Property transactions in Dubai have not stopped: 166,267 sales were recorded in 2025, compared with 35,738 in 2021, and 86,391 had already been recorded by the end of August 2026. The typical buyer by transaction value is not represented by the ultra-prime segment: 55.8% of 2025 sales fell between AED 1 million and AED 3 million, while 31.4% were below AED 1 million. The registry does not disclose buyers’ names, nationalities, residency status, or profession, so the practical answer to who is buying is found in deal size, product type, off-plan activity, and the districts where purchases are being registered.
What the transaction registry can and cannot show
A transaction registry can show demand in a more useful way than a list of assumptions about foreign buyers or wealthy investors. It records sales, values, property categories, dates, and locations. That makes it possible to see whether buyers are choosing apartments or villas, whether they are buying lower-ticket units or larger homes, and whether activity is concentrated in off-plan launches or completed stock.
It does not identify the person behind the purchase. There is no reliable registry figure for how many buyers are Russian, Indian, British, European, resident, non-resident, first-time buyer, landlord, or end user. Claims about which nationality “buys most properties in Dubai” cannot be supported by these records.
The same limitation applies to statements such as “most people left Dubai” or “only investors are buying.” The sales register does not provide a headcount of residents, moving patterns, or an explanation of personal motivation. What it does show is whether transactions are continuing and what buyers are paying for.
For current transaction counts, price-per-square-metre movements, and the share of off-plan sales, use the live Dubai property market data page. The figures below are useful for identifying the structure of demand, rather than assigning a nationality or income profile to individual purchasers.
Transactions did not disappear after the 2021 cycle
Apartment sales expanded sharply between 2021 and 2025. The recorded total rose from 35,738 transactions in 2021 to 62,591 in 2022, then 93,837 in 2023, 136,617 in 2024, and 166,267 in 2025.
- 2021: 35,738 transactions
- 2022: 62,591 transactions
- 2023: 93,837 transactions
- 2024: 136,617 transactions
- 2025: 166,267 transactions
- 2026, January to August: 86,391 transactions
The 2026 figure covers only part of the year. It should not be compared with a completed twelve-month total as if both periods were equivalent. It does, however, show that recorded demand remained substantial through the first eight months of the year.
The composition of all recorded 2025 property sales also indicates where the market’s volume sits. Units accounted for 175,916 transactions, with an average recorded price of AED 1,971,054. Villas accounted for 17,001 transactions, with an average recorded price of AED 5,124,626. Land sales numbered 21,494 and had an average recorded price of AED 9,201,530. Buildings were much less frequent at 613 transactions, although their average price was AED 31,524,341.
The largest buyer base is therefore concentrated in individual units rather than land plots or whole buildings. This is consistent with a market where apartment purchases make up the bulk of transaction activity and where the middle price range carries more weight than the luxury end.
Monthly activity and what seasonality actually shows
Monthly transaction counts do move. That does not automatically mean that every lower month is a market crash, or that every stronger month proves a permanent price trend. Sales can vary with launch schedules, registrations, holidays, financing timelines, and the timing of completed transactions entering the register.
In 2024, apartment transactions ranged from 8,656 in January to 15,281 in October. The year started with 8,656 sales in January, rose to 13,339 in May, reached 13,683 in September, and then peaked at 15,281 in October. November and December recorded 11,124 and 11,794 sales respectively.
In 2025, the monthly count was higher through much of the year. January recorded 9,636 apartment transactions. Activity increased to 13,338 in April and 13,620 in May, then reached 15,818 in July, 15,302 in August, and 16,961 in September. October, November, and December remained above 15,000 transactions each.
The first four months of 2026 recorded between 10,763 and 12,631 apartment sales per month. May recorded 8,579, June 11,004, July 11,295, and August 8,958. These later months should be read carefully. Large transactions can be registered with a delay, which makes the latest two or three months look lower in value and average deal size than they may appear after further registrations are added.
For that reason, a decline in the average transaction value from May 2026 should not be treated as evidence of a market-wide price fall. The latest months are still being completed in the records. Completed annual data and transaction counts provide a firmer base for judging market direction.
The mass buyer sits between AED 1 million and AED 3 million
The price distribution answers a central question more directly than luxury property headlines do. Dubai has buyers in the AED 10 million-plus segment, but that segment is small by transaction count. The majority of sales are below AED 3 million.
| Year | Below AED 1m | AED 1m–3m | AED 3m–10m | AED 10m+ |
| 2021 | 48.2% | 40.4% | 10.2% | 1.2% |
| 2022 | 39.8% | 45.6% | 13.2% | 1.5% |
| 2023 | 41.1% | 44.5% | 13.0% | 1.4% |
| 2024 | 35.9% | 51.7% | 11.4% | 1.0% |
| 2025 | 31.4% | 55.8% | 11.7% | 1.2% |
| 2026 to August | 37.2% | 51.1% | 10.6% | 1.1% |
In 2021, nearly half of transactions were below AED 1 million. By 2025, the AED 1 million to AED 3 million band had become the largest segment, representing 55.8% of sales. The below-AED-1-million share fell from 48.2% in 2021 to 31.4% in 2025.
