Dubai Real Estate Market Report — Q2, 2024

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – Q2 2024

Dubai's property sector ended Q2 2024 on a record high, delivering its strongest second quarter for both volume and value across the 11-year series that traces back to 2014: 43,491 transactions worth AED 124.18 billion spanning every property type, with the citywide median landing at AED 1,519/sqft. Focus on the apartment, villa and commercial core alone and the same momentum shows through — 42,605 deals worth AED 105.99 billion, each figure up 45% against Q2 2023.

Apartments spearheaded this broad-based growth, yet every segment played its part — villas, commercial space and the rental market each moved up, while developers continued launching new stock well ahead of the pace at which units were being delivered.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments were the engine of this expansion. The segment logged 34,205 transactions, a 47% year-on-year rise and 10,870 more than the same quarter a year earlier — the highest Q2 volume across the 11-year series. Value climbed to AED 63.27 billion (+32%), and the median price reached AED 1,649/sqft, another 11-year Q2 high, up 12% year-on-year and 33% above the 2014 baseline. Because value rose more slowly than volume, with the median ticket edging up just 6% to AED 1,280,000, the surge was clearly powered by deal count rather than pricier individual sales.

Villas followed a different pattern. Transaction volume rose 41% to 7,287 — a Q2 record for the series and 2,101 more than the year before — yet value outpaced it by a wide margin, surging 71% to AED 40.33 billion. That gap reflects buyers trading up: the median villa ticket climbed 29% to AED 3,494,475 while price per square foot advanced 16% to AED 1,290/sqft, now 70% above the 2014 level. It was not merely a case of more buyers; they were purchasing larger homes at a higher per-foot rate.

Commercial remains the smallest of the three categories but recorded the steepest pricing gains. Its 1,113 deals (+22%, or 199 more than a year prior) marked its highest Q2 volume since 2014, and value expanded 45% to AED 2.39 billion. Pricing did most of the work: the median rose to AED 1,350/sqft, up 34% on the year — the sharpest gain of any segment and a fresh 11-year Q2 high — while the median ticket increased 39% to AED 1,400,000.

Every category, including plots and buildings

One category outside the core three is worth noting separately. Plots produced AED 18.19 billion in value from just 886 transactions, at a median ticket of AED 6,400,520 — by far the highest of any category — and a land rate of AED 472/sqft. These figures fall outside the apartment, villa and commercial totals, yet they show how much capital continues to flow into raw development land.

Primary versus resale

Off-plan and primary sales kept setting the pace, claiming 66% of core-market volume and 65% of value — 28,121 deals worth AED 69.02 billion. Resale made up the balance at 14,484 transactions and AED 36.97 billion, and its 35% share of value sat just above its 34% share of volume — an indication that secondary-market prices are holding up rather than trading at a discount.

Where the activity was

Business Bay topped the value ranking at AED 7.28 billion and placed second by transaction count with 3,127 deals, making it the quarter's most well-rounded hotspot. Marsa Dubai came next on value with AED 6.87 billion, while Al Barsha South Fourth led the volume table outright with 4,247 transactions. Master-planned communities also featured strongly: Wadi Al Safa 5 (AED 5.57 billion, 2,088 deals) and Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (AED 5.00 billion, 1,905 deals) each appeared on both leaderboards.

Rental market

Rental activity kept pace with the sales boom, and the gap between new and renewal leases tells much of the story. New apartment contracts — 27,650 in total, up 3.87% — carried a median rent of AED 65,000, a sharp 20.37% increase, whereas the 35,613 renewals (up 12.10%) settled at AED 52,500, a milder 8.70% rise — the payoff for sitting tenants who stayed put. Villas saw new-lease rents climb 9.95% to AED 165,000 even as renewal volume dipped 4.17%, and commercial quietly outperformed, with renewal medians up 17.65% to AED 100,000 and new leases up 15% to AED 115,000.

Supply

Supply remained firmly weighted toward launches. Developers introduced 33,894 units across 104 projects while handing over 6,972 units from 23 completed projects — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 4.9, adding a net 26,922 more units launched than delivered. That pipeline signals continued completions ahead, but also a considerable volume of off-plan stock the market still has to absorb.

Selected launches

• Damac Hills (2) - Park Greens 2 – Madinat Hind 4 (Damac), 274 units
• 360 Riverside Crescent – Bukadra (Sobha), 910 units
• Greenway 2 – Dubai South (Emaar), 492 units
• Rosemont Residences – Al Barsha South Fifth (Ellington), 49 units
• Jardin Astral – Al Satwa (Galaxy Realty), 44 units
• Arlo – Dubai Creek Harbour (Emaar), 434 units
• Lua Residences – Wadi Al Safa 3 (Swank Development), 37 units
• Casa Serene – Al Merkadh (Altus), 4 units
• California 2 By Sd – Jabal Ali First (Samana), 155 units
• Vitalia By Pinnacle – Palm Jumeirah (Pinnacle Aks), 45 units
• … and 94 further projects

Selected completions

• Azizi Pearl – Jabal Ali First (Azizi), 223 units
• Topaz Residences 2 – Nadd Hessa (Ggico), 202 units
• Marquis Signature – Al Barsha South 3 (2020 Holdings), 91 units
• Fawad Azizi Residence – Al Jaddaf (Azizi), 413 units
• Celia Residence – Al Hebiah Second (Abou Eid), 111 units
• Grande – Downtown Dubai (Emaar), 1,112 units
• Rukan - Building C – Wadi Al Safa 7 (Continental Investments), 621 units
• Azizi Riviera 3 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 302 units
• Empire Residence – Al Barsha South Fourth (Ahdaaf), 151 units
• Azizi Riviera 40 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 165 units
• … and 13 further projects

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 110,000,000 – Serenia Living - Tower 3, Palm Jumeirah
2. AED 80,000,000 – The Address Jbr 2 (Jumeirah Gate Tower 2), Marsa Dubai
3. AED 65,000,000 – The Rings - 1, Jumeirah Second
4. AED 54,000,000 – Luxury Family Residences 3, Business Bay
5. AED 44,100,000 – Keturah C3, Al Jaddaf

Top villa sales

1. AED 165,620,000 – Al Jaddaf
2. AED 148,000,000 – Emirates Living
3. AED 105,000,000 – Palm Jumeirah
4. AED 96,000,000 – Al Merkadh
5. AED 72,140,000 – Al Hebiah Fourth

Notes on methodology

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

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

Definitions. All price figures are medians rather than averages. Year-on-year comparisons set the period against the equivalent period a year before. Values are expressed in AED; areas in square feet.