Dubai Real Estate Market Report — 2022

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – 2022

Dubai's property market recorded its strongest year on record in 2022. Across all asset types — apartments, villas, plots, commercial units and buildings — the emirate registered 96,518 sale transactions worth AED 263.69 billion, at a blended median of AED 1,201/sqft. Excluding plots and buildings, the core Apartment, Villa and Commercial segment on its own made up 93,593 deals, up 61% year on year, and AED 220.24 billion of value, up 77% — each the highest total in the nine-year series.

The growth was broad yet uneven: apartments led the charge, median prices extended into a second straight year of double-digit gains, and the off-plan primary market carried the weight.

Headline figures

The market in context

Apartment, Villa and Commercial transaction and value trends over the seven years to 2022:

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments were the year's engine. Volume reached 67,360 transactions — a 69% surge and the highest annual apartment total in the nine-year series — adding 27,572 deals over the prior year alone. Value grew even faster, up 98% to AED 130.40 billion. Pricing firmed to match: the median stood at AED 1,531/sqft, up 29% on the year and 27% above the 2014 base, the richest apartment pricing the series has logged. The typical apartment sold for AED 1,245,888, a 22% increase in ticket size.

Villas told a more nuanced story. Transactions rose 45% to 23,262 — also a series high, and 7,238 above a year earlier — while value climbed 54% to AED 85.13 billion. Per-square-foot pricing gained 20% to AED 957, now 30% over 2014 and, like apartments, a series peak. Yet the median villa ticket eased 2% to AED 2,150,000: with per-foot prices up but total outlay per home down, demand seems to have leaned toward smaller units even as the price of space climbed.

Commercial property, the smallest of the three, continued its recovery. Its 2,971 transactions represented a 26% gain and the highest annual volume since 2015, while value rose 51% to AED 4.70 billion. The median of AED 866/sqft was up 22% and the strongest since 2017, though it remains 19% under the 2014 benchmark — the only corner of the market still trading below its early-series level. Median tickets rose 18% to AED 826,630.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Land has its own story within the headline total. Plots logged 2,923 transactions worth AED 43.42 billion — the third-largest category by value, well ahead of commercial — at a median of AED 483/sqft and a substantial typical ticket of AED 4,950,000. Building sales were negligible by comparison: just 2 transactions totalling AED 24.00 million, albeit at the market's highest median ticket of AED 12,000,000.

Primary versus resale

New supply led the market. Primary (off-plan) sales accounted for 64% of both volume and value — 59,785 deals worth AED 139.99 billion — while resale took the remaining 36%, or 33,808 transactions and AED 80.25 billion. That the two channels held identical shares of volume and value shows average deal sizes were broadly matched across new and secondary stock.

Where the activity was

Value concentrated on the waterfront and in the core. Palm Jumeirah led every district with AED 23.94 billion, followed by Marsa Dubai (Dubai Marina) at AED 22.60 billion, Downtown Dubai at AED 16.24 billion, Business Bay at AED 16.12 billion and Al Hebiah Fifth at AED 13.26 billion. Volume told a different tale — Business Bay topped the count with 10,284 transactions, ahead of Marsa Dubai (7,519), Al Barsha South Fourth (5,960), Al Hebiah Fifth (5,687) and Al Merkadh (5,661) — the gap between the lists marking where the priciest homes sold versus where deals were most plentiful.

Rental market

The rental market tightened sharply for new tenants. Fresh apartment leases numbered 160,761, up 15.47%, with the median new rent rising 17.50% to AED 47,000 and rates up 20.83% to AED 58/sqft. Renewals reflected protected sitting tenants: apartment renewals jumped 83.48% in count to 147,264, yet the median renewal rent slipped 1.70% to AED 45,371. The same wedge appeared across villas — new leases at a median AED 130,000, up 8.33%, against a much flatter renewal market — and commercial space, where new rents leapt 21.43% to AED 85,000 versus a 6.67% renewal rise. For occupiers, moving cost considerably more than staying.

Supply

On the supply side, developers launched more than they completed. 171 new projects brought 49,606 units to market, against 32,379 units delivered across 95 finished projects — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 1.5 and a net 17,227 more units launched than delivered. The widening pipeline signals developer confidence, but also foreshadows heavier completions in the years to come.

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 145,000,000 – Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Um Suqaim Third
2. AED 105,000,000 – Jumeirah Living Marsa Al Arab, Um Suqaim Third
3. AED 60,808,800 – Palm Beach Towers- 3, Palm Jumeirah
4. AED 55,000,000 – Serenia Living - Tower 3, Palm Jumeirah
5. AED 53,630,529 – Mr C Residences Jumeirah - Block B3, Jumeirah Second

Top villa sales

1. AED 302,500,000 – Palm Jumeirah
2. AED 210,000,000 – Emirates Living
3. AED 205,000,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
4. AED 130,000,000 – Jumeirah Bay Islands
5. AED 110,000,000 – Al Merkadh

Notes on methodology

Scope. Headline totals and the category table span every property category captured in the data, Plot and Building included. The primary/resale split, the top-area rankings and the year-on-year series cover only Apartment, Villa and Commercial, so those numbers are intentionally smaller than the headline and should not be summed across sections.

Rounding. The headline totals are the authoritative rounded figures. Category-level breakdowns are rounded on their own and may not add up precisely to the headline.

Definitions. Price figures are medians rather than averages. Year-on-year sets the period against the same period a year before. All values are in AED; areas are in square feet.