Renat BashirovUpdated: 25 September 20264 min read
Over 12 months (to 10 November 2026), Dubai registered 22,628 residential sales between AED 3 million and 10 million — median price AED 4,075,000. This segment is 11 times the size of the luxury market: it is where family-sized waterfront apartments and villas in new communities change hands. 68% of deals are off-plan, and on average ready stock costs about 4% more than under-construction stock (AED 4.64M vs 4.46M). All figures come from the Dubai Land Department (DLD) registry, not listings or estimates.
Where AED 3–10M buyers go: districts
Top 15 districts by deal count over 12 months (registry names, market names in brackets):
| District (DLD registry) | Deals | Median, AED |
|---|---|---|
| Palm Deira (Dubai Islands) | 1,913 | 4,017,828 |
| Al Khairan First (Dubai Creek Harbour) | 1,615 | 3,550,000 |
| Al Yelayiss 1 (The Valley) | 1,582 | 4,100,000 |
| Dubai Investment Park Second | 1,241 | 3,720,888 |
| Marsa Dubai (Dubai Marina) | 1,212 | 4,500,000 |
| Business Bay | 1,142 | 3,818,631 |
| Madinat Al Mataar (Dubai South) | 1,078 | 4,560,000 |
| Burj Khalifa (Downtown) | 971 | 4,000,000 |
| Madinat Dubai Almelaheyah (Maritime City) | 956 | 4,046,000 |
| Wadi Al Safa 5 (Dubailand) | 795 | 3,555,200 |
| Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (Dubai Hills) | 686 | 4,277,500 |
| Al Wasl (City Walk) | 594 | 4,702,000 |
| Palm Jumeirah | 588 | 5,200,000 |
| Al Thanyah Fifth | 549 | 3,733,973 |
| Al Yufrah 1 | 543 | 3,820,000 |
The top three by deal count: Palm Deira / Dubai Islands, Al Khairan First / Dubai Creek Harbour, Al Yelayiss 1 / The Valley.
PDF shortlist · updated 1 November 2026
New Dubai projects of November 2026
30 projects · prices from DLD and developers
-
Rise By Athlon 1 Wadi Al Safa 5 · 1–3 BR
from AED 1,412,000
-
Zuha Island Villas World Islands
from AED 68,000,000
-
Weybridge Gardens Phase 5 by Leos Developments Dubailand Oasis
from AED 756,782
27 more in the PDF: prices, handover dates, payment plans
The PDF opens instantly. Refreshed monthly from DLD data.
What sells: projects
| Project | Deals | Median, AED |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Polo - Equiterra | 511 | 3,644,888 |
| Grand Polo - Equiterra 2 | 380 | 3,574,888 |
| Creek Bay | 379 | 4,305,888 |
| The Meriva Collection | 361 | 4,510,828 |
| Lunaya | 341 | 6,475,000 |
| Hado By Beyond | 314 | 4,443,000 |
| Grand Polo - Equestra | 309 | 3,928,710 |
| Ellington Sands II | 238 | 3,793,328 |
| Ellington Sands I | 235 | 3,781,828 |
| Greenz By Danube | 212 | 4,372,500 |
The typical deal: 2–3 bedrooms, apartment or villa
The core formats are 2-bedroom (8,429 deals) and 3-bedroom (6,807), then 4 B/R (3,481) and 5 B/R (1,811). At AED 3–10M a large waterfront apartment and a villa are equally realistic: the AED 2–5M villa bucket alone had 10,211 sales in the year (median 3.37M — details in the villas in Dubai guide).
Off-plan vs ready: 15,468 vs 7,160. Average prices: AED 4.46M off-plan, 4.64M ready.
Methodology
Registered sales only, residential use per the registry (property_usage = Residential) — apartments and villas priced from AED 3,000,000 to 9,999,999; land, offices, shops and hotel units excluded, as are records with a price per m² outside AED 3,000–200,000. Window: 11 November 2025 – 10 November 2026. The rule is set out in our methodology. Medians unless marked “average”. Source: the open DLD transaction registry. Data as of 10 November 2026; the figures are recalculated automatically (last run: 11 November 2026).
Frequently asked questions
What does AED 5 million actually buy?
A 2–3 bedroom apartment in Marina, Downtown, Creek Harbour or Dubai Islands — or a 4-bedroom villa in The Valley, Dubai South or DIP. On Palm Jumeirah, AED 5M buys a one-to-two-bedroom apartment; the district median in this segment is 5.2M.
Is this segment “luxury”?
By registry standards, no: the luxury threshold starts at AED 10M, where the median deal is 15.2M. That segment is covered in our analysis of deals above AED 10 million.
What yields does this segment produce?
Lower than the budget segment: waterfront districts show median gross 1BR yields of 4.6–5.6%, and larger units and villas usually less. The 46-district table is in our real yields analysis.
See also: the new projects catalogue with a price filter.
Data: DLD transaction registry. Analysis by Continental Club, 25 September 2026.
PDF shortlist · updated 1 November 2026
New Dubai projects of November 2026
30 projects · prices from DLD and developers
30 more in the PDF: prices, handover dates, payment plans
The PDF opens instantly. Refreshed monthly from DLD data.

