Dubai Property Market Report: October 2026

01 · Sales value

Sales value: the highest month since April, 24% above May's low

Value rose 22% in October. One registration explains a third of the increase, but the month still continues a rise from May's low of AED 21.6 billion, from a base about half the January–March level.

Residential sales transactions totalled 10,979 in October 2026, worth AED 26.85 billion, representing increases of 6.4% and 21.8% compared with September. The value was the highest since April, when it reached AED 37.2 billion.

A single registration accounts for much of the increase. On 2 October, 524 villa plots at Tilal Binghatti, in Al Rowaiyah First (Dubai International Academic City), were registered as "Delayed Sell" transactions worth AED 1.68 billion. Such registrations are counted in the ready market as developers' first sales, and ranged from approximately 550 to 1,500 a month across Dubai in 2026; this was the largest batch for a single project this year, compared with 168 for Serro 2 The Heights in March. Excluding it, sales rose 1.3% and value 14.2% month-on-month.

Set against the year, May was the low point: AED 21.6 billion, against approximately AED 45 billion a month in January–March. Value has risen since, to AED 26.9 billion in October. Prime sales account for just over half of the gap to the start of the year: their value declined from AED 20.16 billion in January to AED 6.18 billion in October, while the value of all other sales declined from AED 32.74 billion to AED 20.67 billion.

02 · Off-plan

Off-plan: activity moderated for a third month, prices did not

Off-plan apartment sales have declined since July, with like-for-like prices broadly stable.

Off-plan sales totalled 6,438 in October, down 8.1% from 7,003 in September, accounting for 58.6% of residential sales transactions, the lowest share of 2026 and down from 67.9% in September. Excluding the Tilal Binghatti registration, the share was 61.6%, still below the previous low of 64.9% in February.

The decline is concentrated in apartments. Off-plan apartment sales declined for a third consecutive month, to 5,753 from 8,954 in July, a fall of 36%. Off-plan villa and townhouse sales rose to 685 from 493, the most since March, when 981 were recorded.

Prices have not followed volumes. Like-for-like off-plan apartment prices, measured in the same project and bedroom type, changed by −0.2% month-on-month and −1.2% against January–March, indicating limited repricing so far.

Binghatti recorded the most off-plan sales, 880, worth AED 1.22 billion, including 208 at Binghatti Skyterraces. DAMAC's off-plan sales value rose 46% to AED 1.15 billion across 599 sales, while Emaar's declined to AED 1.08 billion from AED 1.47 billion. The five developers with the most sales, Binghatti, Azizi, DAMAC, Sobha and Emaar, accounted for 46% of off-plan sales.

03 · Ready market

Ready market: transactions rose 37% to 4,541

Owner resales reached their highest level since February, with two bulk registrations adding to the total.

Ready market transactions totalled 4,541 in October, up 37% from 3,314 in September. Owner resales, sales of completed homes by their existing owners, rose 19% to 3,121, the most since February, when 3,994 were recorded. Developers' first sales of completed homes rose to 1,420 from 696, of which 524 were the Tilal Binghatti plots.

160 of the owner resales were one- and two-bedroom apartments in a single Liwan building, Q Point (plot R062), registered on 29 and 30 October at approximately AED 1,000 per sq ft and approximately AED 170 million in total, consistent with the sale of a portfolio. Excluding them, owner resales rose 13% to 2,961.

Excluding both bulk registrations, ready market transactions rose 16% to 3,857. Ready villa and townhouse sales, excluding the Tilal Binghatti plots, rose to 964 from 810, the most since April.

04 · Prices

Apartment prices: like-for-like decline of 1.5% since January–March

The median has fallen further than prices in the same projects, reflecting a change in what sold.

The median apartment price was AED 1,661 per sq ft in October, broadly unchanged from AED 1,662 in September and down 6.4% from AED 1,774 in January. Across 346 project and bedroom-type groups with sales in both months, like-for-like prices changed by −0.2% month-on-month.

