The branded residences market has gone from a niche hospitality add-on to one of the fastest-expanding categories in global real estate. In 2015 there were 323 branded residential schemes worldwide. By the close of 2025 that figure reaches roughly 910, and a further 837 projects already under contract will bring the global total to 1,747 by 2032 — nearly a fivefold increase in under two decades, according to the Savills Branded Residences Report 2025/26.

The growth is not concentrated in one region. The Middle East and North Africa expanded 187% over five years, the fastest of any region tracked. Asia Pacific grew 55% over the same window, driven by Vietnam, India and Thailand. By 2032, Savills projects no single region will hold more than a quarter of global supply — a genuinely global category, not a cluster of hotspots.

The branded residences market, by city

Three markets lead by volume. Dubai tops the list with 64 completed schemes and 87 more in the pipeline, the largest concentration anywhere in the world. South Florida — Miami and Fort Lauderdale — follows with 48 completed and 55 pipeline. New York holds 32 completed against a comparatively thin pipeline of 4, suggesting the market there is closer to saturation than expansion.

Branded inventory commands a real, measurable premium over comparable unbranded stock — 33% on average globally, rising to 39% in resort locations and holding at 30% in both established and emerging cities. The premium has stayed essentially flat year-on-year, which Savills reads as a sign of a maturing category rather than a speculative bubble. Standalone branded residences, built without an attached hotel, now account for 33% of the global pipeline, evidence that operators increasingly treat the residential business as a growth line in its own right rather than a hotel byproduct.

Marriott and Accor lead on volume. Four Seasons remains the single most influential luxury brand, followed by Mandarin Oriental and Aman.

Beyond the hotel groups, non-hospitality names are a growing share of new signings: Armani, Missoni, Fendi, Elie Saab, the design house YOO, and automotive-adjacent studio Pininfarina each lend a residential project their name and design language rather than a hospitality operating system. Savills flags sports, gaming and film as the categories most likely to enter the branded residence space next.

The trophy cities still missing

Set against that expansion, four of the world’s most prestigious residential markets remain conspicuously underdeveloped for branded product: Paris, Monaco, Sydney, and Hong Kong. The reasons differ by city — regulatory restrictions constrain new branded development in Paris, land scarcity is the binding constraint in Monaco, and in Sydney and Hong Kong an already entrenched unbranded luxury market has limited the incentive to convert. None of the four lacks demand for ultra-luxury real estate; all four simply haven’t seen brand-managed residential product take hold at scale.

For ALMAS, operating the UAE–Europe corridor directly, the pattern cuts both ways. Dubai’s position as the single largest branded residences market in the world confirms the depth of the category on the UAE side. The absence of Paris and Monaco from that same list — two of Europe’s most recognised luxury addresses — marks exactly the kind of gap between brand and market that a first-mover, structured correctly, can close.