Marwan Dalloul and the billionaire Palestinian-Gulf families building direct real estate platforms across the GCC

The principal-class pivot reshaping GCC real estate

For decades, Palestinian-origin billionaire families operated at the intersection of industrial conglomerates, trading empires, and opportunistic real estate allocations across the Gulf. Their capital was significant but structurally passive, channeled through local partners or minority stakes rather than direct institutional platforms. That model is now undergoing a fundamental transformation.

Marwan Dalloul, president of American Properties (API) in Manhattan and managing partner at Dalfa Group, represents a generation of Levantine principals who are building vertically integrated real estate vehicles capable of deploying capital directly into the GCC's fastest-growing asset classes. His trajectory from family-office stewardship to platform-level architecture mirrors a broader pattern among Palestinian-Gulf dynasties, one that carries profound implications for how cross-border capital is structured in the region.

The scale of the opportunity justifies the shift. According to IMARC Group, the GCC real estate market was valued at USD 141.2 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 260.3 billion by 2034, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 7.03% during the 2026-2034 period. The UAE alone commands over 61.1% of the regional market share, according to the same source. For principal-class investors with multi-generational horizons, the arithmetic favors direct ownership over intermediated exposure.

Why are Levantine billionaire families moving from passive allocations to direct real estate platforms?

The answer lies in structural economics and generational strategy. Passive allocations through third-party funds dilute returns, limit governance influence, and create misalignment between family-office horizons, which often span decades, and typical fund lifecycles of seven to ten years. Direct platforms solve all three problems simultaneously.

Marwan Dalloul's dual positioning illustrates this logic. Through API, he maintains institutional-grade operations in one of the world's most competitive real estate markets, Manhattan. Through Dalfa Group, the family retains a diversified industrial and investment base with deep roots in Levantine and Gulf commercial networks. The combination produces something rare in GCC real estate: a principal who can underwrite, structure, and manage assets without relying on external sponsors.

This is a departure from the traditional Gulf family-office model, which often outsources deal origination and asset management to regional brokerages or global fund managers. The new approach treats real estate as a core operating competency rather than a portfolio allocation. It demands in-house teams, proprietary deal flow, and institutional governance frameworks, precisely the infrastructure that distinguishes a platform from a portfolio.

The pattern extends beyond the Dalloul family. Across the GCC, several Levantine-origin capital architects are occupying pivotal roles in the region's institutional real estate infrastructure. Adib Mattar, co-head of Cain Middle East and head of private equity at Mubadala Capital, is co-heading a new luxury real estate and hospitality fund that channels sovereign-adjacent capital into premium asset classes. Rami Harajli, chief investment officer of International Venture Investments (IVI) Holding, manages a diversified portfolio exceeding USD 5 billion, according to VCCircle. Marwan Bouez leads multi-geography investment management for local real estate and infrastructure at Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), positioning him at the center of the Kingdom's diversification strategy.

Each of these figures operates within different institutional frameworks, yet all share a common thread: they are building or managing platforms that deploy capital directly, with full control over asset selection, structuring, and value creation. The collective effect is a professionalization of Levantine capital in GCC real estate that did not exist a decade ago.

How does Saudi Arabia's new foreign ownership law accelerate this trend?

Royal Decree No. M/14, the Law of Real Estate Ownership and Investment by Non-Saudis, became effective on January 22, 2026. It replaces the 2000-era framework and allows foreign individuals and entities to own and invest in real estate across designated zones in Saudi Arabia. For Levantine billionaire families who historically concentrated Gulf holdings in the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar due to ownership restrictions, the decree opens a market of transformative scale.

Saudi Arabia's giga-projects, its hospitality expansion under Vision 2030, and its emerging luxury residential market represent the single largest growth vector in GCC real estate over the coming decade. Direct platform operators, rather than passive fund investors, stand to capture the most value from this opening. They can move faster on proprietary opportunities, structure joint ventures with Saudi developers on bespoke terms, and maintain the governance control that family principals demand.

