Al Marjan Island and Wynn 2027: The Ras Al Khaimah Investment Case
Updated September 5, 2026 · 10 min read · Sources: Wynn Resorts newsroom and Q2 2026 earnings call (5 August 2026), GCGRA licence announcement (4 October 2024), Aldar and Emaar project announcements, Marjan statements as reported by The National and Zawya, RAK market data from Cavendish Maxwell and ValuStrat as reported by Arabian Business and Gulf Business, RAK Real Estate Register Law 11 of 2021, DLD register for the Dubai comparisons.
What Wynn Al Marjan Island actually is
Start with the facts Wynn has published, because the marketing around the island has drifted well past them. Wynn Resorts received the UAE’s first commercial gaming operator licence from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority on 4 October 2024, and it remains the only company holding a land-based licence in the country. The resort sits on more than 60 hectares on Island 3 of Al Marjan, on a tower of 70 floors that topped out in December 2025 at 283 metres and will reach 352 metres with its spire, the tallest structure in Ras Al Khaimah by more than 100 metres. Inside: 1,530 keys, made up of 1,217 hotel rooms, 297 Enclave suites with their own entrance towards the top of the tower, two royal apartments, four garden townhomes and ten marina estates; 22 restaurants and lounges; a 20,900 square metre casino; 12,000 square metres of retail; 7,708 square metres of convention space including a column-free grand ballroom; a marina; and 420 metres of private beach. The gaming floor is larger than the one at Wynn Las Vegas. The timeline has moved twice. Wynn guided to a first-quarter 2027 opening, paused construction briefly in February 2026 during the regional conflict, then on its second-quarter earnings call on 5 August 2026 set the opening at September 2027 and raised the budget by about USD 600 million to roughly USD 5.7 billion. The bridge to the island is scheduled for late 2026. Wynn has also secured a second plot next door, under an agreement signed on 21 June 2024, for a possible second resort. None of that is a reason to doubt the project; it is a reason to plan around September 2027 rather than the spring.
What has launched around it
Al Marjan Island is four man-made islands off the RAK coast, master-developed by Marjan, and Marjan has confirmed that the development plots across the island are now sold out. What is left to buy is what the plot owners have launched, and the roll call is long. Emaar’s Address Residences Al Marjan Island, next to the Wynn site, has 115 one-bedroom and 112 two-bedroom apartments and six three-bedroom townhouses, priced from about AED 1.74 million for a one-bed with handover expected in 2028. Aldar’s Nikki Beach Residences is an 800-home resort community launched in a first phase of 357 apartments, with one-beds from AED 2.37 million and two-beds from AED 3.48 million, delivery scheduled for December 2028. Ellington’s Costa Mare is under way on Island 2. The branded list reported by the RAK press includes Nobu, JW Marriott, Mondrian, Waldorf Astoria, Hilton and Ardee residences, and Richmind, the first tower by Zaha Hadid Architects in the emirate. Marjan’s next act is bigger than the island. Its Marjan Beach masterplan, announced after RAK Central sold out, is planned for 12,000 hotel keys and 22,000 homes, a population of 74,000 residents and a workforce of 32,000. Sobha’s Siniya Island in neighbouring Umm Al Quwain, about 30 minutes away, is selling into the same Wynn story from a different emirate. Both are the supply that will compete with today’s Al Marjan launches for the same tenants and buyers.
Price levels, and where the numbers come from
Ras Al Khaimah has no open transaction feed like the DLD’s, so the price numbers in circulation are consultancy averages and portal asking prices, and they do not agree. ValuStrat valued Al Marjan apartments at about AED 1,160 per square foot in the second quarter of 2026, and Cavendish Maxwell at AED 1,219 in the first quarter; those are valuation-based averages weighted to the existing Bab Al Bahr era stock. Asking prices for the new launches averaged about AED 2,645 per square foot in the first quarter, up roughly 21% on the year. The two sets describe different products, and a buyer should know which one they are being quoted. On direction the sources align. RAK apartment prices rose 13.4% in 2025 and villas 9.7%, and in the first half of 2026 apartments were up 6.5% year on year and villas almost 6%. Against Dubai’s register the launch pricing is no longer a bargain in absolute terms: Dubai Islands registered at AED 2,707 per square foot and Dubai Marina at AED 2,366 over the same window, with Palm Jumeirah at AED 3,564. Al Marjan’s launch asking prices sit between the Marina and the Palm for a location 45 minutes from Dubai’s airport and further from either.
