Tokenized Real Estate: What Private Investors Should Know

Tokenized real estate in Dubai has transitioned from a conceptual framework to a regulated reality, exemplified by the Dubai Land Department's pilot project on the Prypco Mint platform. Launched in May 2025, the initiative successfully attracted 224 investors from 44 nationalities, with 70% of participants being first-time property buyers in the region. The project allows for fractional ownership with a minimum entry ticket of AED 2,000, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for private investors. By February 2026, the market expanded to include secondary resale activity for approximately 7.8 million tokens. Despite this progress, the sector faces structural challenges, including the necessity of parallel record-keeping, limited governance rights for token holders, and regulatory fragmentation. Experts from Knight Frank and McKinsey emphasize that tokenization serves primarily as a distribution innovation rather than a new asset class. Consequently, investors are advised to prioritize the underlying property fundamentals over the technological wrapper while accounting for potential liquidity constraints.