Dubai Real Estate Market Report — Q3, 2024

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – Q3 2024

Dubai's property market turned in a record-breaking third quarter in Q3 2024, with 50,520 transactions worth AED 142.32 billion across every property type. The citywide median came to AED 1,514/sqft, and both headline volume and value reached the highest levels ever recorded for a third quarter.

Excluding plots and buildings, the apartment, villa and commercial segments combined for 49,571 deals — up 39% versus Q3 2023 — worth AED 122.95 billion, a 31% year-on-year increase. Apartments carried most of the load, yet the gains were broad-based: every category logged double-digit volume growth alongside firmer pricing.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments led the charge. The segment posted 39,215 sales — the highest Q3 volume across the 11-year series and 11,941 more than the year before, a 44% increase. That activity generated AED 72.57 billion in value, up 33%. Pricing strengthened without running too hot: the median hit AED 1,627/sqft, the highest Q3 reading on record and up 4% year-on-year (41% above 2014), while the median ticket inched up 4% to AED 1,300,651.

Villas followed a different pattern — fewer deals, substantially larger tickets, and the sharpest long-run repricing in the market. The 9,253 villa transactions, also a Q3 record and 1,824 more than the previous year, climbed 25% and produced AED 48.11 billion, up 26%. The median villa sold for AED 3,300,000, 6% above a year earlier. The most revealing figure is price per square foot: at AED 1,348/sqft, it rose 16% year-on-year and now stands 103% above its 2014 level — more than double within a decade.

Commercial property remains the smallest of the three but delivered the sharpest gains in value and ticket size. Its 1,103 transactions — the highest Q3 count since 2014, 112 more than the year before and 11% higher — carried AED 2.28 billion, a 38% rise in value. The median commercial price climbed 20% to AED 1,324/sqft (24% above 2014), and the median ticket jumped 32% to AED 1,397,280, suggesting a move toward larger, higher-value assets.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Beyond apartments, villas and commercial units, plots added meaningfully to the headline figure: 947 plot transactions traded for AED 19.34 billion — accounting for most of the gap between the all-property total and the apartment-villa-commercial base — at a median of AED 476/sqft and a median ticket of AED 5,000,000. Building sales were minimal, with only 2 deals worth AED 32.12 million.

Primary versus resale

The market remained firmly primary-led. New, or primary, sales accounted for 70% of both volume and value — 34,585 deals worth AED 85.66 billion — compared with 30% for resale, equivalent to 14,986 transactions worth AED 37.30 billion. Since resale held an identical share of volume and value, there was no pricing skew between the two channels: developer launches, rather than the secondary market, remain the market's centre of gravity.

Where the activity was

Ranked by value, Dubai South came out on top with AED 7.88 billion, ahead of Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (AED 7.18 billion), Marsa Dubai (AED 6.67 billion), Business Bay (AED 5.66 billion) and Wadi Al Safa 5 (AED 5.07 billion). By volume, Al Barsha South Fourth led with 4,444 transactions, followed by Dubai South (2,881), Business Bay (2,642), Wadi Al Safa 5 (2,357) and Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (2,350). Dubai South, Business Bay, Wadi Al Safa 5 and Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid feature on both lists, making them the quarter's most active high-value districts.

Rental market

Leasing conditions tightened in step with sales. New apartment contracts reached 37,328 (up 13.28%) at a median rent of AED 69,961, an 18.42% annual increase, while 41,520 renewals (up 12.92%) came in lower at AED 55,000 (up 10%) — the familiar discount rewarding tenants who stay put. Villa rents rose on both fronts, though new-lease growth was modest at 2.94% (median AED 175,000) and renewal volumes actually fell 5.20% even as renewal rents climbed 14.81% to AED 155,000. Commercial leasing proved the most consistent, with new rents up 15% to AED 115,000 and renewals up 16.35% to AED 100,420.

Supply

Supply tilted heavily toward new launches. Developers introduced 46,145 units across 136 projects, against 7,602 units delivered from 29 completions — a launch-to-delivery ratio of roughly 6.1 and a net addition of 38,543 more units launched than handed over. The pipeline is building up far faster than it clears, consistent with the primary market's dominance of sales.

Selected launches

• Verve City Walk Tower B – Al Wasl (Meraas), 436 units
• Azizi Venice 14-Retails – Dubai South (Azizi), 3,438 units
• One By Nine – Nad Al Sheba First (Nine Developments), 47 units
• Building 6 - Teal – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Aldar), 988 units
• Lagoon Views 10 - Tower B – Al Hebiah Fifth (Damac), 108 units
• Binghatti Ivory – Al Jaddaf (Binghatti), 332 units
• The Vyne Residences – Al Barsha South Fifth (Metrical), 263 units
• One By Binghatti – Business Bay (Binghatti), 755 units
• Haven Bay Residences – Dubai Islands (Metac), 64 units
• Parkland – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (Emaar), 209 units
• … and 126 further projects

Selected completions

• Central Park - Building 1 – Al Wasl (Meraas), 198 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City District One B Extension Villas – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 67 units
• Oakley Square Residences - Tower B – Al Barsha South Fourth (Ellington), 269 units
• Luma22 - West Tower – Al Barsha South Fourth (Townx), 430 units
• La Sirene - Building 6 – Jumeirah First (Meraas), 142 units
• Il Primo – Downtown Dubai (Emaar), 232 units
• Shams Townhouses – Al Yelayiss 2 (Nshama), 212 units
• Murooj Alfurjan West – Jabal Ali First (Nakheel), 521 units
• La Perla Homes 10 – Al Barsha South Fourth (G H D), 13 units
• Azizi Riviera 1 – Al Merkadh (Azizi), 383 units
• … and 19 further projects

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 70,000,000 – Bulgari Residences 1, Jumeirah Bay Islands
2. AED 58,000,000 – Luxury Family Residences 3, Business Bay
3. AED 50,568,244 – Baccarat Residence T1, Downtown Dubai
4. AED 50,000,000 – Bluewaters Residences 9, Marsa Dubai
5. AED 48,365,000 – Bluewaters Bay - Building 1, Marsa Dubai

Top villa sales

1. AED 610,000,000 – area not recorded
2. AED 216,000,000 – Palm Jumeirah
3. AED 105,000,000 – Al Hebiah Fourth
4. AED 78,750,000 – World Islands
5. AED 75,000,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid

Notes on methodology

Scope. The headline totals and category table span every property type in the data, Plot and Building included. The primary/resale split, top-area rankings and year-on-year series, by contrast, cover only Apartment, Villa and Commercial, so those figures are deliberately smaller than the headline and should not be summed with it.

Rounding. The headline totals are the authoritative rounded numbers. Category-level breakdowns are rounded on their own basis and may not sum precisely to the headline.

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