Dubai developer AVENEW Development has announced The Ritz-Carlton Residences Dubai, The World Islands, a branded villa and low-rise project on the archipelago’s Hawaii Islands cluster, with sales to open in 2027.
The announcement matters less for the residences themselves than for where they sit. The World Islands, the 260-island artificial archipelago four kilometres off the Jumeirah coast, spent more than a decade as the emblem of Dubai’s 2008 crash, largely empty sand awaiting buyers who never built. A Ritz-Carlton flag from Marriott International is the strongest hospitality endorsement the destination has yet received, and a signal that Dubai’s luxury market now considers the islands investable again.
The project is AVENEW’s second collaboration with Marriott in under a year, following The St. Regis Residences at Dubai Islands signed in December 2025. The World Islands masterplan comprises villas and two and three-bedroom low-rise homes marketed as a private island lifestyle within reach of the city, with Ritz-Carlton service standards attached to every residence.
“The World Islands present a real estate opportunity that is genuinely rare. Limited by design, recognised around the world and continuing to evolve with every passing year,” said Rasha Hassan, managing partner of AVENEW Development.
Jaidev Menezes, Marriott International’s regional vice president for mixed-use development in EMEA, said the branded waterfront homes would “reinforce the archipelago as a truly unparalleled destination in Dubai’s evolving luxury property market”. Marriott has been expanding branded residences aggressively across the region, with Ritz-Carlton Residences under way at Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi and JW Marriott Residences also headed to Dubai Islands.
Further details will be released ahead of the 2027 sales launch.
Why it matters for the trade
Branded residences are the quiet engine of Gulf hospitality growth, and this deal shows the model moving to frontier locations within Dubai itself. For the trade, three things follow. First, hotel flags follow residence flags: a Ritz-Carlton residential community on the Hawaii cluster makes a full Ritz-Carlton resort on The World Islands a live prospect, and with it new room inventory in a destination currently served almost entirely by the Heart of Europe development.
Second, access becomes a product: an island community four kilometres offshore means marine transfers, and that is new recurring business for Dubai’s charter, water taxi and yacht sectors, which should be watching the masterplan’s mobility provisions.
Third, the fixed-supply pitch, roughly 260 islands and no more, is the same scarcity argument that drives Maldives resort valuations, and if it holds, expect competing flags to move quickly on neighbouring clusters. The signal for agents and DMCs is simple: The World Islands are moving from punchline to pipeline, and the 2027 sales launch gives the trade 18 months to build the access and experience layer around them.