Kolaboro / Research / State of Off-Plan 2026
Research report · Data edition 1 November 2026
State of Off-Plan 2026: what developers publish, and what holds up
We checked 646 off-plan projects in 123 markets and 62 countries on the same six points a careful buyer needs, then tested 6,419 developer claims against registries, courts, regulators and the press. This is what we found.
- Projects
- 646
- Markets · countries
- 123 · 62
- Claims tested
- 6,419
- Publish all six
- 49
Live numbers: this edition is fixed at 1 November 2026. Today's figures load from the open database.
Key findings
- The average project publishes 3.1 of the six things a careful buyer needs. Only 49 of 646 projects (8%) publish all six, and 45 of those also have no problem in news, court or regulator reports.
- Deposit protection is the rarest disclosure: 22% of projects say buyer payments go into an escrow or trust account (139 of 646). Only 28% publish a permit or licence number.
- Of 3,876 check results, 20% are confirmed by an official registry or an independent source. 33% rest on the developer's word alone, 45% are not published at all, and 89 (2%) are contradicted.
- We tested 6,419 individual developer claims. 29% held up against another source, 55% could not be checked, and 17% were contradicted. 526 projects (81%) have at least one contradicted claim.
- The Gulf leads on disclosure: projects there publish 4.3 of six checks on average and 37% of check results are confirmed. In Southeast Asia the figures are 2.7 and 12%.
- Among markets with at least five projects, Dubai publishes the most (5.53 of six on average) and Sharjah the least (1.67).
- 80 projects have a reported delay figure. 78 of them are late, by a median of 12.5 months; 12 are more than 24 months behind.
Method
Six checks
Every project is checked on the same six points. A check counts as published when the developer, its sales agents or a listing makes it public.
- Permit or licence number. A building permit, project registration or licence number that a buyer could look up.
- Deposit protection. A statement that buyer payments go into an escrow or trust account.
- Construction progress. A progress percentage or dated construction updates.
- Floor or site plans. Plans for the units or the site.
- Developer track record. Finished projects a buyer can look at.
- No guaranteed returns. No promise of a fixed rental return. This is the one check passed by not making a claim.
Verification levels
For every check we record the strongest source we found.
- Registry
- Confirmed on an official source: a land department, permit register, licence list or company registry.
- Independent
- Confirmed by an independent source such as a regulator notice, a court record, a stock exchange filing or a major newspaper.
- Developer only
- Only the developer, its sales agents or listing portals say so.
- Contradicted
- Sources disagree, or an official source says something different from the developer.
- None
- Not published, so there is nothing to verify.
Claims tested
Beyond the six checks, each advertised statement we could find (for example a completion date, a unit count, a permit, a return) is a claim. Each claim is marked verified, unverified or contradicted against other sources. A project can have many claims, so claim totals are larger than check totals.
Anonymity
Projects are anonymous in this report and in the open data. A project is named only after a verification is complete and the developer has had 10 working days to reply. We report patterns, not names.
Regions
Countries are grouped into regions by Kolaboro for this report. Japan does not fit the six main regions and is shown on its own as East Asia; it is included in every overall figure.
Limits
- Public information only. We record what a buyer could find before paying; we did not receive private documents for this edition.
- A public document is not proof that it is genuine. Checking that is the work of a site visit and a registry search.
- Not published does not mean it does not exist. It means a buyer cannot see it before asking.
- Coverage is uneven: some markets have many projects and some only a few. Market rankings use only markets with at least 5 projects.
- This is a fixed edition with data dated 1 November 2026. The live database keeps changing.
Which countries are in each region
- Southeast Asia (183 projects)
- Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
- Gulf (127 projects)
- Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE
- Europe (146 projects)
- Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Northern Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom
- Americas (111 projects)
- Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA, Uruguay
- Africa and Indian Ocean (46 projects)
- Cape Verde, Egypt, India, Kenya, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania
- Oceania (23 projects)
- Australia, Fiji, New Zealand
- East Asia (10 projects)
- Japan
The publish gap
Most developers publish the easy things, like plans and a track record. The two things that protect a buyer's money, a checkable permit number and deposit protection, are the least published.
Permit counts only a published permit or licence number. "No guaranteed returns" is the one check a project passes by not making a promise.
By region
Share of projects publishing each check, by region
| Region | Projects | Permit or licence number | Deposit protection | Construction progress | Floor or site plans | Developer track record | No guaranteed returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Asia | 183 | 21% | 9% | 39% | 54% | 61% | 91% |
| Gulf | 127 | 57% | 61% | 67% | 70% | 71% | 98% |
| Europe | 146 | 28% | 16% | 51% | 59% | 75% | 95% |
| Americas | 111 | 16% | 13% | 46% | 43% | 58% | 95% |
| Africa and Indian Ocean | 46 | 7% | 15% | 37% | 48% | 65% | 89% |
| Oceania | 23 | 22% | 0% | 35% | 13% | 83% | 100% |
| East Asia | 10 | 30% | 10% | 30% | 10% | 50% | 100% |
| All regions | 646 | 28% | 22% | 48% | 54% | 66% | 94% |
What holds up
Publishing something is the first step. The second is whether anyone other than the developer confirms it. 20% of all check results are confirmed by a registry or an independent source.
