Dubai Real Estate Market Report — Q2, 2022

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – Q2 2022

Dubai's sales market produced a record second quarter in Q2 2022, recording 22,103 transactions worth AED 58.27 billion across every property type. Leave plots aside, and the apartment, villa and commercial segments alone made up 21,313 deals — up 44% on Q2 2021 — and AED 50.12 billion in value, a 61% year-on-year gain.

The marketwide median settled at AED 1,154 per square foot, with apartments carrying volume and villas anchoring the top end on value. It was the strongest showing for both volume and value in the series to date.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments drove the expansion. The segment booked 14,828 transactions, up 48% year on year and 4,812 deals above the prior Q2 — the highest Q2 volume in the nine-year series. Value nearly doubled, rising 93% to AED 28.71 billion, while the median price reached AED 1,506 per square foot, up 38% on the year and 21% above the 2014 base, also a series high for a second quarter. The typical apartment changed hands at AED 1,227,450, 29% above a year earlier.

Villas matched that momentum on volume without echoing it on ticket size. Transactions rose 42% to 5,781 — 1,715 more than the prior Q2 and, like apartments, the strongest Q2 in the series — lifting value 33% to AED 20.19 billion. The median landed at AED 958 per square foot, up 18% year on year and 26% above 2014. Notably, the median villa ticket eased 15% to AED 1,994,000 even as per-foot pricing rose, a sign that buyers favoured smaller villas over the quarter.

Commercial was the quieter story. Volume nudged up just 4% to 704 deals — only 28 more than the prior Q2, though still the highest Q2 count since 2015 — with value up 20% to AED 1.22 billion. Pricing firmed to AED 842 per square foot, a 30% annual gain and the strongest Q2 rate since 2017, yet the segment still sits 20% below its 2014 benchmark. The median commercial ticket was AED 799,960, up 23%.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Land moved in size. 790 plot transactions generated AED 8.15 billion — well ahead of commercial's AED 1.22 billion — at a median plot ticket of AED 4,482,950, comfortably the largest of any category. On a per-foot basis, plots priced at AED 419 per square foot.

Primary versus resale

New supply led the split. Primary deals made up 60% of volume and 57% of value — 12,763 transactions worth AED 28.57 billion. Resale took the remaining 40% of volume and 43% of value, or 8,550 deals worth AED 21.55 billion, its value share running three points ahead of its volume share as secondary trades skewed toward pricier, ready stock.

Where the activity was

Downtown Dubai headed the value table at AED 5.49 billion, ahead of Marsa Dubai (AED 5.03 billion) and Palm Jumeirah (AED 4.67 billion), with Al Hebiah Fifth (AED 3.58 billion) and Business Bay (AED 3.09 billion) rounding out the top five. By deal count the order reshuffled: Business Bay led with 2,068 transactions, followed by Marsa Dubai (1,849), Downtown Dubai (1,745), Al Hebiah Fifth (1,612) and Al Barsha South Fourth (1,202).

Rental market

The lease market stayed firmly landlord-friendly. New apartment contracts slipped 2.62% to 29,577, yet the median new apartment rent jumped 15% to AED 46,000; renewals told the reverse story, with volumes up 57.35% to 25,689 as tenants stayed put and renewal rents eased 4.67% to AED 44,000. New villa rents held flat at a median AED 120,000 even as per-foot rates rose 18.42%, while commercial posted the sharpest new-lease pricing gain — up 21.43% to AED 85,000.

Supply

Developers kept the pipeline running ahead of completions: 35 projects launched 10,351 units against 18 projects delivering 5,610 units — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 1.8 and a net 4,741 more units launched than delivered.

Selected launches

• Orchid At Creek Beach Building 2 – Dubai Creek Harbour (Emaar), 219 units
• Park Field Tower 2 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (Emaar), 306 units
• Mudon Al Ranim 1 – Al Hebiah Sixth (Dubai Properties), 224 units
• Welcome Residency – Al Barsha South 3 (Al Seeb), 94 units
• Address The Bay – Marsa Dubai (Emaar), 448 units
• Al Jazi 4 – Um Suqaim Third (Meraas), 378 units
• One Za'Abeel Tower – Zaabeel First (Ithra Dubai), 1,034 units
• Nad Al Sheba Gardens Phase 2 – Nad Al Sheba First (Meraas), 215 units
• Jebel Ali Village Townhouses - Phase 3 – Jabal Ali First (Nakheel), 196 units
• Shams Townhouses – Al Yelayiss 2 (Nshama), 212 units
• … and 25 further projects

Selected completions

• Harbour Gate Tower 2 – Dubai Creek Harbour (Emaar), 547 units
• Parkside – Dubai South (Emaar), 371 units
• Regina – Al Barsha South Fourth (Tiger), 332 units
• Binghatti Avenue – Al Jaddaf (Binghatti), 639 units
• The Haven Residences – Al Barsha South Fourth (Metrical), 162 units
• Majestique Residence 1 – Dubai South (Credo Group), 124 units
• Avencia 6 – Madinat Hind 4 (Damac), 56 units
• Reva Residences – Business Bay (Damac), 605 units
• Damac Hills (2) - Mulberry – Madinat Hind 4 (Damac), 111 units
• Elz Residence – Al Barsha South 3 (Danube), 275 units
• … and 8 further projects

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 105,000,000 – Jumeirah Living Marsa Al Arab, Um Suqaim Third
2. AED 50,000,000 – Bulgari Residences 4, Jumeirah Bay Islands
3. AED 42,000,000 – Le Ciel - Building 1, Jumeirah First
4. AED 40,000,000 – Bulgari Residences 1, Jumeirah Bay Islands
5. AED 37,603,888 – The Address Residences Dubai Opera T2, Downtown Dubai

Top villa sales

1. AED 128,000,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
2. AED 110,000,000 – Al Merkadh
3. AED 102,800,000 – Emirates Living
4. AED 73,000,000 – Palm Jumeirah
5. AED 49,800,000 – Me'Aisem First

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, top-area rankings and the year-on-year series cover Apartment, Villa and Commercial only, so those figures are intentionally smaller than the headline and should not be summed across sections.

Rounding. Headline totals are the authoritative rounded figures. Category-level breakdowns are rounded separately and may not add up exactly to the headline.

Definitions. Price figures are medians rather than averages. Year-on-year compares a period with the same period twelve months earlier. All values in AED; areas in square feet.