UAE Property Analyzer

What off-plan buyers got at completion (Dubai apartments)

The price per sq ft at which each project sold off-plan at launch, against the price its flats resold for in the first year after completion: same project, same bedroom types, next to the whole market over the same years.

• Across 399 Dubai apartment projects launched since 2012 and resold after completion, the price per sq ft rose a median +13% from launch to the first year after completion (about 3.2 years; +3% a year). 69% of projects gained.
• The Dubai market (ready-apartment index) moved a median +19% over the same years. The median project beat the market by -1%, and 47% beat it at all: most of what off-plan buyers made was the market moving, not a built-in off-plan gain.
• Timing dominates. Projects launched in 2014–2017 (142) completed at a median -3% (market -14%); those launched in 2019–2023 (197) at +27% (market +30%).

By launch year

By area (3+ projects)

By project (grouped by launch year)

Method and caveats

• Launch price: median price per sq ft of the project's off-plan sales in the 12 months after its first one. After completion: median of its ready resales in the 12 months after the first. Compared bedroom type by bedroom type, weighted by the smaller sample.
• Market: the fixed-basket index of ready apartments (as on the 20-year history page), between the middles of the two windows.
• Off-plan is paid in instalments during construction, so the return on cash paid can be higher than the gain shown, and losses larger in a fall. DLD fee (4%), agent fees and payment-plan terms are not included.
• Launches before 2012 are left out (off-plan registrations are only recorded from 2009, so earlier launches cannot be dated), as are projects whose first ready sale came less than 18 months after the first off-plan sale. Projects never completed or never resold are absent (survivorship).
• 2 projects with a gain below -60% or above +150% (sizes recorded differently at launch and resale) were dropped as data errors.

Data to 2026-10. Source: Dubai Land Department open data (to 2025 via the CC BY 4.0 mirror by Dubai Real Estate Data). Information only, not investment advice.