Most arguments about Dubai property numbers turn out to be arguments about what is being counted. A registered price isn't an asking price. An average isn't a median. An off-plan price per sq ft isn't comparable with a ready one, and a scheduled handover isn't a delivered one. Once you know which figure you're looking at, most of the contradictions go away.
These are the definitions we use across Peak Trust's News & Insights, and you'll meet them in most Dubai market reports. The worked examples come from sales registered in 2025 and 2026.
Registered price or asking price?
A registered price is what was paid, as recorded when the sale is registered with the Dubai Land Department. It covers off-plan sales by developers, resales of off-plan contracts and sales of completed homes. It's the nearest thing Dubai has to a full record of the market.
An asking price is what a seller advertises on a portal. It tells you what sellers hope for, not what buyers paid, and a home that sits unsold keeps its listing for as long as it stays up.
Price indices sit between the two. An index tracks the change in a basket of homes over time, and each provider picks its own basket and method, so two indices can disagree about the same month. An index is good at direction. It won't tell you what a particular flat in a particular building sold for.
Table: what each type of price figure measures. Source: Peak Trust Research.
| Figure | What it measures | Where it comes from | Common trap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered price | The price paid on a recorded sale | DLD registrations | Includes off-plan sales, which are priced differently from ready homes |
| Asking price | A seller's advertised price | Listing portals | Higher than achieved prices, and stale listings stay in the count |
| Index level | Change in a basket of homes over time | Index providers | Each provider's basket differs, so levels can't be swapped between providers |
Median or average?
The average, or mean, adds up every price and divides by the number of sales. The median is the middle sale when they are lined up from cheapest to dearest. In a market with a long tail of very expensive homes, the two can sit far apart.
Table: average and median of Dubai residential sales registered in 2025 and January–September 2026. Apartments and villas only; land and commercial excluded. n = registered sales in our record. Source: DLD registered sales, Peak Trust Research.
| Period | Sales (n) | Average sale (AED) | Median sale (AED) | Average AED/sq ft | Median AED/sq ft | Sales above AED 10m | Their share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 257,712 | 2,273,000 | 1,412,000 | 1,900 | 1,694 | 1.8% | 18.0% |
| 2026 (Jan–Sep) | 147,501 | 2,237,000 | 1,369,000 | 1,963 | 1,736 | 1.9% | 19.0% |
In 2025 fewer than two sales in a hundred were above AED 10m, but they accounted for 18.0% of all the money spent. They drag the average up to AED 2.27m, when the typical sale was AED 1.41m. If the question is what a home costs, use the median.
Medians move with the mix. In a quarter with more studios in outer areas, the citywide median falls even if no single home got cheaper. That's why we put medians next to the mix, and why the sample size (n) sits beside every median we publish.
The counts in this table come from our record, not DLD's market totals. DLD's public record feed changed in February 2026, so our 2026 counts cover less of the market than our 2025 counts. We use our data for medians, shares and rankings, and take totals from DLD's published figures.
Off-plan or ready?
Off-plan means a sale registered as off-plan with DLD: a unit in a project that isn't finished, bought from the developer or resold before handover. Ready means a completed home. By count, off-plan is most of the Dubai market.
Table: Dubai residential sales by segment, 2025. Source: DLD registered sales, Peak Trust Research.
| Segment | Sales (n) | Median sale (AED) | Median AED/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off-plan apartments | 167,309 | 1,372,000 | 1,855 |
| Ready apartments | 67,584 | 1,140,000 | 1,395 |
| Off-plan villas | 12,321 | 3,530,000 | 1,504 |
| Ready villas | 10,498 | 4,000,000 | 1,414 |
Off-plan was 69.7% of residential sales in 2025 and 72.9% in January–September 2026.
Off-plan apartments sold for 33% more per sq ft than ready ones in 2025, but that isn't a clean premium. Off-plan stock is newer, sits in different areas, comes with a payment plan and is often smaller per unit. To compare like with like, hold the area and unit type fixed. Our market dashboard and price growth by area keep the two apart.
Developers sell off-plan from published price lists. The market adjusts through how fast units sell rather than through negotiated discounts, so a flat off-plan median doesn't mean demand is flat.
Absorption, sell-through and registered off-plan sales
These three often get used as if they meant the same thing. They don't.
Table: three off-plan demand measures and what each needs. Source: Peak Trust Research.
| Term | Definition | What it needs | Who can publish it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered off-plan sales | The number of off-plan sales recorded with DLD in a period | DLD's sale record | Anyone with the record, including us |
| Sell-through | Share of a project's units sold to date | The developer's total inventory | Developers, or brokers with inventory data |
| Absorption | The pace at which available units are taken up, often in units a month or months of supply | Sales and the stock that was available | Depends on having a reliable stock figure |
Registered off-plan sales include resales of off-plan contracts, so they count deals, not units leaving a developer's books. When we report off-plan sales by project, that's what we call them.
Sell-through figures come from whoever holds the inventory, usually the developer. DLD's public sale record can't produce them, so treat any sell-through figure as the publisher's own measure and ask what inventory it was built on.
Scheduled, completed, delivered
A scheduled completion date is the date on DLD's project register. Developers update it, and it moves. A completed project is one marked as finished on the register. Delivered or handed over means units handed to buyers, which the register doesn't record directly.
The gap between them is wide. Of the homes in projects with a register date in H1 2026, 22,975 (41%) were in projects recorded as finished by early October, and 33,421 were still open. Our handover pipeline guide sets out the register's schedule, its construction progress and how much is already late.
Other traps in Dubai figures
- Land in the totals. In H1 2026 land was about 7% of sale records in our data but about a third of their value. DLD's headline totals include land, whole buildings and commercial deals, so a residential-only figure will be lower. Both are correct for what they count.
- Land that is really homes. Many villa and townhouse sales in new master communities are recorded as land. Our land guide separates them.
- Area names. DLD uses registry names, such as Al Barsha South Fourth for Jumeirah Village Circle, Madinat Al Mataar for Dubai South and Marsa Dubai for Dubai Marina. Some feeds use the marketed name, so check both before comparing an area across sources.
- The area behind price per sq ft. DLD records price per square metre of the registered area, and we convert it to sq ft. A brochure may quote a different area, so a brochure psf and a registered psf aren't always on the same base.
- Year-on-year counts. Only compare counts from the same source on the same basis. A change in the source feed can produce a fall that never happened.
- Gross and net yield. A gross yield is annual rent divided by price. Net yield takes off service charges and other costs. See rental yields by area.
- Cash share of purchases. A sale and its mortgage are registered as separate records, and off-plan dominates the count, so dividing sales by mortgages doesn't give you a cash share. Be wary of any figure built that way.
What it means for developers
- Benchmark on registered medians by area and unit type. That's the number the next buyer's adviser will check.
- Track your own sell-through. You hold the inventory, so only you can measure it exactly. Registered sales tell you about the market around you.
- Read supply as a schedule plus progress. A competitor's completion date means little without its recorded construction percentage.
- Ask every source what it counts: residential only or all types, with or without off-plan, median or average, and over which period.
For investors
When a figure surprises you, ask four questions. Is it registered or asking? Median or average? Off-plan or ready? Which area name, and which period? Then check it against DLD's own record, which is public.
Our methodology page lists the sources and definitions behind every figure we publish: How we source our data. If you're weighing a decision on these numbers, see our work with developers.