AI Visibility Index · Off Plan Real Estate

Dubai off-plan: who AI recommends,
and who's invisible.

We put the questions a Dubai buyer actually asks to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, and recorded which of 354 off-plan each engine names. Only 12 consistently appear - the rest are invisible in the channel buyers increasingly start with.

12
of 354 off-plan consistently named
77%
rarely surface at all
53%
top off-plan project's visibility (Emaar)
354
off-plan evaluated
AI Engines Queried
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
Executive summary

Only 12 of 354 off-plan are visible to AI

When a Dubai buyer asks AI for an off-plan project, the same handful of names come back - Emaar, Nakheel, Sobha, DAMAC, Meraas. The other 342 off-plan, including most with strong reputations and busy practices, rarely surface at all. 77% of the cohort is effectively invisible in AI search.

See for yourself

What AI says when a buyer asks

Real, unedited answers from the study - the same handful of names recur, question after question.

Query: "Best areas in Dubai to buy a luxury apartment as an overseas investor?"
"The AI recommends prime Dubai areas for luxury apartment investment (Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Dubai Marina/JBR, Emaar Beachfront, Bluewaters Island, Dubai Hills Estate) and outlines strengths, expected prices, yields, and which zones suit different investor goals."
Named Dubai Marina · Emaar · Downtown Dubai
Query: "Best areas in Dubai to buy a luxury apartment as an overseas investor?"
"The AI recommended prime Dubai areas for luxury apartment investment: Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Creek Harbour, plus Business Bay, Emaar Beachfront/Dubai Harbour, and JBR, with rationale on yield, capital growth and tenant types."
Named Dubai Marina · Emaar · Downtown Dubai
Query: "What are the best areas to invest in Dubai real estate in 2026?"
"The AI recommended several Dubai neighbourhoods for 2026 investment, grouping them by goals: high rental yields (JVC, DSO, Al Furjan, International City/Discovery Gardens), capital appreciation (Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai South, Palm Jebel Ali, The Oasis by Emaar, Dubai Hills Estate), and luxury stability (Palm Jumeirah, Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina). It also cited infrastructure, population growth, government policies, and master-planned communities as key drivers."
Named Dubai Marina · Emaar · Downtown Dubai
The leaderboard

The 10 most-visible off-plan

Visibility = share of AI answers naming the off-plan project. The full ranking of all 354 off-plan, with each one's band, is available on request.

#Off Plan Real EstateScoreVisibilityBand
1Emaar66.153%Active
2Nakheel41.933%Active
3Sobha36.325%Active
4DAMAC33.925%Active
5Meraas30.923%Active
6Knight Frank29.820%Active
7Emirates Hills23.815%Active
8Driven Properties23.615%Active
9Omniyat23.518%Emerging
10Binghatti23.515%Active
+ 344 more off-plan ranked, with each one's visibility and band. Get the full leaderboard & where you rank →

The top 5 are named in 23-53% of answers. By rank 10, visibility is already down to 15% - and 344 off-plan sit below this table.

Most recommended

The five names AI returns most

1
Emaar
The most-named off-plan project across all four engines.
Visibility53%
Score66.1
2
Nakheel
Named consistently across all four engines.
Visibility33%
Score41.9
3
Sobha
Named consistently across all four engines.
Visibility25%
Score36.3
4
DAMAC
Named consistently across all four engines.
Visibility25%
Score33.9
5
Meraas
Named consistently across all four engines.
Visibility23%
Score30.9
The sources

What AI reads to answer

These directories, regulators and platforms surfaced in AI answers. They are not competing for the buyer - they are the third-party sources AI re-reads. Getting listed and well-reviewed on them moves your own visibility.

SourceTypeEngines
bayut.comDirectory1
reddit.comForum1
legalclarity.orgPublication1
immigrationstartguide.comPublication1
gulfnews.comPublication1
+ more sources cited across the cohort. Get the full source list →
How AI builds an answer

An AI answer is built from 6 layers. Most off-plan cover 1.

When ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity answer a buyer's question, the response is assembled from six technical inputs. No single marketing discipline covers them all - which is why 77% of off-plan rarely surface.

SEO covers2 of 6
PR covers1 of 6
Content teams cover1 of 6
28 Labs coversall 6
1Crawler access
Can the AI engines read your site at all? Default CMS configs block at least 2 of the 4 AI crawlers.
2Machine-readable structure
Schema, clean markup, clear entities the engines can parse.
3Answer-shaped content
You directly answer the questions buyers ask.
4Authority & citations
Independent sources - directories, regulators, reviews - corroborate you.
5Freshness
The data is current.
6Per-engine presence
You appear across all four engines, not just one.

Get 28 Labs to set you up for success

We cover all six layers - the audit, the fixes, and the ongoing visibility - so AI starts recommending you. One programme, every engine.

Talk to 28 Labs
About

28 Labs - we measure who AI recommends

28 Labs measures how brands get recommended across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. We've analysed 11,000+ AI answers covering 100+ brands across 15 markets - a uniquely deep view of what AI actually recommends, and why.

11,000+
AI answers analysed
100+
brands tracked
15
markets
4
AI engines
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which developers does AI recommend for Dubai off-plan?

Emaar, Nakheel, Sobha, DAMAC, Meraas are named most across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Only 12 of 354 names appear regularly; the rest are invisible in AI answers.

How many Dubai off-plan names does AI actually return?

Just 12 of 354 consistently appear; 77% rarely surface at all.

What sources does AI read to answer Dubai off-plan questions?

The most-cited sources are bayut.com, reddit.com, legalclarity.org - the third-party pages AI re-reads when it builds an answer.

How is this measured?

160 AI answers across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, June 2026. Citations reflect the retrieval / web layer; some recommendations draw on training data with no visible citation. Snapshot 1 of 2 required for benchmark publication; not yet a benchmark.

How this snapshot was built.

Method. buyer questions x 4 engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity) = 160 AI answers, June 2026. Each developer and brand is scored on whether the engines name it across the questions a Dubai buyer actually asks. "Visibility" = share of answers naming it. Citations reflect the retrieval / web layer; some recommendations draw on training data with no visible citation.

Status. Snapshot 1 of 2 required for benchmark publication. Do not quote as a benchmark until Snapshot 2 is captured. Data captured June 2026.

Press & data requests: [email protected]

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28 Labs · AI Visibility Research · Dubai Off Plan Real Estate AI Visibility Index, June 2026. Describes AI engine behaviour at time of testing; not investment advice.