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Annual report

Dubai property market — 2008

Every figure below comes from sale transactions registered with the Dubai Land Department and dated inside 2008. Mortgages and gifts are excluded; the register's own record of a sale is the only source.

Sales23,634Registered in 2008up160.2% vs the year before
Total valueAED 110.08BRegistered in 2008Across 129 communities
Price per sqftAED 591/sqftMedian across 2008up45.7% vs the year before
Sale priceAED 1.20MMedian across 20080% sold off-plan

In a sentence

The Land Department registered 23,634 property sales in 2008, worth AED 110.08B in total, across 129 communities. That is 160% more than the year before.

The median sale was AED 1,200,000 at AED 591/sqft, 45.7% above the year before. 0% of sales were off-plan.

Marsa Dubai was the busiest community with 5,604 registered sales, while Burj Khalifa took the most money at AED 11.02B.

Against the previous year, Al Warsan First rose 2,730% to 5,264 sales, while Mirdif fell 43% to 161.

Sales by year

Price per square foot by year

Median price per sqft

Where the sales were

The fifteen communities with the most registered sales in 2008, and how each moved against the year before.

CommunitySalesvs priorTotal valueMedian pricePrice/sqftOff-plan
Marsa Dubai5,604+177.8%AED 10.62BAED 949KAED 787/sqft0%
Al Warsan First5,264+2730.1%AED 4.90BAED 336KAED 559/sqft0%
Al Thanayah Fourth2,498+16.0%AED 6.74BAED 1.70MAED 389/sqft0%
Al Thanyah Third1,974+267.6%AED 5.33BAED 1.37MAED 970/sqft0%
Wadi Al Safa 61,640+87.0%AED 4.64BAED 2.37MAED 386/sqft0%
Al Ruwayyah1,312+3544.4%AED 3.43BAED 893KAED 125/sqft0%
Palm Jumeirah860+129.3%AED 6.17BAED 3.20MAED 388/sqft0%
Al Thanyah Fifth738+138.8%AED 3.30BAED 1.31MAED 699/sqft0%
Burj Khalifa446+725.9%AED 11.02BAED 2.46MAED 1,214/sqft0%
Jabal Ali411+2835.7%AED 3.89BAED 5.55MAED 235/sqft0%
Al Barsha South Fourth386—AED 6.16BAED 10.01MAED 327/sqft0%
Al Jadaf256-21.2%AED 5.81BAED 19.34MAED 1,500/sqft0%
Nad Al Shiba204+88.9%AED 3.80BAED 9.09MAED 300/sqft0%
Mirdif161-42.5%AED 1.17BAED 6.00MAED 600/sqft0%
Trade Center Second130+12900.0%AED 467.14MAED 3.68MAED 1,498/sqft0%

Where the money went

Ranked by total registered value rather than count — a different list, and the one that shows where capital actually landed.

CommunityValueSales
Burj KhalifaAED 11.02B446
Marsa DubaiAED 10.62B5,604
Al Thanayah FourthAED 6.74B2,498
Palm JumeirahAED 6.17B860
Al Barsha South FourthAED 6.16B386
Al JadafAED 5.81B256
Al Thanyah ThirdAED 5.33B1,974
Al Warsan FirstAED 4.90B5,264
Wadi Al Safa 6AED 4.64B1,640
Jabal AliAED 3.89B411

Biggest movers

Change in registered sales against the previous year. Limited to communities with at least 50 sales in both — below that a swing is noise.

CommunitySalesChange
Al Warsan First5,264+2730.1%
Burj Khalifa446+725.9%
Al Thanyah Third1,974+267.6%
Marsa Dubai5,604+177.8%
Al Thanyah Fifth738+138.8%
Palm Jumeirah860+129.3%
Nad Al Shiba204+88.9%
Wadi Al Safa 61,640+87.0%
Mirdif161-42.5%
Jabal Ali Industrial First117-31.6%

The largest sales of 2008

Each row links to its own register record, so any figure in this report can be traced to the transactions behind it.

Registered property transactions from the Dubai Land Department
DateCommunityProject / buildingTypeBedsSizePrice/sqftPrice
29 May 2008Zaabeel SecondAkala Hotels and ResidencesDubai International Financial CenterLandExisting PropertiesNot specified138,466 sqftAED 8,500/sqftAED 1,176,961,000
5 Jun 2008Trade Center FirstBURJ AZIZILandExisting PropertiesNot specified40,000 sqftAED 18,000/sqftAED 720,000,000
28 Feb 2008Al Safouh Second—BuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified167,800 sqftAED 4,172/sqftAED 700,000,000
12 May 2008Burj Khalifa—Business BayLandExisting PropertiesNot specified586,391 sqftAED 942/sqftAED 552,441,000
17 Sept 2008Nad Al Shiba—City Of ArabiaLandExisting PropertiesNot specified100,246 sqftAED 4,988/sqftAED 500,000,000
29 Sept 2008Burj Khalifa—Business BayLandExisting PropertiesNot specified125,627 sqftAED 3,900/sqftAED 489,945,300
29 Sept 2008Nad Al Shiba—Silicon OasisLandExisting PropertiesNot specified96,076 sqftAED 4,840/sqftAED 465,000,000
26 May 2008Al Hamriya—BuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified63,920 sqftAED 6,571/sqftAED 420,000,000
12 May 2008Burj Khalifa—DownTown DubaiBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified198,934 sqftAED 2,111/sqftAED 420,000,000
19 Feb 2008Al Thanyah Fifth—DMCC Master CommunityBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified17,760 sqftAED 21,396/sqftAED 380,000,000

Source: Dubai Land Department open data, retrieved from the Digital Dubai data.dubai platform. Figures cover registered transactions and Ejari-registered tenancy contracts, and are statistical summaries of public record — not a valuation of any individual property. Registration data can be amended or backdated by the source after first publication.