This is a shift in the mass-market ticket size. It does not prove that every buyer has more cash, nor does it establish the reason for the price change. It does show that the centre of transaction activity moved upward from sub-AED-1-million purchases toward the AED 1 million to AED 3 million range.
The AED 3 million to AED 10 million segment stayed comparatively stable, ranging from 10.2% to 13.2% between 2021 and 2026. Transactions of AED 10 million and above remained around 1% to 1.5% of annual activity. A market cannot be described accurately as driven only by mansion buyers when the registry distribution is weighted toward ordinary unit transactions below AED 3 million.
At the other end of the same market sit deals that barely move the count but dominate the totals: the most expensive apartments in Dubai.
Off-plan demand is a large part of the buyer profile
Buyers are not purchasing only completed apartments. Off-plan units formed a large share of apartment sales throughout the period shown. In January 2024, off-plan represented 64.2% of apartment transactions. By September and October 2024, the share was 71.9% and 72.3%.
In 2025, the off-plan share ranged from 66.4% in February to 79.6% in August and September. In the first eight months of 2026, it ranged from 69.6% to 80.1%.
This means a considerable part of the buyer base is committing to units before completion rather than limiting purchases to ready homes. That can include buyers planning future occupation, purchasers building rental portfolios, and buyers reserving a property during a development phase. The register does not separate these motivations, so it would be inaccurate to attach a specific purpose to every off-plan transaction.
Off-plan also changes how supply arguments should be read. A high number of announced units does not automatically equal a high number of completed, vacant, unsold units. The records supplied here show sales registrations, not a complete inventory of future supply, vacant apartments, construction completion dates, or absorption by individual project.
Questions such as whether JVC is oversupplied, which district has 12,000 units, or whether a named project has too much future stock require project-level supply and delivery data. Those numbers are not contained in these transaction records. A sales count alone cannot establish oversupply.
Who is living in Dubai’s housing stock: the rental evidence
The rental register provides a separate view of housing demand. In 2025, 540,095 rental contracts were recorded. Of these, 212,745 were new contracts and 327,350 were renewals.
New contracts represented close to two-fifths of all rental registrations in 2025. Renewals represented the larger share, showing that many occupiers continued existing tenancies rather than leaving at the end of a contract period.
- 2021: 403,989 rental contracts, including 230,227 new contracts
- 2022: 458,001 rental contracts, including 219,552 new contracts
- 2023: 497,472 rental contracts, including 203,811 new contracts
- 2024: 530,595 rental contracts, including 204,560 new contracts
- 2025: 540,095 rental contracts, including 212,745 new contracts
- 2026 to August: 335,059 rental contracts, including 130,054 new contracts
The fact that many Dubai residents rent rather than own does not contradict transaction demand. Rental contracts describe occupancy. Sales describe ownership transfers. A city can have a large tenant population while investors, future residents, landlords, and owner-occupiers buy individual units.
The registry cannot confirm the claim that 85% of residents are expatriates, because it does not contain citizenship or residency data. It can show that more than half a million rental agreements were registered in 2025 and that almost half of those registrations were new contracts or renewed housing arrangements during that year.
Where buyers are concentrating in 2026
District-level data show that demand is not distributed evenly across Dubai. By transaction count in 2026, Madinat Al Mataar led the recorded areas with 11,735 transactions. Its average price per square metre was AED 18,077, up 1.1% from AED 17,885 in 2025.
Al Barsha South Fourth recorded 6,341 transactions in 2026, compared with 17,589 in 2025. Its average price per square metre moved from AED 15,780 to AED 16,062, a 1.8% increase. Wadi Al Safa 5 registered 4,780 transactions and an average of AED 15,164 per square metre, up 4.7%.
Other leading locations by 2026 transaction count included Wadi Al Safa 3 with 4,226 transactions, Jabal Ali First with 4,043, Business Bay with 3,172, Palm Deira with 3,169, and Wadi Al Safa 4 with 2,923.
Price movement varied sharply by district. Palm Deira recorded an average of AED 30,051 per square metre in 2026, 13.5% above its 2025 figure. Nad Al Shiba First showed AED 35,536 per square metre, 75.0% above 2025. Jabal Ali Industrial Second increased by 25.8%, while Al Hebiah Fifth increased by 24.5%.
Other districts moved in the opposite direction. Business Bay recorded AED 26,674 per square metre in 2026, 1.0% below 2025. Wadi Al Safa 4 was down 6.5%, Al Hebiah First was down 5.0%, Marsa Dubai was down 4.4%, and Me’Aisem First was down 3.9%.
