Ellington Properties is a privately owned Dubai developer founded in 2014 by Robert Booth, formerly head of Emaar's Dubai real estate business, and Joseph Thomas. It calls itself a design-led boutique developer. It started with a single 181-apartment building in Jumeirah Village Circle. By 2025 it reported 3,220 completed homes and 12,622 under construction across Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, and in the first eight months of 2026 it was Dubai's fifth-largest developer by sales.
Ellington in brief
- Founded: 2014, in Dubai, by Robert Booth and Joseph Thomas. Elie Naaman is co-founder and CEO.
- Ownership: private. Legal entity Ellington Properties Development LLC.
- Head office: Burlington Tower, Business Bay, Dubai.
- Positioning: a "design-led boutique developer".
- Scale in 2025: 3,220 completed units, 12,622 under construction (Forbes Middle East).
- 2026 sales: fifth in Dubai by volume and value, January to August (Engel & Völkers, DXB Interact data).
- Markets: Dubai, and Ras Al Khaimah since 2023.
Where Ellington came from
Ellington was set up in 2014 by Robert Booth and Joseph Thomas. Booth had just left Emaar, where he ran the Dubai real estate business behind Emirates Hills, Dubai Marina, Arabian Ranches and Downtown Dubai. Thomas was an entrepreneur who had moved into property in 2006. The company announced itself publicly in February 2015, describing a founding team with more than 75 years of combined real estate experience.
The idea, as Booth explained it to The National in 2016, was a boutique developer that competed on design, product and customer experience rather than size. The partners funded the business from their own money and from private investors who backed individual projects. By April 2016 the company had a land bank of about 3.6 million sq ft and more than 2,200 homes in its pipeline across 14 planned projects.
Its first building was Belgravia in Jumeirah Village Circle: four storeys, 181 apartments and a development value of about AED 200 million. Jumeirah Village Circle remained Ellington's home ground for its first years, with Belgravia II, Belgravia III, Belgravia Heights, Somerset Mews, Eaton Place and Harrington House all built there.
How Ellington grew
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Founded in Dubai. |
| 2015 | Public launch. Mark Amirault, formerly of Emaar, joins as Director of Design. |
| 2016 | Fourteen projects and 2,200+ homes planned; first building, Belgravia, tops out. |
| 2018 | Somerset Mews townhouses handed over ahead of schedule. |
| 2021 | DT1 in Downtown Dubai handed over, Ellington's fifth completed residential development. Ellington Capital, a fund management arm, launched. |
| 2022 | Belgravia III, Harrington House and Belgravia Heights handed over. BSBG appointed lead design consultant. |
| 2023 | First Ras Al Khaimah joint venture with RAK Properties. Dutco Ellington joint venture. UH by Ellington launched with DMCC. The Sanctuary villas launched in MBR City. |
| 2024 | Ellington Cove, a AED 3.2 billion beachfront project on Dubai Islands. MEED counts about 38 active projects worth over US$6 billion. |
| 2025 | Berkeley Place and Ellington Beach House completed. First office building, Eaton Square, and first Dubai South project, Windsor House. |
| 2026 | The Meriva Collection, its first hospitality-led project. Ellington House II and Arbor View handed over. ADCB mortgage partnership. Fifth-largest Dubai developer by sales, January to August. |
What "design-led" means in practice
Ellington's description of its own method is that it designs from the inside out. It plans the home layout first and shapes the building around it. It has an in-house interior design team and works with outside architects, most notably BSBG, which became lead consultant on new projects in 2022.
Art is part of the brand. The Ellington Art Foundation supports artists based in the UAE and places work in Ellington buildings. It has run open competitions, such as "Art of the Silk Road" in 2020 and "Shaping the Sea" in 2024, and opened a gallery at DT1 in 2020. Ellington's chief executive has said the company has shown more than 1,000 artworks in its buildings since 2015.
The awards follow from that positioning. Ellington's awards page lists 48 awards from 2016 to 2026, many of them International Property Awards for design or architecture. That list is compiled by Ellington. The most widely recognised individual wins include Arabian Business Real Estate Awards for innovation in 2018 and for DT1 as best luxury project in 2019.
Where Ellington builds now
The company has moved well beyond Jumeirah Village Circle. Its Dubai projects now include Downtown Dubai, Mohammed Bin Rashid City and Meydan Horizon, Dubai Hills Estate, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Al Jaddaf, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Uptown Dubai, Arjan, Dubai Islands, Jumeirah Islands, Dubai South and Dubai Silicon Oasis.