Floor plans are almost never on an official register, so "developer only" is the normal ceiling for that check. For "No guaranteed returns", "not published" means no return figure of any kind was found. Publish rates and verification levels are recorded separately, so a bar's "not published" share can differ from the publish rate above (for example, a permit mentioned without a number).
Claims tested
6,419 individual claims were tested. 1,849 were verified, 3,502 could not be verified and 1,068 were contradicted by another source.
Stage mix and lateness
325 projects are under construction, 260 are still off-plan, 12 are completed but still selling, and 49 do not state a stage.
Lateness
80 projects (12%) have a reported delay figure in months. 78 of them are late. The median delay is 12.5 months and the longest is 108 months. By stage, 60 of the projects with a delay figure are under construction, 14 are off-plan, 4 are completed and 2 do not state a stage.
Bar length is relative to the largest group.
Separately, 7 projects advertise a completion year before 2026 but are not marked completed (5 under construction, 2 off-plan). 76 projects do not advertise a completion year at all, so lateness cannot be judged for them.
Markets with the most and least public information
43 markets have at least 5 projects. Ranked by the average number of the six checks published, then by the share of check results confirmed.
The 10 markets with the most public information
| Market | Country | Projects | Checks published (of 6) | Permit no. | Deposit protection | Results confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | UAE | 59 | 5.53 | 97% | 93% | 58% |
| Abu Dhabi | UAE | 14 | 4.71 | 86% | 100% | 42% |
| Costa del Sol | Spain | 17 | 4.06 | 12% | 65% | 19% |
| Georgia | Georgia | 6 | 3.83 | 0% | 0% | 17% |
| Philippines | Philippines | 9 | 3.78 | 67% | 0% | 30% |
| Istanbul | Turkey | 7 | 3.71 | 29% | 14% | 26% |
| Manchester | United Kingdom | 6 | 3.67 | 83% | 0% | 39% |
| Spain | Spain | 11 | 3.64 | 18% | 36% | 18% |
| Antalya | Turkey | 5 | 3.60 | 20% | 0% | 7% |
| Pattaya | Thailand | 10 | 3.50 | 60% | 0% | 33% |
The 10 markets with the least public information
| Market | Country | Projects | Checks published (of 6) | Permit no. | Deposit protection | Results confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharjah | UAE | 6 | 1.67 | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Mérida | Mexico | 6 | 1.83 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Koh Samui | Thailand | 9 | 2.00 | 11% | 0% | 4% |
| Lombok | Indonesia | 20 | 2.05 | 0% | 10% | 2% |
| Los Cabos | Mexico | 8 | 2.12 | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Algarve | Portugal | 6 | 2.17 | 17% | 0% | 14% |
| Montenegro | Montenegro | 6 | 2.17 | 17% | 0% | 14% |
| Qatar | Qatar | 5 | 2.40 | 0% | 0% | 17% |
| Bahrain | Bahrain | 6 | 2.50 | 0% | 0% | 8% |
| Costa Rica | Costa Rica | 6 | 2.50 | 0% | 0% | 8% |
"Results confirmed" is the share of all six check results in the market confirmed by a registry or an independent source. Full figures for every market are in the markets CSV.
What buyers should ask
One question for each of the six checks. Ask in writing, and ask for the answer in a form you can check yourself.
Permit or licence
What is the building permit or project licence number, and can I look it up on the official register myself?
28% of projects publish a number; 15 check results on permits are contradicted by another source.
Deposit protection
Will my payments go into an escrow or trust account in my name, held by a regulated third party? Which one?
Only 22% of projects say so publicly.
Construction progress
What percentage is built today, who certified it, and can I see dated site evidence?
48% publish progress; 49 progress check results are contradicted, the most of any check.
Plans
Can I have the floor plan and site plan that will be attached to my contract, not a brochure version?
54% publish plans; 3 are confirmed by a registry.
Track record
Which projects has this developer finished, when were they promised, and when were they delivered?
66% publish a track record; 57% of those records are confirmed by a registry or an independent source.
Returns
Is any rental return in the contract? If not, what is it based on, and who pays if it is not met?
94% avoid a guaranteed return, but almost all return figures rest on the developer's word: 76% of these results are developer only.
Cite this report
Kolaboro (2026). State of Off-Plan 2026: what developers publish, and what holds up. Data edition 1 November 2026. https://kolaboro.com/report/state-of-off-plan-2026/
Please cite the data edition date. Numbers in this report are fixed at 1 November 2026 and will differ from the live database.
Download the data
The open data behind this report, free to use with attribution.
- projects.csv One row per anonymised project: checks, verification, claims, stage, delay.
- markets.csv One row per market: projects, average checks, permit and deposit rates.
- bali-cases.json The full live database as JSON.
The CSV and JSON files are live and update as the database changes. See also the database, the method and corrections.