Dubai Real Estate Market Report — Q1, 2026

fäm Properties · Dubai Real Estate Market Report · Q1 2026

Dubai property sales rise 5% in Q1 2026

AED 175.92 billion in sales, with a median price of AED 1,707/sqft across all property types.

By Fateh Al Msaddi, Founder, DXBinteract. Updated 2026-10-17; source data retrieved 2026-10-16.

Dubai recorded 47,820 property sales worth AED 175.92 billion in Q1 2026, across all property types. Sales count rose 5.3% year on year, while the median sale price per sqft rose 13.8% to AED 1,707. DXBinteract analysis of Dubai Land Department records provides the figures behind this fäm Properties report.

Q1 combined more transactions with much stronger traded value

Dubai’s first quarter recorded growth in both sales count and value, with value rising faster. The median price per sqft also increased. This was a broader expansion in recorded activity, but the aggregate does not establish how much of the larger value came from price, property size or the types of assets sold.

For buyers and sellers, the quarterly view reduces the emphasis on any single month. It still combines many different local markets. A citywide median is useful context; comparable completed sales remain the closer reference for a particular home, especially where the primary and resale mix differs.

The underlying figures and their source report are available in the DXBinteract Q1 2026 market report. This fäm Properties edition interprets the same snapshot for buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords.

Developer purchases make up 70.4% of transactions

In Dubai, Q1 2026 primary purchases totalled 33,685 transactions worth AED 124.69 billion, representing 70.4% of all sales by count and 70.9% by value. The resale segment recorded 14,135 sales worth AED 51.23 billion. These are all-property-type figures from DXBinteract analysis of DLD records.

Primary means a purchase directly from a developer. It can include ready developer stock. Resale means a secondary-market purchase, which can include an off-plan resale. The channel split therefore cannot be relabelled as off-plan versus ready. Differences between these medians also do not establish that one channel offers a discount on a comparable property.

Apartment transactions lead the property-type split

Dubai recorded 36,289 apartment sales in Q1 2026, the highest transaction count among the property types in this snapshot. The table separates counts, total value, median ticket price and median price per sqft, so a change in activity is not mistaken for a change in unit pricing.

For a household, the median sale price gives a different reference from the median price per sqft: one describes the transaction ticket and the other its unit rate. Neither includes an individual buyer’s financing and transaction costs. Medians from categories with fewer than 50 sales are particularly sensitive to the mix of properties sold; they are shown with their counts rather than treated as a broad pricing signal.

Me'Aisem Second leads the reported area table by value

For Dubai in Q1 2026, Me'Aisem Second heads the supplied area table by sales value at AED 9.71 billion, while Al Barsha South Fourth leads by count with 3,156 sales. These rankings cover apartments, villas and commercial property only, excluding townhouses, plots and buildings. They use a narrower basis than the citywide headline.

Activity rankings show where transactions were concentrated, not which area delivered the highest investment return. Area names are retained as recorded. An official DLD land district may contain several communities, so its figures should not be assigned to one smaller community without a matching geographic breakdown.

New apartment leases show a median annual rent of AED 70,356

Dubai’s Q1 2026 rental snapshot records 34,856 new apartment contracts at a median annual rent of AED 70,356. Apartment renewals numbered 46,204 at a median of AED 57,330. These are different populations of recorded contracts, according to DXBinteract analysis of DLD records.

For a tenant considering a move, the new-contract median is the relevant population to distinguish from renewals. For a landlord reviewing a renewal, the gap between the two medians is not a permitted or expected increase on a particular lease. The report does not specify the underlying rental date basis, so the figures are described as recorded contracts, and rental growth rates are not inferred from rounded percentages alone.

Rental yield is not calculated by dividing these rental medians by unrelated sales medians. A property-level yield needs matched purchase and rental information, and a net yield also depends on ownership costs. Those inputs are outside this snapshot.

30,880 units launched; 6,724 delivered

Dubai’s Q1 2026 supply summary records 30,880 launched units across 111 projects and 6,724 delivered units across 39 projects. These figures describe two different stages of the development process, not a single measure of stock available for sale.

A launch introduces units into a project’s sales cycle; a delivery brings a completed project into use. Units delivered now may have sold years earlier. Subtracting launches from deliveries therefore does not establish unsold stock, and comparing launched units with transaction count does not produce a reliable absorption rate. No future handover schedule or forecast is asserted here.

The component periods add context to the aggregate

Dubai’s Q1 2026 aggregate is shown alongside the available component-period snapshots below. These rows retain their own source figures; a quarter’s or year’s median cannot be reconstructed by averaging monthly medians.

What the report means for property decisions

For Q1 2026, growth in recorded sales provides a stronger activity backdrop. It does not establish an individual home’s return or sale price. The relevant segment, sales channel and local comparable transactions determine how closely the citywide figures relate to a particular property.

For tenants and landlords, the rental table is a separate set of evidence. New leases and renewals should remain distinct, and neither median alone describes an individual lease negotiation. The useful next step is to identify the relevant property and contract population before comparing prices.

Source, coverage and definitions

Source: DXBinteract analysis of Dubai Land Department (DLD) records.

This fäm Properties edition uses the same saved figures as the corresponding DXBinteract report, retrieved on 2026-10-16. Editorial copy was updated on 2026-10-17. The retrieval date is not a confirmed last-registration date, and figures may be revised when the source snapshot is refreshed.

The sales headline and category table cover all property types. Area rankings and the historical series cover Apartment, Villa and Commercial only. Rental counts cover the listed categories and separate new contracts from renewals; their underlying date basis is not supplied. Currency is AED and floor area is sqft. Category and channel values may differ slightly from overall totals because source figures are rounded separately.

Year-on-year sales changes are recalculated from the same reporting period in the saved 2025 and 2026 rows. Current annual data are labelled YTD, with no full-year comparison. A median is the middle observation, not an average; segment medians are not combined into a citywide median. Where period snapshots do not reconcile, the difference is disclosed rather than treated as a measured market change.

Related market reports

• All fäm Properties market reports
• Source report: DXBinteract Q1 2026
• 2026 year-to-date review
• Same period in 2025