Dubai property prices

Price figures for Dubai are quoted per square foot, which is fine if you think in sq ft and misleading if you do not. Buyers arriving from markets that use square metres routinely misjudge the level by an order of magnitude. Both units are given throughout.

Data as of June 2026.

The level

	AED/sq ft	AED/m²	approx. GBP/sq ft
Dubai overall	1,916	20,600	~410
Apartments	1,969	21,200	~420
New-build apartments	~2,047	22,000	~440
Resale apartments	~1,713	18,400	~365

A typical apartment changes hands at around AED 1.3 million, roughly £280,000.

On currency: the dirham is pegged to the US dollar, not to sterling. GBP figures here are approximations and move with GBP/USD. We use the day’s rate for any actual calculation.

New-build carries a premium

The gap between new-build and resale runs to about 20 per cent. That is not a quality judgement; they are different products. A new-build usually comes with a payment plan spread over construction. A resale unit is habitable or lettable now.

Which is cheaper depends on your goal, not on the per-sq-ft figure. If you want rental income from month one, the resale premium buys you time. If you want to spread capital across the build period, off-plan does that and hands you completion risk in return.

By area

The spread between districts is wide. Downtown runs roughly 50 per cent above the market average:

Area	AED/sq ft	AED/m²
Downtown Dubai	3,011	32,400
Business Bay	2,547	27,400
Dubai Marina	2,058	22,200
Market average	1,916	20,600

For scale: Downtown Dubai sits somewhere near prime central pricing in a large regional UK city, with a very different cost and tax structure attached.

Where prices have moved

Residential prices in 2026 ran roughly 10 to 12 per cent above the year before, with a central estimate near 11 per cent.

That number needs three qualifications that are usually missing:

• It is an average across a highly varied market. Individual areas and property types diverged considerably.
• It is backward-looking. Projecting it forward is an assumption, not a forecast.
• The market has run pronounced cycles. A short holding period carries timing risk regardless of last year’s figure.

We quote no target yield and no expected appreciation. Neither can be promised honestly.

What actually sets the price of one unit

A specific property often departs sharply from its area average. The factors that move it:

• Floor and view: water or skyline frontage shows up clearly in the price
• Building age and the condition of shared areas
• Developer: established names command a premium
• Service charges: the annual per-sq-ft cost that eats directly into net yield
• Tenancy status: a unit handed over with a tenant in place is valued differently
• Completion date for off-plan units

Service charges are the item buyers underestimate most consistently. They are not a footnote; they are what turns an attractive gross yield into an ordinary net one.

How reliable are published prices?

Put plainly: only so far. Most freely available figures, including those on this page, come from listing data or aggregated market reports. They convey magnitude reliably and individual cases not at all.

The binding record is registered transactions at the Dubai Land Department. For an actual purchase decision we pull comparable completed sales in the same building and period, not portal averages.

What this means in practice

1. Convert to your own unit. Otherwise every comparison with your home market is distorted.
2. Budget the acquisition costs. Transfer fee, agency commission and registration change the picture against the headline price.
3. Compare units, not areas. The area average says little about the flat you are actually buying.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an apartment in Dubai cost?

The median sits near AED 1.3 million, roughly £280,000. The average conceals a very wide range, from studios in outer districts to penthouses in Downtown.

How do I convert AED per sq ft to a per-square-metre figure?

Multiply by 10.76 to get AED/m², then apply the current rate. Because the dirham is dollar-pegged, the sterling or euro figure moves with the dollar.

Have Dubai property prices been rising?

Residential prices in 2026 stood some 10 to 12 per cent above the previous year. That is a backward-looking average across a varied market, not a statement about what comes next.

Why is Dubai cheaper than London?

Mainly sustained construction and a young stock: where building continues at pace, scarcity pricing builds up less. Downtown Dubai, though, is not cheap in absolute terms.

What ongoing costs apply?

No annual property tax and no capital gains tax on the property in the UAE, but service charges per square foot at a level that has no real UK equivalent. In tall buildings with extensive amenities they are the dominant running cost.

Is the asking price negotiable?

On resale regularly, depending on market conditions and seller motivation. On new-build projects the list price is firmer and the room tends to sit in the payment plan instead. Registered comparable sales are the most effective argument either way.

How we work

For a specific property we pull the comparable registered transactions and tell you whether the asking price stands up. Not the portal average — the actual sales.