DLD's project register schedules 255,373 homes for completion in Dubai between October 2026 and the end of 2028. Another 81,720 are already past their scheduled date and still open. The heaviest deliveries this quarter are in Business Bay and Downtown, where very little new off-plan buying is happening, while in Dubai South buyers are running ahead of the pipeline.
New launches have been uneven this year. Projects registered with DLD held 37,726 homes in Q1 2026, 14,687 in Q2 and 25,963 in Q3. Here we set the register's schedule against where off-plan buyers actually went in the six months to September.
How many homes are scheduled, and when?
The table counts every open project on DLD's register (not finished, cancelled or frozen) by its registered completion date. Homes means apartments, other units and villas, as registered.
Table: homes on DLD's project register by scheduled completion date, open projects only, as at 4 October 2026. "Not started" is the register's own status. Completion is the home-weighted average of each project's recorded completion percentage, where recorded. Source: DLD project register, Peak Trust Research.
| Scheduled completion | Projects | Homes | Of which villas | Homes in projects not started | Average completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 2026, still open | 147 | 39,895 | 4,025 | 120 | 56% |
| January–September 2026, still open | 145 | 41,825 | 1,330 | 72 | 56% |
| October–December 2026 | 120 | 43,550 | 1,910 | 60 | 64% |
| 2027 | 430 | 104,339 | 5,559 | 41,849 | 7% |
| 2028 | 426 | 107,484 | 13,693 | 37,287 | 3% |
| 2029 | 219 | 65,438 | 6,063 | 17,586 | 1% |
The overdue backlog
The two "still open" rows add up to 81,720 homes, nearly twice what is due in the last quarter of 2026. Some of these will be finished buildings whose status the register hasn't caught up with. The recorded completion figures suggest most are not: of the overdue 2026 homes with a completion figure, only 17.9% are in projects at least 80% built. Frozen projects are left out here, which is why the pre-2026 row counts 147 projects and 39,895 homes where our handover pipeline guide, which keeps them in, counts 148 and 40,003. The difference is one frozen project of 108 homes.
Much of Q4 2026 is a long way from finished
Of the 43,550 homes due between October and December, only 28.3% (where a completion figure is recorded) are in projects at least 80% built, and 26.5% are in projects less than half built. Past schedules have slipped. Of the 56,396 homes scheduled for January–June 2026, 22,975 (41%) were in projects marked finished on the register by early October. Of the 55,648 scheduled for 2025, 53.6% were.
2027 and 2028 are big on paper
The two years hold 211,823 homes on the register. Of the register's 2027 homes, 40.1% are in projects still listed as not started, so the scheduled figure for any one year is best read as a ceiling. Our handover pipeline guide gives a larger figure, 57,036 homes at 0% construction, because it counts every project recording no construction, including 15,187 homes in projects listed as active or pending, not just those the register lists as not started. Build times are lengthening too. Projects registered in 2026 are scheduled a median 31 months from registration to completion (n = 250), against 28 months for those registered in 2025 (n = 187), which spreads the same homes over more years.
Where is supply stacking up against demand?
For each area we compare two shares. The first is the area's share of the 255,373 homes scheduled between October 2026 and December 2028. The second is its share of Dubai's registered off-plan home sales in April–September 2026 (n = 53,125). We use six months, not a year, because DLD's record feed changed in February 2026 and two quarters on the new feed compare cleanly.
The index is the first share divided by the second. Above 1, the area's coming handovers outweigh its current off-plan buying. Below 1, buying is running ahead of the pipeline.
Table: the 15 Dubai areas with the most homes scheduled for completion, October 2026 – December 2028, against registered off-plan home sales, April–September 2026. DLD area names in brackets where they differ. Source: DLD project register and DLD registered sales, Peak Trust Research.
| Area | Homes due Q4 2026 | Homes due 2027 | Homes due 2028 | Share of pipeline | Off-plan sales Apr–Sep (n) | Share of off-plan sales | Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubailand Residence Complex & Wadi Hills (Wadi Al Safa 5) | 2,002 | 7,800 | 10,968 | 8.1% | 2,800 | 5.3% | 1.54 |
| Dubai South (Madinat Al Mataar) | 767 | 12,465 | 7,307 | 8.0% | 10,182 | 19.2% | 0.42 |
| Business Bay | 12,344 | 3,620 | 1,204 | 6.7% | 1,269 | 2.4% | 2.81 |
| Jumeirah Village Circle (Al Barsha South Fourth) | 2,258 | 7,070 | 6,587 | 6.2% | 2,522 | 4.7% | 1.31 |
| Majan (Wadi Al Safa 3) | 844 | 6,699 | 5,328 | 5.0% | 2,911 | 5.5% | 0.92 |
| City of Arabia (Wadi Al Safa 4) | 0 | 7,833 | 4,441 | 4.8% | 2,833 | 5.3% | 0.90 |
| Downtown Dubai (Burj Khalifa) | 9,750 | 1,905 | 80 | 4.6% | 219 | 0.4% | 11.15 |
| Motor City (Al Hebiah First) | 47 | 3,261 | 7,215 | 4.1% | 1,060 | 2.0% | 2.07 |
| Dubai Islands (Palm Deira) | 1,020 | 4,234 | 3,714 | 3.5% | 1,837 | 3.5% | 1.02 |
| Dubai Marina & Dubai Harbour (Marsa Dubai) | 1,826 | 3,028 | 3,414 | 3.2% | 239 | 0.4% | 7.20 |
| Al Furjan (Jabal Ali First) | 628 | 4,129 | 3,008 | 3.0% | 2,611 | 4.9% | 0.62 |
| Jumeirah Village Triangle (Al Barsha South Fifth) | 778 | 3,669 | 3,293 | 3.0% | 887 | 1.7% | 1.82 |
| Meydan (Nad Al Shiba First) | 594 | 4,297 | 2,331 | 2.8% | 723 | 1.4% | 2.08 |
| Dubai Maritime City | 1,262 | 1,203 | 4,077 | 2.6% | 701 | 1.3% | 1.94 |
| Dubai Investments Park (DIP First) | 231 | 0 | 6,238 | 2.5% | 1,725 | 3.2% | 0.78 |
Business Bay and Downtown take this quarter's handovers
Together they hold 22,094 of the 43,550 homes due in October–December 2026, half the quarter's schedule. Yet they drew only 2.8% of off-plan sales between them in the six months to September. Those homes were sold years ago, and when they complete they come to market as rental and resale stock, up against every ready home nearby.
