Sales volume fell sharply from a year earlier while rental activity grew. Dubai recorded 11,127 property sales worth AED 28.9 billion in September 2026, 44.7% fewer than in September 2025 and 5.2% fewer than in August. Registered rental contracts rose to 109,156, up 20.8% year on year. Apartment prices per square foot eased 3.5% over the year, while villa and townhouse prices rose 3.4%.
All figures are computed from individual registered transactions in the Happy Endpoint Dubai dataset (1.35 million sales since 1997 and 8.79 million rental contracts since 2010). Mortgages and gifts are not included.
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Key figures
| September 2026 | September 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales transactions | 11,127 | 20,139 | -44.7% |
| Sales value | AED 28.9bn | AED 54.1bn | -46.6% |
| Off-plan share of sales | 67.8% | 75.1% | -7.3 pts |
| Median apartment price per sq ft | AED 1,668 | AED 1,728 | -3.5% |
| Median villa/townhouse price per sq ft | AED 1,599 | AED 1,547 | +3.4% |
| Rental contracts registered | 109,156 | 90,359 | +20.8% |
| New leases as share of contracts | 50.3% | 44.9% | +5.4 pts |
Sales
- Volume: 11,127 sales, down from 11,742 in August and 20,139 in September 2025. Total value was AED 28.9 billion against AED 54.1 billion a year earlier.
- Off-plan: 67.8% of sales were off-plan, down from 75.1% a year earlier. The fall in volume was steeper in off-plan than in ready property.
- Apartments: 8,736 sales at a median price of AED 1.17 million and AED 1,668 per sq ft.
- Villas and townhouses: 1,413 sales at a median price of AED 3.85 million and AED 1,599 per sq ft.
Most active areas for sales, September 2026
| Area | Sales | Median price (AED) | Off-plan share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) | 797 | 968,000 | 54% |
| Dubai South | 776 | 779,377 | 92% |
| Downtown Jebel Ali | 621 | 888,860 | 98% |
| Majan | 550 | 675,000 | 92% |
| Business Bay | 424 | 2,000,000 | 36% |
| Motor City | 402 | 1,050,000 | 92% |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 389 | 2,327,888 | 78% |
| DAMAC Lagoons | 329 | 1,332,480 | 69% |
| Dubai Land Residence Complex (DLRC) | 312 | 761,430 | 79% |
| Dubai Investments Park (DIP) | 307 | 820,000 | 93% |
Rentals
- Volume: 109,156 rental contracts, up 13.8% on August and 20.8% on September 2025. Of these, 66,793 were residential and 42,363 commercial.
- New leases vs renewals: new leases made up 50.3% of contracts, up from 44.9% a year earlier.
- Rents: median annual apartment rents were flat for studios and rose 3% to 5% for larger units.
Median annual apartment rent by size
| Unit | Contracts | Median rent, Sep 2026 (AED) | Sep 2025 (AED) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 12,464 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 0.0% |
| 1 bedroom | 24,356 | 60,000 | 58,361 | +2.8% |
| 2 bedrooms | 17,616 | 80,000 | 77,700 | +3.0% |
| 3 bedrooms | 3,788 | 126,000 | 120,000 | +5.0% |
Most active areas for residential leasing, September 2026
| Area | Contracts | Median annual rent (AED) | New leases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deira | 5,138 | 45,780 | 40% |
| Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) | 3,866 | 65,000 | 66% |
| Bur Dubai | 3,254 | 63,689 | 28% |
| Business Bay | 2,601 | 87,000 | 71% |
| Al Nahda (Dubai) | 2,466 | 55,000 | 27% |
| International City | 2,380 | 38,000 | 34% |
| Al Qusais | 2,051 | 48,500 | 20% |
| Dubai Marina | 1,930 | 105,000 | 62% |
| Al Barsha | 1,866 | 77,841 | 45% |
| Arjan | 1,814 | 58,505 | 56% |
Method
- Source: individual registered sales and rental contracts, compiled by Happy Endpoint from publicly available Dubai property transaction records, with data through 24 October 2026. Our September sales count (11,127) is within 2% of the total in the Dubai Land Department’s own September file (11,338).
- Prices: medians, not averages, so that a small number of very large deals does not distort them. Price per sq ft is the median of each transaction’s price per square metre, converted at 10.7639 sq ft per square metre.
- Rents: annual rent is the monthly rent (contract value divided by contract length) multiplied by 12. Contracts covering several units are counted once per unit, so commercial contract counts can be higher than per-contract totals.
- Areas: areas are the broad districts Dubai uses for registration, such as Business Bay or Dubai Marina.
- Not included: mortgages, gifts and other non-sale registrations.
Happy Endpoint is an independent data provider and is not affiliated with the Dubai Land Department.
The data behind this note
- Free: monthly medians and deal counts for the 50 most active areas, October 2025 to September 2026, on Hugging Face: Free Dubai Real Estate Monthly Market Dataset (CC BY 4.0).
- Free datasets: 500 sales and 500 rental contracts with every field: Free Dubai Property Sales Dataset and Free Dubai Rental Contracts Dataset.
- Full dataset: the Dubai Real Estate Transactions dataset: every registered sale since 1997 and rental contract since 2010, one row per transaction, with property type, size, bedrooms, off-plan or ready status, area, building and coordinates. Available as a one-time file or an annual subscription with monthly or quarterly updates, in CSV or SQLite, for all of Dubai or any area, period or property type.
Contact: hello@happyendpoint.com
Please cite as: Happy Endpoint, Dubai Real Estate Market Data Note, September 2026.
