Dubai Sports City
A master-planned city where sport is a core value driver — diversified infrastructure and elite academies positioning sport as a catalyst for capital appreciation.
+40%
Absorption
+25%
Asset value
Chapter 04
Padel as a real estate asset
Sport and leisure real estate, investor strategies, and padel as a tool for activation, yield and asset repositioning across residential, hospitality and mixed-use projects.
From niche leisure use to recognised investment area
Sports-related real estate has evolved from a niche leisure use into a recognised investment area, driven by demand for experiential assets and wellness-oriented lifestyles. Padel is emerging as a relevant, scalable use — typically integrated within broader sports and wellness mixes — supporting activation and asset enhancement.
✦
Experience-driven trends
Sports facilities act as experiential anchors, extending dwell time and lifting the appeal of surrounding assets.
↻
Stable cashflows
Repeat usage, memberships and high-frequency bookings improve operational intensity and visibility.
⌖
Asset reactivation
Sports venues reposition secondary locations without full redevelopment cycles.
♡
Wellness alignment
Public policy and ESG agendas favour health, community and social-interaction uses.
Case studies
Several sport-led real estate precedents demonstrate successful value creation across different strategies and geographies.
Finca Cortesín
Real estate repositioning through sport — hosting the Solheim Cup acted as a valuation catalyst via global exposure and institutional brand activation.
+35%
Residential value
Verdura Resort
A luxury resort where integrated golf and wellness assets deliver stable cash flows through a fully integrated sports-hospitality platform.
80%
Guest retention
Mayakoba
A destination-led development where global golf exposure via the PGA Tour accelerated real estate performance through destination branding.
+35%
Absorption
+28%
Asset value
Source: Gulf News Real Estate Report 2024, Strategy& analysis.
Investor archetypes
Investors are integrating sports assets across real estate strategies aligned with their risk profiles — from activation-led greenfield plays to income-focused, asset-level ownership.
Activation
Greenfield districts
Sport as an early anchor to attract activity, reduce phasing risk and create identity for an emerging district.
Enhancement
Value enhancement of RE
Sports & wellness amenities embedded in residential, PBSA, hospitality and mixed-use assets to strengthen positioning and footfall.
Income
Stable revenue assets
Acquiring and consolidating sports clubs as real-estate-backed income assets, often via OpCo / PropCo separation.
Padel is attracting new forms of real estate capital
Alternative RE funds
Alderan, a French RE manager, acquired a padel center in Madrid for €4m — alternative managers increasingly sourcing sports deals.
Sports-led platforms
Seventy7 Ventures & Swest Group launched a €100m Sports & Leisure RE SPV in Marbella, including a tennis academy and padel/pickleball complex.
Dedicated RE verticals
JLL and CBRE have created dedicated Sports & Entertainment real estate practices, reflecting growing institutional relevance.
Why padel works as a real estate use
01
Younger, experience-oriented users
Strong uptake among under-40s, recognised by developers as a footfall-driving asset influencing leisure, hospitality and residential demand.
02
Social, high-utilization activity
Low barriers to entry and high daily occupancy support intensive, efficient use of space across rental, membership and event schemes.
03
Fits residential & mixed-use
Increasingly incorporated into residential, resort and mixed-use developments, with broad demographic appeal.
Spanish resort. Reported a 15% increase in bookings within the first year of introducing a padel court.
Quinta do Lago, Portugal. A sports-residential ecosystem where padel acts as a social hub within a broader sports-led masterplan — driving c.30% residential value appreciation and owner retention above 75%.
~70%
Target utilization, indoor racket facility
~55%
Gross margin
~3 yrs
Payback
+9%
Higher footfall, Spanish malls with sport/leisure (2024)
Three investment strategies in Padel Heartlands
A · Greenfield districts
Padel is emerging as an early activation driver within mixed-use and greenfield developments — a complementary use within the broader sports mix, supported by broad appeal, light permitting and short lead times. Example: Ciudad del Deporte, Madrid — an €800m investment with Riyadh Air as anchor, including padel (BamVolea, 24 courts), TopGolf, Wavegarden, gyms, a university campus, retail and hotels.
B · Value enhancement through recreational facilities
Integrating padel into existing assets activates underutilised space, generates incremental operating income and materially increases footfall — a proven tool for asset repositioning rather than a standalone sports investment. Value creation remains closely tied to operator quality, making consolidation a key challenge for scalability.
C · Sports clubs as stable revenue assets
As the sector institutionalises, investors increasingly separate operations from real-asset ownership through OpCo / PropCo strategies, enabling differentiated risk-return profiles.
PropCo model
Own the real estate
Stable, predictable income via long-term leases and downside protection. Suited to income-focused core / core-plus capital — RE funds, family offices, long-term yield investors.
OpCo model
Own the operations
Exposure to participation, pricing and utilization growth. Value driven by professionalization, consolidation and expansion. Higher-risk / higher-return — growth PE, family offices, strategic operators.
Maturity path. Development & roll-out is largely complete in core markets; the sector is now transitioning into a consolidation phase (capital deployment, platform build-ups, asset upgrades). It has yet to reach full transactional maturity — large-scale PropCo–OpCo transactions remain limited.
Real estate adoption differs by cluster
| Archetype | Padel's role in real estate |
|---|---|
| Padel Heartlands | Value shifts from new build-out to asset optimization; padel supports refurbishment and mixed-use activation. |
| The Sweet Spot | Padel as a demand-anchoring amenity; RE decisions driven by utilization and operating efficiency. |
| The Hotspot | Chain-led expansion constrained by site scarcity and permitting; conversions used mainly as a workaround. |
| Diamonds in the Rough | Supports selective, premium developments — typically high-capex, mixed-use or destination-led projects. |
| Post-Boom Adjustment | Focus on asset repositioning and consolidation as markets absorb excess capacity. |
Source: Strategy& analysis. The US treats padel as a stand-alone, high-yield asset in underutilised urban spaces (rooftops, parking structures); Germany's rental-market constraints push operators toward land acquisition and purpose-built indoor facilities.
Outlook
Padel is emerging as a high-growth real estate opportunity, evolving toward consolidation and asset-level investment. The investment community increasingly recognises sports assets as effective tools for activation, differentiation and long-term value creation — with maturity varying across clusters and the clearest path in Padel Heartlands. Ownership remains fragmented, but transaction activity is emerging as clubs consolidate into institutional-grade, PropCo-investable assets.
Reference
Sources & methodology
How the data was assembled, the scope of club-level metrics, and how to interpret the figures.