Dubai Property Market Insights
Most Dubai market commentary is either a developer's press release or a number someone half-remembered from last year. This section is the other thing: the actual figures, sourced from Dubai Land Department records and named consultancy research, dated so you can see how current they are, and updated each quarter rather than written once and left. If you want to know what a community is transacting at, what it yields net of service charges, and how much supply is completing nearby, that's what lives here.
Price per square foot by community The only comparison that means anything across different unit sizes and layouts. We publish transacted rates rather than asking prices, because the gap between the two in Dubai varies by community and tells you something on its own.
Rental yields, net where we can source it Gross yield is easy and misleading. Service charges differ sharply between buildings, and voids are real in some communities and near-zero in others. Where we can establish service charge rates, we publish the net figure and show the working.
Transaction volumes and values DLD registrations by quarter, split where useful between off-plan and ready, apartment and villa, and cash and mortgage. Direction matters more than any single record.
Supply and handover pipeline Scheduled completions by community over the coming years. This is the most underused figure in Dubai buying decisions and the one that most often explains a disappointing resale.
The rental index and renewal environment How the DLD index is moving, and what that means for landlords setting renewals and tenants contesting them.
Four things that separate a useful read from a misleading one.
- DLD data covers registered transactions, so it lags. A deal agreed in March may register in April or later. Quarter-on-quarter movement is meaningful; last-fortnight movement usually isn't.
- Aggregate records aren't price growth. "Highest ever transaction value" combines volume and price. In a city adding population steadily, that record can recur without price per square foot moving at all. Always look for the per-unit figure underneath.
- Asking prices aren't transaction prices. Portal listings show what sellers want. DLD shows what buyers paid. In slower conditions the gap widens, and that gap is itself a market signal.
- Supply is the variable that turns Dubai cycles. Historically, handover volumes have moved this market more than demand shocks. A community with heavy scheduled completions behaves differently from one with none, whatever the citywide headline says.
- Dubai Land Department for registered transactions, prices and the rental index - the primary source for anything we publish on pricing or volume.
- Dubai REST for service charge rates, which is what allows a net rather than gross yield.
- Developer disclosures for sales backlogs and handover schedules, particularly the listed developers whose reporting is auditable.
- Established consultancy research for supply forecasts and international comparison, named in the post rather than referred to vaguely
Frequently Asked Questions
The Dubai Land Department is the primary source, publishing registered transaction volumes, values and the rental index. It is because it covers registered deals, it lags the market slightly and excludes agreed-but-unregistered transactions. Developer disclosures and consultancy research cover forward supply and demand.
It varies enormously by community and unit type — prime waterfront and Downtown stock transacts at multiples of affordable apartment districts - so a single citywide average is close to meaningless for a purchase decision. Our quarterly reports break this down by community with the transaction date attached.
Mid-market and affordable apartment communities generally produce higher gross yields than prime villa districts, which tend to outperform on capital growth instead. Assess net yield after service charges, voids and management fees, and weigh it against resale liquidity in that specific community rather than yield alone.
Quarterly for the core data reports, with interim updates when DLD publishes significant revisions or the rental index changes materially. Each report shows its publication date and the period it covers.
The Dubai Land Department's benchmark of market rents by area and property type, used to calculate the maximum permissible increase at renewal. Landlords and tenants can both check it, and disputes are resolved against it at the Rental Disputes Centre.
Conditions differ from previous peaks in mortgage regulation, escrow protection and the share of cash buyers, so direct comparison with 2008 or 2014 is unreliable. The more useful question is supply against population growth in a specific community. We report both rather than forecasting a single outcome.
Portals show asking prices; we report transacted prices from DLD records. The two diverge, and the size of the gap varies with market conditions - which makes it a useful signal in itself.
Often yes, including transaction history and service charge rates. Contact us with the community or tower and we'll tell you what the records show.