| Source | What it measures | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| ValuStrat | Al Marjan apartment value, weighted to existing stock | AED 1,160 per sqft | Q2 2026 |
| Cavendish Maxwell | Al Marjan apartment value | AED 1,219 per sqft | Q1 2026 |
| Portal asking prices | New launch apartments, asking | about AED 2,645 per sqft | Q1 2026 |
| Emaar Address Residences | One-bed launch price | from AED 1.74M | handover 2028 |
| Aldar Nikki Beach Residences | One-bed and two-bed launch prices | from AED 2.37M and AED 3.48M | delivery December 2028 |
| DLD register (comparison) | Dubai Islands, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah apartment medians | AED 2,707, 2,366 and 3,564 per sqft | 12 months to 3 September 2026 |
RAK’s register: what is public and what is not
Ownership on Al Marjan Island, Mina Al Arab and Al Hamra Village is freehold for all nationalities, registered under RAK’s Real Estate Register Law 11 of 2021 and overseen by RAK RERA, with the title issued by the land department at RAK Municipality. The registration fee is 4% of the price, by custom split 2% each between buyer and seller, though in practice it is frequently negotiated so that the buyer pays all of it, and some developers absorb part on launches. Confirm the split in writing before you sign. What RAK does not do is publish the register. There is no open feed of individual transactions, so this site cannot show you Al Marjan medians the way it shows Dubai and Abu Dhabi ones, and neither can anyone else. The emirate-level totals come from consultancies quoted in the press: about 6,600 residential sales in 2025 worth AED 12.4 billion, down 17.4% by count and 24.7% by value on 2024 as launch volume cooled, and freehold ready-home transactions of AED 625 million in the first half of 2026, down 3.3% on the year but up 24% on the second half of 2025. Prices rose through the fall in volume, which is what a supply-constrained market with a single catalyst looks like.
The risk case, stated plainly
Our Al Marjan Island community page puts it in one sentence: the whole market is trading one event. That concentration is the opportunity and the risk, and the risk has three parts. Supply. RAK delivered about 1,200 homes in 2025 and is expected to deliver 2,200 in 2026, then 4,700 in 2027 and 7,500 in 2028: 13,800 homes into a market that transacted 6,600 in a year, most of them arriving in the twelve months either side of the resort opening. Every launch on the island has a 2027 or 2028 handover, so the resale market that today is thin will be flooded exactly when owners want to exit. Marjan Beach and Siniya Island add more behind that. Single-catalyst dependency. The investment case is the resort’s visitors, staff and second-home demand. If the opening slips again, the case slips with it, and it has already moved from the first quarter of 2027 to September. Wynn’s budget rose by USD 600 million in the same announcement. The GCGRA has licensed one operator; if a second licence is issued elsewhere in the country the island loses its exclusivity, and if none is, the entire thesis rests on one company’s execution. The commute. Wynn puts its resort about 45 minutes from Dubai International Airport, and the Marina or DIFC are further. That rules out the Dubai commuter as a long-term tenant and leaves the market to resort workers, short-let guests and second-home owners. It is a holiday market with a casino, not a suburb of Dubai, and rents should be underwritten accordingly.
How to buy it, if you buy it
The site’s own read is that launch pricing has re-rated twice, so the easy money is behind us, and what remains is picking developers who will actually deliver into the opening and beachfront lines over island-interior ones. That holds. Prefer the developers with a delivery record in the UAE, which on the island means Emaar, Aldar and Ellington ahead of names you are meeting for the first time; prefer direct beach over a view of someone else’s building; and prefer a payment plan whose handover balance you can fund if the resale market is thin in 2028. Underwrite the yield on a short-let basis with realistic occupancy, not on a Dubai long-let comparison, and add the RAK 4% fee plus the agency commission to the entry cost. If the plan is to hold through the opening and sell into it, remember that thousands of other owners have the same plan. The alternatives inside the emirate are the two established communities: Mina Al Arab, with its lagoons and ready stock, and Al Hamra Village, with golf, a marina and villas that have been standing for fifteen years. Both are freehold, both are priced below the island, and both have tenants today. The off-plan finder on this site lists the Al Marjan launches we would actually put a client into.
Related questions
When does Wynn Al Marjan Island open?
September 2027, per Wynn Resorts’ second-quarter 2026 earnings call on 5 August 2026. The earlier target was the first quarter of 2027; construction paused briefly in February 2026 and the budget rose by about USD 600 million to roughly USD 5.7 billion.
Is Wynn Al Marjan Island the only casino in the UAE?
It holds the only commercial gaming operator licence the GCGRA has issued, granted on 4 October 2024. The resort has 1,530 keys across 70 floors, 22 restaurants and a 20,900 square metre casino.
What does an apartment on Al Marjan Island cost?
Launch prices run from about AED 1.74M for a one-bed at Emaar’s Address Residences and AED 2.37M at Aldar’s Nikki Beach Residences, both handing over in 2028. Valuation averages for existing stock are about AED 1,160 to 1,219 per sqft; launch asking prices average about AED 2,645.
Can foreigners buy on Al Marjan Island?
Yes. Al Marjan Island, Mina Al Arab and Al Hamra Village are freehold for all nationalities under RAK’s Real Estate Register Law 11 of 2021, with a 4% registration fee at RAK Municipality by custom split between buyer and seller.
How much new supply is coming to Ras Al Khaimah?
About 2,200 homes in 2026, 4,700 in 2027 and 7,500 in 2028, 13,800 in total, against roughly 6,600 sales in all of 2025. Most of it lands in the year either side of the resort opening.
How far is Al Marjan Island from Dubai?
Wynn puts the resort about 45 minutes from Dubai International Airport by road; the Marina and DIFC are further. It is a resort and second-home market rather than a commuter one.
