Dubai apartment and villa sales fell 44.3 percent in October 2026 while same-homes prices fell 0.67 percent

Across 10,180 apartment and villa sales worth AED 25.12 billion, middle prices fell 2.5 percent while same-homes prices fell 0.67 percent. The same-homes measure compares this month with the same month last year, for the same types and sizes of home, sold the same way. So a change in what sold cannot move it, while new-lease same-homes rents fell 6.55 percent and renewal rents rose 3.47 percent.

The market in October 2026

10 measures of October 2026 at a glance

Same-homes prices compare the same types and sizes of home, sold the same way, with a year earlier, so a change in what sold cannot move them. Median means the middle sale: half sold for more and half for less. Off plan means sold before the home is built.

The register also recorded 1 sale in October 2026 as instalment sales (unclassified), too few to show in the split.

Apartments sold off plan were 49.9 percent of last year's value and 68.1 percent of the fall. Without them, value fell 28.8 percent.

Why it may have moved. 1 possible cause may have played a part. It is shown in the section whose figures it explains: Apartment.

Fewer sales and lower prices.

This is one of 2 things that happened at once, each of which may explain part of this move. The other one is shown in other sections.

These may also have played a part.

Sales

11,210 sales of every type in every use in October 2026. Median price AED 1,695 per square foot.

• Across apartment and villa sales, the middle price per square foot fell 2.5 percent to AED 1,668 while same-homes prices fell 0.67 percent. Price per square foot is the price of one square foot, which lets you compare homes of different sizes across 18 matched groups.
• Total value paid for apartment and villa sales fell 45.2 percent to AED 25.12 billion, while sales value rose 7 percent from September 2026. The typical home in those sales rose 0.6 percent in size to 826 square feet, where one square metre is about 10.8 square feet.

What might explain it.

• The headline price fell 2.5 percent while the same-homes measure moved by less than one percent. It compares matched homes sold the same way, so only the mix of sales changed.
• Sales rose 0.9 percent from the month before, and half the months over the past 1 year moved at least that much.

Residential

10,784 sales of every type registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median price AED 1,692 per square foot.

These figures count apartments and villas only, so they differ from the register's Residential line.

Apartments (built area)

Villas (plot area)

Apartment communities (built area)

Villa communities (plot area)

Communities by value transacted (apartments and villas together)

• Apartment and villa first sales fell 51.8 percent in count to 6,366 deals, while apartment and villa resales fell 24.7 percent to 3,813 deals. Same-homes prices fell 0.07 percent for first sales and fell 2.21 percent for resales, showing existing owners cut prices further than developers.
• No single contributor exceeded 11.6 percent of apartment and villa sales, and same-homes prices excluding the leading contributor fell 0.33 percent. Wadi Al Safa 3 (Majan) led sales value at AED 1.17 billion across 538 deals while holding 18,654 unfinished homes in the 426,466-unit pipeline.

What might explain it.

• The headline price per square foot fell 2.5 percent, yet the same-homes measure moved by less than one percent. Homes did not really reprice, and what changed was which homes happened to sell.
• Monthly sales rose 0.9 percent, an ordinary move that half of all months in the last 1 year at least matched.

Apartment

8,286 sales of apartment property registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median price AED 1,694 per square foot.

426,466 apartment units are registered and not yet finished, as read on 3 November 2026. That is the count now, not at the close of the month. Taken together they are 24 percent built.

• Apartments sold off plan, meaning sold before being built by a developer or earlier buyer, reached 5,496 deals against 2,790 ready apartment sales. Apartment sales fell 47 percent from 15,644 deals to 8,286, steeper than the 43.1 percent drop across all 10,784 residential sales.

Why apartment sales may have moved.

Fewer sales and lower prices.

This is one of 2 things that happened at once, each of which may explain part of this move. The other one is shown in other sections.

Villa

1,894 sales of villa property registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median price AED 1,527 per square foot.

• Off plan villa deals reached 1,260 sales against 634 ready villa sales, putting most villa activity into homes not yet built. The 27.7 percent annual drop in villa sales was smaller than the 43.1 percent fall across all 10,784 residential sales.

What might explain it.

• Half the months in the last 1 year moved at least as much against the prior month, making the monthly shift ordinary variation.

Residential, other and commercial uses, counted rather than read one by one

Each group's first line is its total, and the lines beneath it add up to that total. These are other kinds of property, or uses where other property makes up most of the records. They are counted here, not given a section of their own.

The 10 largest sales recorded in October 2026

The largest residential sales the register recorded in the month. Project and community are printed as the register holds them. No sale is left out for being unusual, and price divided by size gives the last column, so any row can be checked against itself.