Dubai Marina and Dubai Harbour look similar over a longer runway: 8,268 homes due by 2028 against 0.4% of current off-plan sales, an index of 7.20.
Dubai South runs the other way
Dubai South drew nearly a fifth of all registered off-plan sales from April to September, mostly at Azizi Venice, yet holds 8.0% of the scheduled pipeline. The pipeline itself is not small. It has 20,539 homes, 12,465 of them due in 2027, and Venice phases alone account for 10,319 of the 2027 homes, 8,431 of them in phases the register lists as not started. Buying there is concentrated even more heavily than supply. Three more Venice projects, with 2,845 homes, have no completion date on the register yet and aren't counted here. Al Furjan, City of Arabia and Majan also sit below 1.
JVC sits near balance, with the biggest backlog
Jumeirah Village Circle has a large pipeline (15,915 homes) and more overdue homes than any other area: 11,398 in 46 projects scheduled between January 2025 and September 2026 and still open. Its index of 1.31 is close to balance, but that backlog means completions there will keep coming for some time.
Which areas are heating up or cooling down?
This section looks backwards only. Registered off-plan sales across Dubai fell 9.5% from Q2 to Q3 2026 (27,886 to 25,239 in our record). Some areas moved much further than that in one direction or the other, nearly always because one or two projects started or stopped selling.
Table: registered off-plan home sales, Q2 vs Q3 2026, for selected areas among the 15 busiest. Source: DLD registered sales, Peak Trust Research.
| Area | Q2 2026 (n) | Q3 2026 (n) | Change | What drove it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jebel Ali Industrial Second | 449 | 2,541 | +466% | Imtiaz's RAW District and six Azizi projects |
| City of Arabia (Wadi Al Safa 4) | 908 | 1,925 | +112% | Azizi Milan and Milan Heights; Beyond's Arancia Yards |
| Motor City | 400 | 660 | +65% | Binghatti Skyterraces (405 in Q3) |
| Dubai South | 5,175 | 5,007 | −3% | Steady at about a fifth of the market |
| Business Bay | 810 | 459 | −43% | Lower sales across existing projects |
| Dubai Islands (Palm Deira) | 1,369 | 468 | −66% | Sales fell back after a strong Q2 |
Imtiaz and Azizi between them turned an industrial district into Dubai's second-busiest off-plan location in one quarter, with 10.1% of Q3's registered off-plan sales. Yet its share of the 2026–2028 pipeline is 0.9%, because RAW District is scheduled for 2029, outside this window. Watch for that pattern: buying gathers around fresh launches, and the supply it creates often falls beyond the near-term schedule.
What it means for developers
- Plan for competition from finished homes as well as from other launches. In Business Bay, Downtown and Dubai Marina, a new launch will be marketed while thousands of completed homes reach the rental and resale market around it. Price and position against that stock too.
- Treat registered completion dates as ceilings. With 81,720 homes already past their dates and 40.1% of 2027's homes not yet started, the year a competitor's project is due on the register says little about when it will arrive. Check its recorded completion percentage before you count it as competing supply.
- Look at the low-index areas to see where later supply is forming. Dubai South, Al Furjan, City of Arabia and Jebel Ali Industrial Second all have buying running ahead of the 2026–2028 pipeline. In some of them, as with RAW District, the homes being sold are scheduled after 2028, so today's buyers there are a later handover wave.
- Phasing gives you room to move. Projects registered this year are scheduled a median 31 months from registration to completion, about three more than those registered in 2025. A phased release lets you respond to the completion wave in your area rather than sell straight into it.
What it means for investors
Buying off-plan in a high-index area means completed homes nearby are likely to be competing for tenants and buyers around your handover. Buying where the index is low doesn't avoid supply; it is still coming, only later. Either way, look up the project's recorded completion percentage rather than relying on the date in the brochure.
For who sold the most off-plan homes this quarter, see the Developer League Table Q3 2026. For current prices and sales by area, see /analytics.
If you are deciding where and when to launch against this pipeline, see how we work with developers.
Peak Trust advises developers and investors. Rankings use registered DLD data only.