Dubai Real Estate Market Report — Q3, 2023

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – Q3 2023

Dubai's property market delivered its best third quarter ever in Q3 2023. Spanning every asset type, 36,698 transactions were completed for a combined AED 109.43 billion, at a median of AED 1,412 per square foot.

Narrowing to the core apartment, villa and commercial segments, 35,694 deals were recorded for AED 94.09 billion — volumes up 44% and value up 68% on Q3 2022. Both the deal count and the total outlay set fresh quarterly records, and prices strengthened across all three segments rather than the total leaning on one hot pocket of the market.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments led the expansion. The segment posted 27,274 sales, up 52% year on year and 9,342 more than in Q3 2022 — the highest third-quarter volume in the 10-year series. Value rose 64% to AED 54.41 billion, while the median price reached AED 1,559 per square foot, itself the highest Q3 figure on record and 36% above the 2014 baseline. Yet the typical apartment ticket moved only slightly, up 3% to AED 1,251,460, a sign that the volume surge was concentrated in mid-market stock rather than at the top end.

Villas told a different story — one of price rather than pace. Transactions grew 25% to 7,429, also a Q3 record for the series, but value jumped a far steeper 78% to AED 38.03 billion. The median villa price gained 25% to AED 1,159 per square foot, now 74% above 2014, and the typical ticket leapt 50% to AED 3,114,000. Buyers were paying dramatically more per villa, and the segment's growth leaned heavily on appreciation and larger, costlier homes.

Commercial, the smallest of the three, still turned in a solid quarter. Its 991 deals were up 18% — the highest Q3 count since 2014 — and value rose 29% to AED 1.65 billion. Pricing was the standout: at AED 1,099 per square foot the median was up 32% year on year and set a fresh Q3 high for the series, yet it stays just 3% above where it sat in 2014, underlining how much ground the segment had lost and only lately recovered. The median commercial ticket rose 29% to AED 1,055,922.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Beyond the three core segments, plots added real weight: 1,002 land deals were worth AED 15.30 billion at a median of AED 385 per square foot, with the typical plot trading for AED 4,532,000. Only two whole-building sales were recorded, together worth AED 45.50 million at a median ticket of AED 22,750,000.

Primary versus resale

The primary market did the heavy lifting. Developer sales made up 64% of volume and 67% of value — 22,884 deals worth AED 63.31 billion — while the resale market contributed 12,810 transactions worth AED 30.78 billion, or 36% of deals but just 33% of value. That gap shows resale activity tilting toward lower-priced stock than the new-build pipeline.

Where the activity was

Marsa Dubai headed the value table at AED 9.01 billion, ahead of Ghadeer Al Tair (AED 7.26 billion), Palm Jumeirah (AED 7.17 billion), Al Merkadh (AED 6.62 billion) and Business Bay (AED 6.08 billion). By raw transaction count, Al Barsha South Fourth topped the list with 3,618 deals, followed by Al Merkadh (3,468), Business Bay (2,893), Marsa Dubai (2,191) and Al Barsha South 3 (1,892). Al Merkadh, Business Bay and Marsa Dubai sat near the top of both rankings.

Rental market

The rental market tightened. New apartment leases fell 9.06% to 32,951 contracts, yet the median new-lease rent jumped 22.92% to AED 59,077; renewals, by contrast, numbered 36,769 (up 10.31%) at a cheaper median of AED 50,000, as sitting tenants renewed to sidestep steeper new-lease pricing. The same pattern held elsewhere: new villa leases slipped 3.28% while their median rent rose 25.93% to AED 170,000, and new commercial rents climbed 19.05% to AED 100,000.

Supply

Supply kept growing. Developers launched roughly 21,000 units across 71 projects during the quarter while 46 projects delivered 11,173 units — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 1.9 and a net 9,827 more units launched than handed over, pointing to a pipeline that keeps building ahead of completions.

Selected launches

• Damac Lagoons - Morocco 1 – Al Hebiah Fifth (Damac), 471 units
• Parkside Views – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (Emaar), 389 units
• Volta Tower – Downtown Dubai (Damac), 417 units
• The Orchard Place - Tower B – Al Barsha South Fourth (Peak Summit), 418 units
• Floarea Residence – Al Barsha South 3 (Mashriq Elite), 206 units
• Vyb – Business Bay (Ginco), 181 units
• Azizi Riviera 65 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 171 units
• Avenue Residence 5 – Jabal Ali First (Al Jaziri Brothers), 87 units
• Vincitore Dolce Vita – Al Barsha South 3 (Vincitore), 715 units
• Volga Tower – Al Barsha South Fifth (Tiger), 389 units
• … and 61 further projects

Selected completions

• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 26 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Azizi Riviera 17 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 215 units
• Azizi Riviera 16 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 264 units
• Azizi Riviera 33 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 207 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase Iii, Residences 6 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 137 units
• Azizi Riviera 15 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 254 units
• La Rosa 3 – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Dubai Properties), 206 units
• Azizi Riviera 31 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 135 units
• The Sterling East House – Business Bay (Beyond), 261 units
• Damac Hills-Veneto – Al Hebiah Third (Damac), 101 units
• … and 36 further projects

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 420,000,000 – Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Um Suqaim Third
2. AED 105,000,000 – Serenia Living - Tower 1, Palm Jumeirah
3. AED 64,541,888 – Bayview Tower 2, Marsa Dubai
4. AED 64,500,000 – Jumeirah Living Marsa Al Arab, Um Suqaim Third
5. AED 60,833,000 – Cavalli Couture - Tower 2, Al Wasl

Top villa sales

1. AED 209,000,000 – Emirates Living
2. AED 202,000,000 – Palm Jumeirah
3. AED 111,000,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
4. AED 91,000,000 – Al Hebiah Fourth
5. AED 79,399,000 – Wadi Al Safa 3

Notes on methodology

Scope. The headline totals and category table take in every property category captured in the data, Plot and Building included. The primary/resale breakdown, top-area rankings and year-on-year series span 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 authoritative rounded figures. Category-level breakdowns are rounded on their own and may not add up exactly to the headline.

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