Azizi Enters Sharjah With the AED 30 Billion Azizi Florence: 1,130 Villas, More Than 6,000 Townhouses and 3,500 Apartments Around a 1.7 Million Square Foot Park in Um Fanain, Three-Bedroom Townhouses From AED 1.89 Million

2026-09-09

On Wednesday 9 September 2026 Azizi Developments announced Azizi Florence, its first project in Sharjah and, by the developer’s own account, the largest master community in the group’s history: a freehold development valued at AED 30 billion (USD 8.17 billion) in the Um Fanain district with 1,130 villas, more than 6,000 townhouses and 3,500 apartments, more than 10,600 homes in total, arranged in six residential clusters around a 1.7 million square foot Central Park. Three-bedroom townhouses start from AED 1.89 million at AED 850 per square foot of sellable area, which implies an entry unit of roughly 2,224 square feet (about 207 square metres). For context, Savills puts the average asking price of a Sharjah villa at AED 970 per square foot and of a Sharjah apartment at AED 1,010 per square foot in the first half of 2026, while ValuStrat puts the average Dubai villa at AED 13 million and the average Dubai apartment at AED 1.79 million in the second quarter. The project will be formally unveiled at the Conrad Hotel in Dubai on Thursday 10 September 2026. Below are the verified facts, what the developer has not yet disclosed, where Um Fanain sits, how Sharjah’s freehold rules work for foreign buyers, the emirate’s market numbers for H1 2026 and what the launch means for companies, investors and families.

The project at a glance

What has been announced and what has not

The announcement is a launch statement, not a construction update, and three points need careful reading.

1. The AED 30 billion is the developer’s own valuation of the project. Sharjah’s largest existing master community, Aljada by Arada, was unveiled in September 2017 with a sales value of AED 24 billion on 24 million square feet, so on the developer’s numbers Azizi Florence would be the biggest single scheme ever announced in the emirate. The two figures are not calculated on the same basis and we do not present them as a like-for-like ranking.
2. Only the townhouse entry price has been published. Prices for the 1,130 villas and the 3,500 apartments, the plot size, the number of phases, the completion dates and the payment plan are not in the announcement. Figures circulating on broker websites (total site area, exact unit counts, hotel size, track lengths) are not in the developer’s press materials and we do not use them.
3. The AED 850 applies to sellable area. Divided into the AED 1.89 million entry price it gives a three-bedroom townhouse of roughly 2,224 square feet. Larger townhouses, villas and apartments will be priced separately, and the per square foot rate for those categories has not been released.

Where Um Fanain is

Um Fanain (also written Umm Fannain) is an inland district of Sharjah near University City and Sharjah International Airport, on the Emirates Road side of the emirate and away from the coastal districts of Al Khan, Al Majaz and Al Nahda where most of the emirate’s towers stand. The developer describes the site as adjacent to Sharjah Sustainable City with direct access to Emirates Road.

Sharjah Sustainable City is the reference point for the area: a 7.2 million square foot villa community by Shurooq (the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority) and Diamond Developers with about 1,250 villas of 2,035 to 3,818 square feet in four phases, handed over from 2022. Savills lists it, together with Masaar, Al Zahia and Hayyan, among the villa communities that carry Sharjah’s residential demand.

The Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department (SRERD) reported that 11 new projects were registered in the emirate in the first half of 2026 and named Um Fanain among the districts where they are located, alongside Muwaileh Commercial, Al Raqeeba, Hay Al Hoshe and Al Sajaa Industrial. Muwaileh Commercial, also on the inland side of the city, was the busiest district in Sharjah in H1 2026 with 2,385 transactions worth AED 2.8 billion.

For commuters the relevant infrastructure is Emirates Road, where two additional lanes on a 5-kilometre stretch opened in late August 2026 and lifted capacity from 12,000 to 16,000 vehicles an hour, and Sharjah’s AED 750 million road programme, whose first stage, the 500-metre Al Taawun tunnel on the Sharjah-Dubai corridor, is due to open in November 2026.

