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Annual report

Dubai property market — 2018

Every figure below comes from sale transactions registered with the Dubai Land Department and dated inside 2018. Mortgages and gifts are excluded; the register's own record of a sale is the only source.

Sales32,186Registered in 2018down30.3% vs the year before
Total valueAED 74.59BRegistered in 2018Across 161 communities
Price per sqftAED 1,018/sqftMedian across 2018up1.9% vs the year before
Sale priceAED 1.11MMedian across 201848% sold off-plan

In a sentence

The Land Department registered 32,186 property sales in 2018, worth AED 74.59B in total, across 161 communities. That is 30% fewer than the year before.

The median sale was AED 1,106,888 at AED 1,018/sqft, 1.9% above the year before. 48% of sales were off-plan.

Business Bay was the busiest community with 2,877 registered sales, and also took the most money at AED 5.55B.

Against the previous year, Al Merkadh rose 236% to 1,742 sales, while Wadi Al Safa 7 fell 77% to 272.

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 2018, and how each moved against the year before.

CommunitySalesvs priorTotal valueMedian pricePrice/sqftOff-plan
Business Bay2,877-8.2%AED 5.55BAED 1.02MAED 1,534/sqft69%
Marsa Dubai2,481-22.8%AED 4.92BAED 1.58MAED 1,493/sqft37%
Al Warsan First2,302+28.9%AED 1.57BAED 370KAED 774/sqft38%
Al Barsha South Fourth2,061-30.8%AED 2.98BAED 736KAED 941/sqft62%
Al Merkadh1,742+236.3%AED 2.89BAED 643KAED 1,477/sqft96%
Burj Khalifa1,357-24.8%AED 4.63BAED 2.15MAED 1,844/sqft56%
Al Thanyah Fifth1,202-28.2%AED 1.86BAED 1.00MAED 866/sqft7%
Nadd Hessa1,117-9.4%AED 1.11BAED 546KAED 751/sqft38%
Al Hebiah Fourth1,089-24.3%AED 1.02BAED 625KAED 891/sqft17%
Jabal Ali First1,045-55.8%AED 1.36BAED 600KAED 949/sqft29%
Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid1,010-43.1%AED 2.68BAED 1.55MAED 1,275/sqft81%
Palm Jumeirah937-7.0%AED 3.24BAED 2.00MAED 1,807/sqft30%
Al Yelayiss 2872-45.1%AED 1.03BAED 1.32MAED 706/sqft79%
Wadi Al Safa 5840+106.9%AED 2.70BAED 1.44MAED 695/sqft49%
Al Khairan First757-44.3%AED 1.60BAED 1.75MAED 1,651/sqft100%

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
Business BayAED 5.55B2,877
Marsa DubaiAED 4.92B2,481
Burj KhalifaAED 4.63B1,357
Palm JumeirahAED 3.24B937
Al Barsha South FourthAED 2.98B2,061
Al MerkadhAED 2.89B1,742
Wadi Al Safa 5AED 2.70B840
Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin RashidAED 2.68B1,010
Al Thanayah FourthAED 1.87B417
Al Thanyah FifthAED 1.86B1,202

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 Merkadh1,742+236.3%
Wadi Al Safa 5840+106.9%
Wadi Al Safa 7272-76.9%
Al Wasl192-75.2%
Al Yelayiss 1149-74.0%
Al Yufrah 2341-73.3%
Saih Shuaib 293+69.1%
Madinat Al Mataar733-63.3%
Wadi Al Safa 2299-63.3%
Jabal Ali Industrial First73-62.0%

The largest sales of 2018

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
5 Jun 2018Business BayU-BORA TOWERSBusiness BayBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified1,723,935 sqftAED 435/sqftAED 750,000,000
7 Aug 2018Burj Khalifa—DownTown DubaiBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified62,443 sqftAED 10,117/sqftAED 631,734,649
19 Feb 2018Business BayAvarra by PalaceBusiness BayLandExisting PropertiesNot specified56,937 sqftAED 7,904/sqftAED 450,000,000
12 Sept 2018Jumeirah First—LA MERLandExisting PropertiesNot specified334,392 sqftAED 1,110/sqftAED 371,225,681
27 Jun 2018Al Merkadh—SOBHA HARTLANDBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified411,363 sqftAED 875/sqftAED 360,000,000
18 Jun 2018Business Bay—Business BayBuildingExisting PropertiesNot specified40,468 sqftAED 8,649/sqftAED 350,000,000
3 Jan 2018Ras Al Khor Industrial First—LandExisting PropertiesNot specified50,029 sqftAED 6,364/sqftAED 318,375,000
8 Oct 2018Wadi Al Safa 4—City Of ArabiaLandExisting PropertiesNot specified1,551,249 sqftAED 186/sqftAED 288,750,000
2 Apr 2018Muhaisanah First—LandExisting PropertiesNot specified625,446 sqftAED 442/sqftAED 276,226,203
28 May 2018Al Qusais Industrial Second—LandExisting PropertiesNot specified199,758 sqftAED 1,277/sqftAED 255,000,000

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.