Real estate has been a pariah asset for many investors after property prices across many of the region’s biggest cities plummeted in 2009.

Dubai led the crash and is also leading the recovery, and in 2012 prices in the emirate finally began to rebound, resulting in new project launches, off-plan sales and a surge in investor confidence. The improved sentiment has been felt across the region with firms operating in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait all making the MEED 100.

Once again, Qatar’s Ezdan Holding is the highest-placed real estate firm in the Top 100. It fell five places to 15, but investors remain confident that the company will be a key beneficiary of the build-up to football’s Fifa World Cup in 2022. The firm signed an agreement with the Qatar Bid Committee 2022 to build 50,000 housing units ahead of the event. It will also benefit from rising rents driven by the influx of professionals needed to help Doha deliver the $70bn of projects it has planned to prepare the country for the tournament.

The second-placed real estate firm is Dubai’s Emaar properties. Its ranking rose 16 places to 23 as the company benefited from the turnaround in the fortunes of Dubai’s property sector. Prices in the emirate began to rise in 2012 and Emaar, along with other developers, has launched new projects and booked off-plan sales, bringing in revenue streams that the company has missed since 2008.

Third on the list is Saudi Arabia’s Jabal Omar Development Company, which has risen 12 places in the ranking to 36 as it puts its financing and construction difficulties behind it. In 2012, it awarded a string of contracts on its flagship Mecca projects, a move that has given investors renewed confidence in the company’s prospects for the future.

The other real estate companies on the list are Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate at 73, Kuwait’s Mabanee Company at 75 and Saudi Arabia’s Dar al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company at 91.

For 2014, Abu Dhabi’s soon-to-be-formed AldarSorouh is expected to join the list. The merger will create one of the largest listed real estate companies in the region, with AED47bn ($12.8bn) of assets as of September 2012 and a combined market capitalisation of AED10.9bn, based on share prices on 17 January this year.