u/DoctorFaiI

By May 4, the city had shed 40% of the cumulative lease volume registered just three months earlier in February 2026. The ratio of new leases to expirations has reverted to levels last seen in August and September 2023.

From March 1 through May 4, more leases expired than were newly executed. The net outflow stands at 60,499 contracts. A year earlier, during the same window of 2025, Dubai had registered a net surplus of 19,798 contracts.

This update builds on observations made in March. The outflow of tenants has intensified. The move in end-user behaviour toward departure remains the dominant trend.

I tracked the difference between new contracts, renewals, and expirations using data from the Dubai Land Department and Dubai Pulse, with 2022 as a baseline, the year international demand entered the emirate at volume.

Data: Dubai Land Department (DLD), Dubai Pulse (pre-downloaded 2025 dataset). Active-contract methodology: contracts with end dates falling after the relevant quarter’s close.

I finished a reproducible investigation and audit of the Cyprus Registrar of Companies' own public files (1.44M joined rows, no leaks, no FOIA):

• 223 individuals are each listed as directors of 50+ active Cypriot companies, covering 22,524 entities between them, or 16.1% of the live registry. Widen the threshold to five companies per director and 5.8% of the director population nominally oversees 65.8% of active firms. One office unit in Larnaca carries 422 active companies on its registered address.
• The nominee infrastructure expanded sharply after February 2022 (Russia-Ukraine full-scale invasion). Among 2,664 directors holding 5+ companies at a single address, 1,603 (60.2%) registered three or more new companies post-invasion. The most active incorporated 152 companies in 1,530 days, roughly one every ten days, sustained for four years.
• Penetration is uneven by sector. Financial services (NACE K) shows 41.2% serial-director presence against a market-wide baseline near 20%. Real estate runs at 24.6%.

My methodology and full investigation available here