Sales in August 2026, and the rebound behind them
Those 11,601 sales come to an average of about AED 2.4 million each (about USD 650,000). Across every type of transaction, mortgages and gifts included, the same DLD data record 15,611 transactions worth AED 46.22 billion in the month. A headline about Dubai's monthly total can quote either figure, and the two differ by more than AED 18 billion, so it pays to check which one you are reading.
Arabian Business reported on 16 September 2026 that sales have come back 38% from a three-year low.
The year so far, and the share bought off-plan
From January to August 2026 Dubai recorded 112,020 property sales worth AED 349.83 billion, DLD data reported by Voice of Emirates on 1 September 2026 show. Emirates 24/7 reported on 20 July 2026 that the first half of the year was the second-highest first half on record by sales value.
By number, 76,650 of this year's sales were off-plan, about two in three. By value, off-plan came to AED 169.77 billion, just under half, because ready homes sell in smaller numbers at higher prices.
Two in three of this year's sales were therefore of homes still being built. Each is paid for in stages the developer sets, and every payment before handover goes into the project's escrow account. Our guide to Dubai off-plan payment plans takes those stages one at a time.
Prices community by community, and across the city
Cavendish Maxwell put the average residential price across Dubai at AED 1,636 per sq ft (about USD 445) in August 2026. That is the figure that sits below last year's. The 81% counts something else: the communities in which a home cost more in August than it did a year earlier.
The citywide average folds a studio on the edge of the city and a villa on Palm Jumeirah into one price per square foot. The community figure compares each community with itself a year before, which is closer to what a buyer is asking about one home in one place.
When we look at a purchase with a client, we start from the recent sales in that building and in its community, because those set the price the client would pay.
What buyers who are still looking expect
Arabian Business reported on 16 September 2026 on a survey of prospective buyers in Dubai. Most of them expect prices to fall, and 71% still plan to buy.
A survey records what people who are looking now intend to do. The DLD's sales figures record what buyers did in August. This September the two point the same way, to a market where people keep buying while they keep an eye on the price.
New homes: fewer launches, more handovers
Developers launched 28,000 homes in 124 projects in the first half of 2026, against 102,000 homes in 410 projects a year earlier, according to Cavendish Maxwell's first-half report as covered by Gulf News on 30 July 2026. Over the same six months 24,800 homes were handed over to their buyers, 12% more than in the second half of 2025.
The slowdown has become a story of its own. AGBI ran it on 11 September 2026 under the headline "Lack of launches poses credibility test for Dubai developers".
For anyone who has heard that Dubai is building too much, these are the figures to weigh. New launches in the first half ran at about a quarter of the year before, and more of the homes sold in earlier years reached their buyers.
Renting: more new leases signed
Arabian Business reported on 10 September 2026 that Dubai's rental contracts had passed 257,000, with new leases up 19%, and that the rental market is heading for a record.
For an owner who lives abroad, a lease count answers the first practical question: will the home let? Each new lease is a tenant who chose to rent in Dubai.
The rules: Dubai 17th in the world for real estate transparency
Dubai's real estate market ranks 17th in the world in the JLL-LaSalle Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2026, up 11 places in two years, Emirates 24/7 reported on 16 September 2026. The report credits the DLD's digital services and Mollak, the system through which owners are billed their service charges.
Transparency is what lets a buyer abroad check figures like the ones on this page. Every sale in Dubai is registered with the DLD, which Law No. 7 of 2006 made the legal proof of ownership, and the monthly totals are drawn from that register.
How our team reads a month like this with you
The figures on this page describe Dubai as a whole, and a purchase is one home in one building. On a call we put the market's numbers next to that building's own recent sales and the payment plan on offer, and you decide from there.
Book a call with the button below, and our team in Dubai will take you through September's figures for the communities you are considering.