The price in context

Two observations follow. First, AED 850 per square foot is below the average asking price of existing Sharjah villas, AED 970, which is the level at which a developer wins buyers in an emirate where, per Savills, villa asking prices rose 5.4% in a year while apartment asking prices fell 8.2%. Second, the AED 1.89 million entry ticket sits just under the AED 2 million property threshold for the UAE Golden Visa, so a buyer who wants the 10-year visa through this project needs a larger unit or a combination of properties worth AED 2 million or more; the conditions are set out in our guide to the UAE Golden Visa.

Who is Azizi

Azizi Developments was founded in 2007 by Mirwais Azizi, founder and chairman of Azizi Group. According to Khaleej Times the company has delivered more than 45,000 homes to buyers from more than 100 nationalities and has about 150,000 units under construction, a figure given by group CEO Farhad Azizi. CBNME reports that the developer closed 2025 with AED 16 billion in unit sales. In Dubai in 2026 Azizi has been the most active developer by number of transactions: fäm Properties counted 8,411 Azizi deals worth AED 7.5 billion by late July, ahead of DAMAC and Emaar, as we reported in our review of Dubai’s top developers by value and by volume.

The group’s flagships are Burj Azizi on Sheikh Zayed Road, a 725-metre tower of more than 131 storeys planned as the world’s second-tallest building, with sales launched in February 2025 and completion scheduled for 2028, and Azizi Venice in Dubai South, an AED 30 billion lagoon community with more than 30,000 units and an opera house, launched in September 2023. Its other Dubai locations include Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Palm Jumeirah and Downtown Jebel Ali. Azizi Florence carries the same AED 30 billion headline as Venice and, in the developer’s words, becomes its largest master community to date.

The founder framed the launch personally. In the words of Mirwais Azizi: “Returning to Sharjah after more than three decades is deeply meaningful to me, as this emirate was my first home in the UAE and an important part of my journey. With Azizi Florence, we are proud to bring back that connection through a community designed for families, wellbeing and a high quality of life.”

Sharjah’s freehold rules for foreign buyers

Before 2022, ownership by non-GCC nationals in Sharjah was mostly structured as long-term usufruct rather than freehold. On 31 October 2022 the Ruler of Sharjah issued Law No. 2 of 2022, amending Article 4 of the 2010 real estate registration law, and on 1 November 2022 the Sharjah Executive Council issued Decision No. 30 of 2022, which allows persons of all nationalities to own real estate of all kinds, without limitation of time, inside real estate development areas and projects approved by the council. The same session adopted the regulations for registering mortgages in the emirate.

The practical consequence is that freehold for a foreign buyer in Sharjah exists project by project. SRERD reports that 50 projects have been approved for sale under Decision No. 30 of 2022 since it was issued, six of them in the first half of 2026. Azizi Florence is marketed as freehold; before paying a reservation deposit a buyer should confirm the project’s approval and its registration with SRERD, check that the sales agreement will be registered in the buyer’s name, and ask for the current registration fee and the service charge estimate in writing, since registration fees depend on the category of the transaction and are periodically discounted, for example by 50% during the Acres exhibition in January 2026.

Sharjah’s market in H1 2026

The SRERD figures cover all registered transactions, while Savills counts residential sales only, so the two rows are not comparable with each other. Our earlier review of H1 2026 across all emirates puts the Sharjah numbers next to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah.

Sharjah’s large communities compared

What the launch means for business

1. For private buyers and investors. The entry ticket to a new freehold townhouse in Sharjah is AED 1.89 million, against an average Dubai villa value of AED 13 million and an average Dubai apartment of AED 1.79 million. Mortgage activity in the emirate is growing (2,590 mortgages worth AED 7.6 billion in H1 2026; Q2 registrations up 51% quarter on quarter, per Savills), which means bank financing for Sharjah freehold is available and worth comparing across lenders before signing.
2. For companies buying through a corporate vehicle. A UAE company can hold property where the project and emirate rules allow it, but the company needs an active licence, a corporate bank account for the instalments and a clear ownership chain for SRERD registration. We set this up for clients through company formation in the UAE and corporate bank account opening.
3. For contractors, consultants and suppliers. More than 10,600 homes, a 1.7 million square foot park, six clubhouses and retail, school and hotel components add up to a multi-year procurement programme in an emirate whose construction market is smaller than Dubai’s. Vendor registration with the developer and its main contractors requires a UAE licence with the right activities, staff with work visas and residency, and a local bank account.
4. For employers and relocating staff. Sharjah remains the housing alternative for people who work in Dubai: the emirate opened the 2026-27 school year with 204,000 pupils and 135 licensed private schools, and the road capacity on the Sharjah-Dubai corridor is being expanded in 2026. A townhouse at AED 1.89 million is the kind of housing cost that changes a relocation budget.

