Dubai Real Estate Market Report — February, 2022

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – February 2022

February 2022 produced Dubai's busiest February on record. Spanning all property types, the market logged 6,196 transactions worth AED 15.43 billion, at a median of AED 1,094/sqft. Setting plot and building sales aside, the apartment, villa and commercial segments alone made up 5,992 deals — 69% higher than February 2021 — and AED 12.44 billion in value, a 107% year-on-year jump.

Both volume and value marked fresh February highs across the nine-year series, and prices advanced rather than simply holding. This was a market running on every cylinder: apartments powered the expansion, villas more than doubled, and even commercial — the smallest segment — recorded its strongest February turnover since 2015.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments powered the expansion. The segment booked 3,984 sales, up 53% year on year and 1,384 deals ahead of February 2021 — the highest February apartment volume in the nine-year series. Value rose 105% to AED 6.54 billion, and pricing led the market as well: the median reached AED 1,354/sqft, up 32% on the year and 13% above the 2014 base, another series high for the month. The median apartment ticket settled at AED 1,020,000, a 15% annual gain.

Villas were the quickest-growing category by volume, transactions more than doubling — up 124% to 1,760 deals, roughly 976 more than a year earlier, and the highest February villa tally on record. Value gained 107% to AED 5.47 billion, while the median held at AED 853/sqft, up 18% both year on year and against 2014 — the strongest February per-square-foot reading since 2015. One figure runs the other way: the median villa ticket fell 31% to AED 1,952,314 even as price per square foot climbed, a sign that smaller and more mid-market homes formed a bigger share of the surge.

Commercial, the smallest of the trio, was far from an afterthought. Its 248 transactions were up 52% — 85 more than last February — and the busiest February since 2015, while value leapt 146% to AED 439.32 million, the steepest value gain of any category. At AED 877/sqft the median was up 27% year on year and the highest for a February since 2017, though it stays 22% below where commercial pricing sat in 2014. The median commercial ticket rose 33% to AED 865,496.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Beyond the three core segments, land traded in size. A mere 204 plot transactions produced AED 2.99 billion — most of the gap between the all-property and core-segment totals — and carried a median ticket of AED 3,663,000, easily the largest of any category. Plot pricing was the market's lowest by area, at AED 525/sqft, reinforcing that this was value packed into a handful of sizeable land deals.

Primary versus resale

Developers set the pace: primary (off-plan and new) sales made up 68% of volume and 64% of value — 4,046 deals worth AED 7.92 billion. The resale market claimed the remaining 1,946 transactions, or 32% of volume, yet punched above its weight on value at 36% — AED 4.53 billion — a four-point gap showing secondary deals leaned toward pricier, ready stock.

Where the activity was

Marsa Dubai (Dubai Marina) topped the value table at AED 1.46 billion, ahead of Downtown Dubai (AED 856.24 million), Jabal Ali First (AED 851.92 million), Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (AED 820.37 million) and Business Bay (AED 804.62 million). Measured by deal count, Business Bay led with 615 transactions, trailed by Al Merkadh (554), Marsa Dubai (430), Jabal Ali First (428) and Al Barsha South Fourth (419) — with Marsa Dubai, Jabal Ali First and Business Bay all ranking near the top on both measures.

Rental market

The leasing market told a tale of renewals over moves. New apartment contracts dipped 2.41% to 10,711 while renewals surged 47.10% to 8,801, and villas mirrored the pattern — new leases down 4.23% but renewals up 23.24%. Rents on fresh apartment leases rose 7.50% to a median AED 43,000 (AED 53/sqft, +12.77%), even as renewal rents eased 4.26%, the familiar divide between sitting tenants and the open market. Commercial leasing was the standout, its new contracts up 34.68% and their median rent up 29.17% to AED 83,958.

Supply

Supply tilted firmly toward completion. Developers delivered 4,750 units across 12 projects while launching only 1,803 across 8 — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 0.4 and a net 2,947 more homes handed over than freshly brought to market. With deliveries well ahead of launches, the month added meaningfully to standing stock.

Launched

• Luna Residence – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Desert Falcon), 190 units
• City Center Residences – Downtown Dubai (Dar Global), 384 units
• Damac Hills (2) - Amargo 2 – Madinat Hind 4 (Damac), 105 units
• Six Senses Residences The Palm – Palm Jumeirah (Select Group), 173 units
• Oxford 212 – Al Barsha South Fourth (Iman Developers), 212 units
• Liv Marina – Marsa Dubai (Liv), 244 units
• Arabian Ranches Lll - Bliss 2 – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Emaar), 269 units
• La Violeta 2 – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Dubai Properties), 226 units

Delivered

• Elite Downtown Residence – Downtown Dubai (Triplanet Range), 469 units
• Collective 2.0 Tower B – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (Emaar), 504 units
• Binghatti Point – Nadd Hessa (Binghatti), 127 units
• Hera Tower – Al Hebiah Fourth (Titans), 556 units
• Noura Tower – Marsa Dubai (Al Habtoor Group), 1,597 units
• Lawnz Block 4 – Al Warsan First (Danube), 1,063 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 4 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 125 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase Iii, Residences 3 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 55 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 2 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 55 units
• Madinat Jumeirah Living Rahaal 1 – Um Suqaim Third (Meraas), 121 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase Iii, Residences 1 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 55 units
• Sobha Hartland Villas - Phase Ii – Al Merkadh (Sobha), 23 units

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 45,000,000 – Serenia Residences Building C, Palm Jumeirah
2. AED 39,630,295 – The Address Residences Dubai Opera T1, Downtown Dubai
3. AED 39,385,499 – The Address Residences Dubai Opera T2, Downtown Dubai
4. AED 28,100,000 – La Sirene 1, Jumeirah First
5. AED 23,000,000 – Bulgari Residences 2, Jumeirah Bay Islands

Top villa sales

1. AED 61,000,000 – Emirates Living
2. AED 42,930,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
3. AED 36,250,000 – Palm Jumeirah
4. AED 30,000,000 – Jumeirah Bay Islands
5. AED 24,500,000 – Wadi Al Safa 3

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 breakdown, top-area rankings and the year-on-year series take in Apartment, Villa and Commercial alone, so those numbers are intentionally smaller than the headline and shouldn't be summed across sections.

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

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