Residential apartments the backbone of Dubai real estate with AED 111 billion in sales

Residential apartments have continued to cement their position as the backbone of Dubai's real estate market, accounting for approximately 77% of all transactions recorded during the first five months of this year, with 55,353 deals totalling AED 111.4 billion in sales value.

Apartments also represented around 44% of total real estate sales value, which stood at AED 253.8 billion, reflecting sustained strong demand from both investors and end-users alike.

This performance confirms the dominance of apartments in the emirate's real estate activity, driven by continued population growth, an influx of talent and capital, the attractiveness of rental yields, and the diverse residential options Dubai offers — making apartments the most traded and most widely available property product in the market.

Off-plan apartments commanded the largest share of sales at 78.6%, generating AED 87.5 billion from 41,521 transactions, while ready apartments accounted for 21.3%, with AED 23.8 billion from 13,832 transactions.

By area, Dubai Islands (formerly Deira Islands) topped apartment sales with 2,685 transactions worth AED 9.3 billion, followed by Business Bay with 2,303 transactions worth AED 6.5 billion, then Airport City with 4,213 transactions worth AED 5.8 billion.

Palm Jumeirah ranked fourth with 455 transactions worth AED 4.9 billion, while Jumeirah Village Circle came fifth with 4,218 transactions worth AED 4.5 billion.

Two-bedroom apartments captured the largest share of sales at AED 37.5 billion, followed by one-bedroom units at AED 35 billion, three-bedroom apartments at AED 18.2 billion, and studio units at AED 10.8 billion.

Four-bedroom units accounted for AED 6 billion, five-bedroom units for AED 2.1 billion, and six-bedroom units for AED 1.3 billion, while 12 penthouse apartments were sold for a combined AED 98 million.

Dubai's real estate market has witnessed several notable apartment transactions since the start of the year, most prominently the sale of two record-breaking luxury off-plan apartments within the Aman Residences project in Jumeirah 2 — the first valued at AED 422 million and the second at AED 356 million.

Palm Jumeirah also recorded a landmark transaction for an off-plan apartment within the Alba Residences by Omniyat project, valued at AED 255 million, while the Burj Khalifa area saw an off-plan residential apartment sold for AED 121 million.