May 2026 in Dubai property

Fewer homes sold than a year ago. Resale apartment prices are still falling, below their Feb 2026 high. New apartment leases cost less than in January 2026, and renewals cost more.

The month in 4 numbers

Every deal registered to 31 May 2026
Homes sold in May9,27338% fewer than May 2025

Down 25% on April. 8,685 apartments and 588 villas.

Resale apartments−5.5%since the Feb 2026 high, same buildings

Down 5.5% in 3 months.

New-lease rent−7.8%apartments since January 2026, like for like

Renewals rose 1.5%.

Off-plan share77%of homes sold were off-plan

67% in May 2025.

May 2026 in Dubai property

What does May mean for you?

If you're buying

An apartment that sold for AED 1.1M in May 2025 would sell for about the same now.

Fewer resales usually means more room to negotiate.

If you're renting

A new apartment lease that cost AED 68k in January 2026 would cost about AED 63k now.

Renewing saves you less than it did, so check new leases nearby before you sign.

If you own

An apartment worth AED 1.2M at the Feb 2026 high would sell for about AED 1.13M now.

Price a new tenancy from May's leases, since leases in January 2026 ran higher.

How busy was May?

1,944 resales

and 7,175 off-plan sales. Against May 2025, resales fell 61% and off-plan fell 28%. It was the quietest May in our records, which start in January 2024. With land and offices, AED 28.5B changed hands, against AED 66.7B a year earlier.

ResalesOff-plan, bought from the developerBulk registrationsThis month and a year ago
05,00010,00015,00020,000202420252026May 2025: 15,027May 2026: 9,273

102 sales in International City were registered on one day. 31 sales at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase III , Residences 26, all at about AED 1,829 per sq ft, were registered on one day. 21 sales in Al Jadaf were registered on one day. Those are bulk registrations, so we keep them apart from resales and prices.

Did prices fall, or did different homes sell?

Resale apartments in the same buildings cost about the same as in May 2025, and about 5% less than the February 2026 high. A plain typical apartment price rose about 2% over the same year, in line with that. Off-plan apartment prices are 1.5% under their March 2026 high and villas 5.3% under theirs.

Resale apartmentsOff-plan apartmentsVillas
−10%0%+10%+20%+30%+40%+50%202420252026VillasResale apartmentsOff-plan apartments

Change in price since January 2024, comparing each project and bed count with itself.

Which areas moved?

4 of 16

busy areas have cheaper apartments than a year ago, in the same buildings, over the last 3 months. Business Bay fell the most, and Jumeirah Lake Towers rose the most.

Where did buyers go?

Dubai South sold the most, 1,331 homes. 4 of the top 8 sold more than a year ago, and 3 sold less.

  1. Dubai SouthAzizi Venice 14: 5051,331719 a year ago
  2. MajanBinghatti Skyflame 1: 442953315 a year ago
  3. Dubai Land Residence Complex89% off-plan610780 a year ago
  4. Jumeirah Village Circle57% off-plan5301,821 a year ago
  5. Jabal Ali First76% off-plan445Not comparable
  6. Dubai Investment Park First98% off-plan42830 a year ago
  7. Dubai IslandsThe Meriva Collection: 122366385 a year ago
  8. City of ArabiaAzizi Milan Heights: 10928565 a year ago

Not comparable: DLD stopped tagging some of this area's buildings in February 2026.

Should you renew or move?

9%

That's how much more a new tenant paid than a renewing tenant, for the same size of apartment in the same area, against 19% in January 2026. New tenants now pay less than renewing ones in Meydan One, so ask your landlord to match.

New leasesRenewals
−10%−7.5%−5%−2.5%0%+2.5%+5%Jan 2026MarMayRenewalsNew leases

How much more new tenants pay than renewing ones, last 3 months

  • Meydan One−2.8%
  • Jumeirah Lake Towers+5.2%
  • Al Barsha First+6.1%
  • Dubai Marina+8.1%
  • Downtown Dubai+9.0%
  • Al Warsan First+9.8%
  • Business Bay+11.2%
  • Dubai Silicon Oasis+15.0%
  • Jumeirah Village Circle+15.3%
  • Jabal Ali First+16.2%
  • International City+21.4%
  • Arjan+24.3%

Change in rent since January 2026, comparing the same size of apartment in the same area. 12,832 new leases and 23,675 renewals in May. Lease records start in January 2026, so there's no year-ago figure yet.

Are people borrowing?

2,479

mortgages were registered, down from 3,630 in April. This counts every property loan DLD registers, refinancing included.

Questions people ask

Quick answers, from the same deals as the rest of this page.

Did Dubai property prices fall in May 2026?

Against a year earlier, resale apartment prices in the same buildings barely moved. The trend chart above shows each month, and hovering gives the figure.

Why do your prices differ from a typical price?

A typical price moves when cheaper or dearer buildings sell more. We compare each project and bed count with itself, so a change in what sold can't look like a change in price.

Why did the market move?

Deal records show what moved, and they can't show why. We report what was registered and leave the reasons out.

Why are there no rents before January 2026?

The DLD lease records we hold start in January 2026, so rents compare with January until a full year has passed.

When does the next report come out?

Once the next month's deals are in.

About our data

Where our numbers come from

Every number on this page comes from a real deal registered with the Dubai Land Department. Here's how we turn them into prices you can use.

Sources
Sales come from every sale registered with DLD since January 2024, based on Dubai Real Estate Data (CC-BY-4.0) and DLD open data. Leases come from DLD's Ejari records since January 2026.
Homes
Apartments, hotel apartments, villas and townhouses. Prices and rents cover apartments unless we say villas. Land, offices and shops are counted only where we say so.
Same-building prices
A "building" here means a DLD project and its bed count, such as the 1-beds in one project, because DLD stopped filling in building names on 18 Feb 2026. Each one is compared with itself across months, so a change in which homes sold can't look like a change in price. Sales without a project name aren't used. Past months can shift a little as new deals arrive.
Area moves
Resales in the last 3 months against the same 3 months a year earlier, in buildings that sold in both.
Sales by area
Counted by DLD's legal area, which every deal carries. Some community names have been blank in DLD's feed since 18 Feb 2026, and we don't compare volumes where that matters.
New projects
A project's first off-plan sale since our records start. New phases count as new projects when DLD names them apart.
Rents
Residential apartment leases for one home. New and renewed rents are compared within the same area and size.
Mortgages
Every mortgage DLD registers on any property, from January 2026.
Bulk registrations
Many sales in one building on the same few days, often at one price per sq ft, aren't separate buyers setting a price. They stay in homes sold and stay out of resales and prices.

We update with every data release. This page was last updated on 3 Nov 2026.

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