Against January–March, the like-for-like decline is 1.5%, across 423 groups, well below the 6.4% fall in the median since January. The difference reflects a change in what sold: off-plan apartments, which carry a higher median price per sq ft (AED 1,760 in October, compared with AED 1,379 for ready apartments), accounted for 65% of apartment sales in October, down from 71% in January.

Older ready homes account for most of the like-for-like decline. Prices of owner resales were 7.0% below January–March in the same project and bedroom type, compared with 1.2% for off-plan apartments, consistent with the 7% decline to July reported in Richmond Properties' owner resales report.

The median villa and townhouse price was AED 3.58 million, up 2.3% month-on-month and down from AED 4.12 million in January. Villa medians depend heavily on which projects sell in a given month, so they are not a like-for-like measure.

05 · Prime

Prime: the most sales of AED 10 million and above since July

Villas accounted for three-quarters of prime sales, and super-prime sales rose to 40.

Prime sales (AED 10 million and above) totalled 268 in October, worth AED 6.18 billion, up from 193 and AED 4.20 billion in September and the most since July, when 272 were recorded. Villas accounted for 198, or 74%, and off-plan sales for 31.

Super-prime sales ($10 million and above, approximately AED 37 million) rose to 40 from 16, worth AED 2.25 billion, the most since April, when 56 were recorded. 36 of the 40 were villas. The largest sale was a villa on Palm Jebel Ali for AED 112.3 million.

Both measures remain well below the start of the year: January recorded 962 prime and 71 super-prime sales. Since May, prime sales have held between 193 and 272 a month; October's 268 is at the top of that range, and a move above it would mark a recovery at the top end.

06 · Leasing

Leasing: new leases accounted for 47% of registrations

More tenants are signing new leases rather than renewing, with apartment rental rates 7.4% above their April low.

36,483 new leases were registered with Ejari in October, down 5.2% from 38,480 in September but the second-highest month of 2026 and more than double the 16,063 of March. Renewals totalled 41,299. New leases accounted for 46.9% of lease registrations, up from 38.8% in January.

Weekly figures show the turn more clearly. In Richmond Properties' owner resales report, rents on new leases in the same buildings rose for seven consecutive weeks to 1 November, the longest run of 2026, and were up 5.1% per sq ft since the week of 31 August–6 September. They remain 13.5% below January–March, after a 17% fall to July.

The median rental rate on new apartment leases was AED 95 per sq ft a year, down 2.3% month-on-month, 7.4% above April's low of AED 89 and 1.7% below January's AED 97. New villa and townhouse leases had a median rental rate of AED 180,000 a year, down 2.7% month-on-month.

The narrower gap between renewal and new-lease rental rates is likely to be a factor in the shift. Richmond Properties' owner resales report found that renewal rates in the same buildings moved from 11.8% below new-lease rates in January–March to 1.1% above in early October, reducing the saving from renewing.

The gross rental yield on apartments was 6.9% in October, down 0.1 points month-on-month, comparing the median new-lease rental rate with the median ready apartment price per sq ft. For villas and townhouses it was 5.0%.

07 · Communities

Communities: the most sales recorded in Jumeirah Village Circle

Sales were concentrated in mid-market apartment communities and in new off-plan projects.

824 sales were recorded in Jumeirah Village Circle in October, up 5.0% month-on-month and the most of the communities tracked, followed by Dubai South with 781 and Dubai International Academic City with 625, almost all of them the Tilal Binghatti registration.

Among communities with more than 150 sales, the largest increases were recorded in Dubai Maritime City and Mina Rashid (221 sales, up 99%), DAMAC Islands 2, Mira and Reem (176, up 71%) and Sobha Sanctuary and The Valley (268, up 51%), with sales in each concentrated in off-plan projects.

Sales declined by 40% in City of Arabia, to 213, by 39% in Dubai Creek Harbour, to 239, and by 33% in Downtown Jebel Ali, to 336.