There is no single Dubai price movement that describes every district. Buyers are selecting areas at different price points, and price-per-square-metre changes are already uneven across locations. For a district-by-district view, see Dubai area performance.
Is Dubai property in a bubble or crashing in 2026?
A bubble is often used to mean any period of fast price growth. A correction usually means prices decline or flatten after rising. A crash implies a sharper and broader breakdown in transactions, pricing, or both. These are different descriptions and should not be treated as interchangeable.
The transaction figures support one clear point: sales volumes grew strongly from 2021 through 2025. Apartment transactions rose from 35,738 to 166,267 over that period. That is inconsistent with the claim that buyers had already disappeared before 2026.
The area data also support a second point: price-per-square-metre growth was no longer uniform in 2026. Some leading districts recorded small gains, others larger increases, and several showed declines. Business Bay, Marsa Dubai, Wadi Al Safa 4, Me’Aisem First, and Al Hebiah First all had lower average recorded prices per square metre than in 2025.
What the available figures do not support is a definitive statement that Dubai property is crashing, that a crash is certain, or that all prices will fall by 50% or 70%. There is no transaction-registry basis here for a citywide forecast of that kind.
Claims about a Dubai property crash after a war also cannot be answered with certainty from transaction data. External events can affect markets, but the records presented here do not quantify a future global event, its duration, financing conditions, migration decisions, or the response of individual buyers and sellers.
A buyer deciding whether purchase is appropriate should separate market evidence from prediction. The relevant questions include purchase price, payment obligations, planned holding period, whether the property is ready or off-plan, and whether the buyer can meet the contractual schedule. The practical arguments on both sides are discussed in whether it is worth buying property in Dubai.
How off-plan buyers are protected: escrow, registration, and oqood
Dubai’s off-plan framework is based on registration requirements, project escrow accounts, and rules governing developer obligations. Law No. 8 of 2007 requires a developer selling off-plan units to apply to open an escrow account. Payments made by off-plan purchasers are deposited into an account opened in the name of the specific real estate development project.
Under Law No. 8 of 2007, each project must have its own escrow account, and the account is dedicated exclusively to construction of that project. The law also states that payments deposited in the account cannot be attached for the benefit of the developer’s creditors.
The escrow agent must provide regular statements of revenue and expenditure and may be required to provide further information. Depositors, or their representatives, may access their own accounting records and request copies.
After a developer obtains a completion certificate, the escrow agent must retain 5% of the total value of each escrow account. That amount is released to the developer one year after units are registered in purchasers’ names.
People often use the word “oqood” when discussing an off-plan purchase. The formal statutory term is the Interim Real Property Register, governed by Law No. 13 of 2008 and its amendments. Registration in this interim register records the legal disposition of an off-plan unit before the completed unit is registered on the Real Property Register.
A master developer or sub-developer may not commence a project or sell units off-plan unless it has possession and control of the land, has received the demarcation certificate, and has obtained the approvals required to begin implementation. An off-plan sale made before project commencement approval and registration is deemed null and void.
Where a purchaser has fulfilled contractual obligations and the project is completed, the developer may not refuse to hand over the unit or register it in the purchaser’s name. If the developer refuses despite the purchaser meeting contractual obligations, the Land Department may register the unit in the purchaser’s name.
Protection does not remove the need to read the sale agreement. Payment obligations, construction milestones, delivery conditions, unit specifications, and consequences of purchaser default depend on the relevant contract and the applicable legal framework. This is a description of the process, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Who is buying property in Dubai in 2026?
The registry cannot identify buyers personally. It shows demand concentrated in unit purchases, especially between AED 1 million and AED 3 million, with off-plan transactions making up a large share of apartment sales.
Who buys most properties in Dubai?
By property category, units account for the largest number of transactions. In 2025, 175,916 unit transactions were recorded, compared with 17,001 villa transactions and 21,494 land transactions.
Is Dubai property crashing in 2026?
The available figures do not establish a citywide crash. Transaction volumes remained high, while price-per-square-metre results became mixed across districts rather than rising at the same rate everywhere.
Will the Dubai property bubble burst?
No transaction record can prove a future outcome. The data show strong completed annual sales growth through 2025 and uneven district-level price movement in 2026.
Is JVC oversupplied?
A transaction register cannot answer that by itself because it does not provide a full count of future deliveries, vacant homes, unsold stock, or project-level completion schedules.
Does a large renter population mean nobody buys?
No. In 2025, 540,095 rental contracts were recorded alongside 166,267 apartment sales. Renting describes occupancy; sales describe ownership transfers.
What is oqood in Dubai property?
Oqood is commonly used to describe off-plan registration. The formal legal term is registration in the Interim Real Property Register under Law No. 13 of 2008 and its amendments.
