 shipping disruption around the Strait of Hormuz affected the flow of imported materials and equipment into some Gulf ports (see the Logistics module).
Regulation basics
- Planning and permits: zoning rules decide what can be built where; permits and inspections for safety.
- Buyer protection: many markets require off-plan buyers' money to go into project escrow accounts, for example under India's Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016 (RERA) and Dubai's escrow rules.
- REIT rules: REITs must pay out most of their income to investors (commonly around 90 percent) in exchange for tax benefits, as in India and Singapore.
- Foreign ownership: some countries limit who can buy property or land, or allow it only in certain zones.
- Building codes and sustainability: fire, structural and energy rules; green building ratings such as LEED and Estidama (Abu Dhabi).
- PPP laws: rules on how governments tender, pay for and supervise partnership projects.
Typical case prompts and how to crack them
| Prompt | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|
| A contractor is losing money on its projects | Project margin = contract value minus cost; by project and cost line; claims and variations | Bid accuracy versus actual cost on the worst projects |
| Should a developer launch a new tower in Riyadh? | Demand, price, total cost, timing, financing, pre-sales, competing supply | Expected sale price versus total cost per square metre |
| A REIT's value fell 15 percent | Value = NOI divided by cap rate; NOI = occupancy x rent minus costs | Whether the cap rate or the NOI moved |
| Should a government deliver a new metro line as a PPP? | Risk allocation, cost to government over the contract, value for money, market appetite | Which risks the private side can really manage |
| Reposition an older office building with high vacancy | Options: refurbish, convert to homes or hotel, sell; cost and value of each | Value after each option minus its cost |
So-what
In value questions, separate what changed in income (NOI) from what changed in the market's required yield (cap rate). They have very different fixes.
Treating a developer and an owner as the same business. Forgetting that value moves inversely with the cap rate. Ignoring financing costs and the time value of money on long projects. Using the plan's cost estimate with no allowance for overruns. Forgetting that contractors need cash as well as margin. Treating a giga-project as a single yes or no decision instead of a phased program. Giving opinions on politics instead of analysing costs, demand and risk.
Investment and capital project decisions; Government and economic development; Profitability; Mergers, acquisitions, and due diligence; Market study and industry analysis.
A warehouse in India earns net operating income of INR 12 crore a year. Similar warehouses trade at an 8 percent cap rate. What is it worth, in INR crore?
A toll road in Kenya carries 40,000 vehicles a day at an average toll of USD 2. What is its yearly toll revenue, in USD million?
A property's net operating income is unchanged, but its value fell. What most likely happened?
In a PPP paid through availability payments, what is the private company mainly paid for?
Why can a 10 percent construction overrun cut a developer's profit by a third or more?
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