In 2023 it entered Ras Al Khaimah through a joint venture with RAK Properties on Hayat Island, which became Porto Playa. It has since launched on Al Marjan Island and in Al Hamra. In 2024 its chief executive named Abu Dhabi and, later, Europe as expansion targets, but no project outside the UAE had been announced at the time of writing.
Who Ellington works with
- DMCC: partner on UH by Ellington in Jumeirah Lakes Towers and Mercer House in Uptown Dubai.
- Dutco: the Dutco Ellington joint venture behind One River Point and Art Bay.
- RAK Properties: partner on Ellington's first Ras Al Khaimah project.
- Sol Properties and SHUAA's Northacre: partners on Oakley Square and Ocean House.
- ADCB: a 2026 partnership offering Ellington buyers pre-approved mortgages, including on off-plan homes.
Reading Ellington's coverage carefully
Ellington is private, so it does not publish audited accounts or annual sales totals. Sales rankings come from analysts reading Dubai Land Department data, and they vary by method. Some newspaper articles about Ellington are labelled "partner content", which means they are paid for and should be read as company statements rather than independent reporting. We have used the company's own releases for dates and project facts, and independent outlets for figures where they exist.
For the full project-by-project record, including which buildings were delivered early and which later than first planned, read Ellington's track record. For the people behind it, see who owns and runs Ellington Properties.
Questions people ask
Who is Ellington Properties?
A privately owned Dubai property developer founded in 2014 by Robert Booth and Joseph Thomas, with Elie Naaman as co-founder and CEO. It builds design-led apartments, townhouses and villas in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.
Is Ellington Properties part of Emaar?
No. Ellington is an independent private company. Its co-founder Robert Booth previously ran Emaar's Dubai real estate business and left at the end of 2014, the year Ellington was founded.
How big is Ellington Properties?
Forbes Middle East reported 3,220 completed units and 12,622 under construction in the UAE in 2025. MEED counted about 38 active projects worth more than US$6 billion in December 2024. Engel & Völkers, using DXB Interact data, ranked Ellington fifth in Dubai by sales from January to August 2026, with 2,986 sales worth AED 8.7 billion.
Where does Ellington build?
Mainly in Dubai: Jumeirah Village Circle, Downtown Dubai, Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Dubai Hills Estate, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Uptown Dubai, Dubai Islands, Jumeirah Islands, Dubai South and Dubai Silicon Oasis. Since 2023 it has also built in Ras Al Khaimah, on Al Marjan Island, Hayat Island and in Al Hamra.
Is Ellington Properties related to Ellington Financial?
No. Ellington Properties is a Dubai developer. Ellington Financial and Ellington Management Group are unrelated US investment firms.
Sources
- About Ellington Properties · Ellington Properties
- A new property development company has launched in Dubai · Ellington Properties · 1 February 2015
- Ellington Properties set to hand over Dubai homes before end of year · The National · 20 April 2016
- Dubai's Ellington plans 2,200 units, first handover this year · Gulf Business · 21 April 2016
- Most Impactful Real Estate Leaders 2026: Elie Naaman (company figures for 2025) · Forbes Middle East · 5 May 2026
- Most Impactful Real Estate Leaders 2025: Elie Naaman · Forbes Middle East · 16 April 2025
- Ellington awards villas construction deal (active project count) · MEED · 18 December 2024
- Top 10 real estate developers in Dubai (DXB Interact data, Jan to Aug 2026) · Engel & Völkers · updated 17 September 2026
- Our awards · Ellington Properties
- Ellington appoints BSBG as lead consultant · Ellington Properties · 14 November 2022
- Ellington Art Foundation competition announced · TradeArabia
- RAK Properties and Ellington Properties to jointly develop a waterfront project on Hayat Island, Mina Al Arab · Ellington Properties · 22 June 2023
- Dutco and Ellington Properties to develop high-end residential projects in Dubai · Ellington Properties · July 2023
- Ellington Properties unveils The Meriva Collection on Dubai Islands · Ellington Properties · 11 February 2026
- Ellington Properties and ADCB pre-approved home-buying solutions · Ellington Properties · 19 August 2026
- Ellington Properties CEO shares key market trends · Gulf Business · 2 October 2024
Independent information by IMARA Real Estate, not the official website of Ellington Properties. Figures about the new master community are pre-launch estimates and may change. Facts about Ellington’s history and projects are taken from the sources listed above as of 20 October 2026.