The regulatory shift also changes competitive dynamics. Previously, non-Saudi investors accessed the Kingdom primarily through local partnerships or licensed fund structures, both of which imposed costs and governance compromises. Royal Decree No. M/14 creates a pathway for direct ownership that aligns precisely with the platform model that families like the Dallouls are building. The timing is not coincidental. Regulatory modernization and principal-class platform development are mutually reinforcing trends.

Dubai, meanwhile, continues refining its own regulatory architecture. Law No. (4) of 2026, which regulates the occupancy and management of shared residential accommodation, introduces a structured framework governing shared housing arrangements in the emirate. While targeted at a different segment than luxury development, the legislation signals the broader maturation of GCC real estate governance, a maturation that benefits institutional-grade operators over informal market participants.

What distinguishes a direct platform from a traditional family-office real estate allocation?

The distinction is operational, not merely financial. A traditional family-office allocation treats real estate as one asset class among many, typically managed by an external advisor or fund manager. The family provides capital; a third party provides expertise. Returns are net of management fees, carried interest, and the inevitable friction of misaligned incentives.

A direct platform inverts this structure. The family, or its designated principals, controls origination, underwriting, asset management, and disposition. Capital deployment decisions happen internally, informed by proprietary market intelligence and relationship networks that no external fund can replicate. The platform may co-invest with institutional partners or sovereign wealth funds, but it retains governance primacy.

For Palestinian-Gulf families, this model carries additional strategic value. Their commercial networks span Beirut, Amman, Dubai, Riyadh, London, and New York, providing deal flow that is genuinely cross-border and multi-jurisdictional. A platform structure allows them to arbitrage information asymmetries across these markets in ways that a single-geography fund cannot.

The luxury and hospitality segments are particularly suited to this approach. Branded residences, five-star hotel developments, and mixed-use lifestyle projects demand deep relationships with global operators, patient capital, and hands-on development oversight. These are competencies that align naturally with family-principal governance rather than institutional fund structures.

GRI Institute's ongoing research into GCC capital flows confirms this trajectory. Across the Institute's leadership gatherings and strategic dialogues, the shift from intermediated to direct real estate deployment emerges as one of the defining themes of 2026. The principals driving this shift, including figures like Marwan Dalloul, Adib Mattar, and Rami Harajli, are increasingly present in these conversations, shaping the institutional frameworks through which GCC real estate will evolve over the next decade.

The architecture of a new institutional class

The emergence of direct real estate platforms controlled by Levantine billionaire families represents more than a change in investment strategy. It signals the formation of a new institutional class within GCC real estate, one that combines the patient capital and relational depth of family offices with the operational rigor of institutional asset managers.

A market projected to nearly double to USD 260.3 billion by 2034 will require precisely this kind of capital: long-horizon, governance-conscious, and operationally capable. The families building these platforms today are positioning themselves as foundational actors in the next phase of GCC real estate development.

For the broader market, the implications are clear. Deal structures will grow more sophisticated as principal-class investors demand bespoke terms rather than accepting standardized fund economics. Co-investment models between sovereign wealth funds and family platforms will proliferate. Luxury and hospitality assets will attract increasingly institutional-grade capital from sources that were, until recently, classified as "private" or "informal."

The transition from passive allocation to direct platform is neither simple nor risk-free. It requires significant investment in human capital, governance systems, and regulatory compliance infrastructure. Yet for families with multi-generational horizons and deep regional networks, the strategic logic is compelling. The GCC real estate market is entering a phase of maturation that rewards operators over allocators, and the Levantine billionaire families building direct platforms are positioning themselves on the right side of that divide.

GRI Institute continues to convene the principals, sovereign wealth executives, and institutional investors shaping this landscape, providing the strategic intelligence and relationship infrastructure that the next phase of GCC real estate demands.