Checklist before reserving a unit in Azizi Florence

• Confirm with SRERD that the project is approved for ownership by all nationalities under Decision No. 30 of 2022 and that the plot is registered in the developer’s name.
• Ask for the payment plan, the phase your unit belongs to and the anticipated completion date in writing; none of these is in the launch announcement.
• Check whether the price quoted is per sellable area and what the sellable area of your unit is; the AED 850 rate refers to sellable area.
• Get the registration fee, the AED service fee and the annual service charge estimate before you pay a deposit.
• If the purchase is meant to support a UAE Golden Visa, make sure the property value reaches AED 2 million; the AED 1.89 million entry townhouse does not.
• Decide whether to buy personally or through a company; the choice affects the registration, the bank financing and the exit.
• Compare mortgage offers early: Q2 2026 mortgage registrations in Sharjah were up 51% quarter on quarter, so lenders are active in the emirate.
• Keep every payment on the developer’s registered account and keep the receipts for SRERD registration and future resale.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with investors, employers and contractors who need a legal and banking base in the UAE. For buyers of Azizi Florence and similar projects we register companies on the mainland and in free zones to hold property or to work with developers, open corporate and personal bank accounts for instalments and rental income, arrange residency and work visas for owners and staff, and prepare Golden Visa applications for real estate investors from AED 2 million. We also collect and attest the corporate documents that developers and main contractors ask for at vendor registration.

Conclusion

Azizi Florence is the largest project ever announced in Sharjah by a private developer, at least on the developer’s own valuation of AED 30 billion, and its first move outside Dubai. The published numbers are precise where the developer wants them to be: 1,130 villas, more than 6,000 townhouses, 3,500 apartments, a 1.7 million square foot park and three-bedroom townhouses from AED 1.89 million at AED 850 per square foot, below the AED 970 average asking price of existing Sharjah villas. What remains unpublished, the phasing, the completion dates, the payment plan and the prices of villas and apartments, will define whether the community delivers on the scale it has announced; the emirate’s 2022 freehold rules and its H1 2026 figures, AED 29.5 billion of transactions and investors from 121 nationalities, explain why a developer of Azizi’s size chose to announce it now.

FAQ

What is Azizi Florence and where is it located?

Azizi Florence is a freehold master-planned community announced by Azizi Developments on 9 September 2026 in the Um Fanain district of Sharjah, next to Sharjah Sustainable City and with access to Emirates Road. The developer values the project at AED 30 billion (USD 8.17 billion) and plans 1,130 villas, more than 6,000 townhouses and 3,500 apartments in six clusters around a 1.7 million square foot Central Park, with retail, hospitality, education, leisure and wellness facilities inside the community.

How much do homes in Azizi Florence cost?

The developer has published one price point: three-bedroom townhouses from AED 1.89 million at AED 850 per square foot of sellable area, which implies an entry unit of roughly 2,224 square feet. Prices for villas and apartments, the payment plan and the completion dates have not been announced. For comparison, Savills puts the average asking price of Sharjah villas at AED 970 per square foot in H1 2026.

Can foreigners buy freehold property in Sharjah?

Yes, since November 2022. Sharjah Law No. 2 of 2022 and Executive Council Decision No. 30 of 2022 allow persons of all nationalities to own real estate of all kinds without limitation of time inside development areas and projects approved by the council. SRERD reports 50 approved projects since the decision, six of them approved in the first half of 2026, so a buyer should confirm that a specific project, including Azizi Florence, is on the approved list before paying a deposit.

Does buying in Azizi Florence qualify for the UAE Golden Visa?

Only if the property is worth AED 2 million or more, which is the federal threshold for the real estate investor Golden Visa. The AED 1.89 million entry townhouse is below the threshold, so a buyer who wants the 10-year visa needs a larger unit, a villa or a combination of properties worth at least AED 2 million. Atlant Capital prepares Golden Visa applications for property investors and can check the eligibility of a specific purchase.