Off-Plan Shake-Up: Pay for Progress

A payment plan is not a building.

AGBI exclusive, 17 August 2026, 7:00 AM: Ziad El Chaar, CEO of London-listed Dar Global, says the Gulf’s off-plan model is on borrowed time. AGBI describes Dar Global as the international arm of Dar Al Arkan, and as one of the Trump Organization’s main development partners in the region. That is AGBI’s company line. It is not a Kyora endorsement.

Launch-cycle FOMO still sells. Delivery is the other slide. Agents should brief construction progress and escrow — not a payment-plan PDF. Investors should brief the balance sheet that has to fund the gap if cash starts tracking the build.

What He Actually Said

El Chaar’s thesis is blunt. Buyers want more concrete before they wire more cash. Developers who lived on buyer money will have to put more of their own equity in — and look fundable doing it.

“[The] off-plan business model is going down globally… People want to see something progressing to a much bigger extent before they engage. This [trend] will definitely come to the region.”

He told AGBI buyers were balking at paying more than half the purchase price in the first two years while only around a fifth of a project had been built. That is El Chaar’s claim, via AGBI. It is not a Dubai Land Department print.

“The developer has to put in more equity [and] have a stronger balance sheet to be able to get funding for the projects.”

On flipping after the first few instalments:

“I can tell you that globally this is dying out.”

On war and delay:

“At times of uncertainty, people will wait, will delay, but they will not cancel.”

Dar Global, he said, kept sites moving with contractor cash when needed: “Anybody who needed advance payment, we did it.” Company colour. Not a market rule.

AGBI also records El Chaar saying customers from 56 nationalities expressed interest in booking Dar Global properties between January and June. That is a company interest claim. It is not a DLD nationality table.

His Claim vs DLD

Keep the labels tight. El Chaar is one CEO, on the record with AGBI. DLD is the registry. They are not the same voice.

• Front-loaded plans versus thin build — more than half paid in two years, around a fifth built — is El Chaar / AGBI. Not DLD.
• Saudi Arabia tying payment schedules to construction progress rather than dates is El Chaar’s claim. Not a Kyora fact. Not a DLD circular.
• France has long tied off-plan payments to construction milestones. Poland strengthened escrow in 2022, AGBI notes, releasing funds as milestones are met or homes are completed. That is AGBI legal context. It is not Kyora legal advice, and it is not UAE law.

AGBI also printed a 2025 Dubai off-plan share. We will not repeat it. A DLD newsroom / Dubai Pulse check on 17 August 2026 did not turn up that exact figure on an official table. We do not invent a substitute volume.

How to read a payment plan is a different job: How to Read Dubai Off-Plan Payment Plans. Today is delivery, equity, and who funds the gap if instalments start tracking the crane.

What Agents Should Brief

Do not sell the launch-week slide. Sell the progress you can show.

• Attribute the interview: “Ziad El Chaar, Dar Global CEO, to AGBI, 17 August 2026.” Not “the market has decided.”
• Walk the site, or the official progress report, before you walk the payment plan. A date-based instalment is not a milestone.
• Open the escrow path. RERA escrow is the buyer-protection rail in Dubai — start here: Escrow in Dubai: The Off-Plan Safety Check.
• If the client asks “is this like France / Poland / Saudi?”, say those are AGBI context and El Chaar’s claim. They are not a Dubai rule you can promise.
• FOMO is a launch tool. Delivery is a handover tool. Do not brief them as the same emotion.

Investor Balance-Sheet Check

If payments start tracking build, buyer cash arrives later. The developer funds more of the hole. Weak equity gets squeezed. Strong equity gets funded.

That is El Chaar’s funding line, not a Kyora forecast. Use it as a filter:

• Who puts in the equity if the next slice of the tower is not yet sold?
• Is the name on the SPA a listed parent with a published balance sheet, or a thinly capitalised SPV?
• Can you see construction progress on official tools — not a sales WhatsApp?
• Developer hygiene still applies when the same name is on the plot and the pitch: Emaar Results: Investor Checks.
• A start is not a handover. Delivery risk still sits on Dubai’s Delivery Test: Why Handovers Matter.

Flipping the first two cheques is the trade El Chaar says is dying globally. If your thesis needs an early exit into the next FOMO cycle, you are underwriting a market he says is fading — his view, via AGBI, not a DLD close.

When to Walk Away

• The pitch treats El Chaar’s interview as a DLD rule.
• More than half the price is due while the site is still a hole — and nobody can show you the build percentage.
• The developer’s answer to “who funds the gap?” is “the next launch.”
• Saudi / France / Poland is sold as if it were already Dubai law.
• Escrow is hand-waved. Progress is a CGI.
• The only slide is the payment plan. The building is a promise.

Launch-cycle FOMO is cheap to print. Concrete is not. Brief the second one.

Disclaimer

This article is general education for investors and real-estate professionals. It is not personalised legal, tax, or investment advice. Quoted lines are Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Dar Global, as reported in AGBI’s exclusive of 17 August 2026. Saudi progress-tied payment schedules, and the France / Poland milestone-and-escrow examples, are El Chaar’s and AGBI’s framing — not Kyora legal advice and not Dubai Land Department rules. Always verify current project status, escrow and payment terms through official DLD / RERA channels and qualified advisers before you commit funds.