Rents

62,222 leases of every type in every use in October 2026. Median annual rent AED 80 per square foot.

• All registered leases fell 19.1 percent from a year earlier to 62,222 contracts, and fell 6.6 percent in contract count from September 2026. Leases reach the register weeks after they begin, leaving October 2026 registrations at 83.7 percent of last year against 94.2 percent for settled July 2026.
• Registration lag does not distort middle rent per square foot, which rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier to AED 80 across all leases. In thin segments such as commercial villas, just 10 new contracts and 14 renewals registered, making those middle rent readings swing from month to month.

Residential

51,926 leases of every type registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median annual rent AED 78 per square foot.

These figures count apartments and villas in every use the register records them under (Residential and Commercial), so they differ from the register's Residential line.

Moving in against staying put

What a new tenant pays over a sitting one: 19.0% a year ago, 9.4% now.

• New leases rose 2.5 percent to 27,194 contracts, while same-homes rents for moving tenants fell 6.55 percent to AED 88.5 per square foot. Renewal contracts fell 29.8 percent to 25,773 leases as same-homes renewal rents rose 3.47 percent, cutting the gap from AED 12,000 to AED 6,000.
• New contracts reached 51.3 percent of leases, up from 42 percent, while middle new-lease rent fell 6.7 percent to AED 70,000. Middle renewal rent rose 1.6 percent to AED 64,000, while residential penthouse and office leases registered only 8 contracts between them.

Other property types ("Penthouse" and "Office"): 8 leases, not shown separately.

Apartment, registered for Residential use

46,923 leases of apartment property registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median annual rent AED 80 per square foot.

• Apartments accounted for 46,923 of the 51,926 residential leases registered this month, with new contracts taking 24,154 leases against 22,769 renewals. Apartment lease counts fell 6.2 percent from 50,021 in September 2026, compared with a 7.3 percent fall across all residential leases.

Villa, registered for Residential use

4,995 leases of villa property registered for Residential use in October 2026. Median annual rent AED 67 per square foot.

• Middle villa rent per square foot rose 4.2 percent from AED 64 last year to AED 67, and rose 0.3 percent from AED 66. That 4.2 percent annual villa rent gain outpaced the 3.8 percent rent rise to AED 78 per square foot across all residential leases.

Residential and commercial uses, counted rather than read one by one

Each group's first line is its total, and the lines beneath it add up to that total. These are other kinds of property, or uses where other property makes up most of the records. They are counted here, not given a section of their own.

What it means for developers, investors and others

Methodology and assumptions

• What we read. Dubai Land Department registrations for October 2026, as recorded by 3 November 2026: 11,210 sales and 62,222 leases.
• How the sections are cut. By the register's own labels, in this order: 1. the register: sales, then leases; 2. what the property is used for, as the register records it; 3. the type of property, as the register records it; 4. off plan or ready for a sale, new or renewed for a lease. The biggest groups come first. A group with too few records to read on its own is counted with the rest rather than read alone.
• Prices. A few sales far above or below the rest are left out of prices but kept in counts. Apartment prices use built area and villa prices use plot area, so the two are not compared.
• Who sold. Sales are split as the register files them. For October 2026: 6,366 first sales and 3,813 resales. First sales are homes the register records as sold for the first time, usually by their developer. The register often records an off plan home resold before it is built the same way, so some are resales. Resales are homes the register records as sold on by an owner after their first sale. Same-homes prices are matched by property type, bedroom count and kind of sale, so a shift from one kind of sale to another cannot move them.
• How we compare. Each figure is compared with October 2025 and September 2026.
• How reasons are weighed. First the register's own figures are asked, in this order: 1. Is the register still filling, or has it restated a period it already printed? 2. Did prices move, or did the mix of homes sold move? 3. Is the comparison distorted by the calendar? 4. Is the move larger than this market's ordinary variation? Each answer can end the question. Only what is left goes to dated news. Each report faces these checks, in order: 1. Came before the move. 2. Pushes the way the market moved. 3. Fits which side of the market moved. 4. Hits the parts it should hit hardest. 5. Large enough for a move this size. 6. Has done this here before. A report from after the move cannot explain it, so the first check decides alone. A check we cannot run is left out, never counted as zero. The likelihood words are stored with this edition, so they never change later.

MOIRA read 11,210 sales and 62,222 leases registered with the Dubai Land Department for October 2026. It checked 36 dated news reports from 6 publishers, and tested 12 possible explanations: 2 fit, 7 did not and 3 could not be measured.

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