What 2025 data reveals about prices going up or slowing down?

After years of steady growth, what does the 2025 data say about Dubai property prices now? Anyone watching the city over the past few years has felt the pace of rising rents, higher asking prices, and homes selling quickly once they hit the market. Values moved up year after year, leaving early buyers sitting on solid gains, which naturally raises the question of what comes next. Looking at the 2025 numbers helps show whether the market is still moving up or starting to slow.

Key Takeaways

• Dubai property prices are still rising, but at a slower and more controlled pace
• Demand from residents, renters, and investors remains strong
• The new supply arriving in 2026 is giving buyers more choice
• Price growth continues, but without the urgency seen in earlier years

How Many Property Transactions Happened in Dubai in 2025?

A few years ago, very few people would have guessed where Dubai would end up by 2025. Property sales reached AED 547 billion across roughly 203,000 transactions, setting new records across the board. 

A lot of money changed hands, though the more interesting story lies in where buyers focused. Around 72% of all sales took place between AED 500,000 and AED 3 million. This range suggests where first-time buyers, long-term investors, and people moving out of renting tend to shop. Homes in this bracket move quickly, and they find tenants just as fast.

Smaller homes carried most of the activity. Studios and one- to two-bedroom apartments accounted for close to 77% of all sales. These are the homes renters look for, and investors rely on. They stay occupied, and when owners decide to sell, they rarely sit on the market for long.

Buyer Behaviour Signals from Dubai’s 2025 Property Sales

These patterns match what we saw across the wider market in 2025. Our detailed Full Year 2025 Dubai market report breaks down where activity is concentrated, how buyers approached pricing, and why smaller homes dominated transaction volumes.

What Keeps Housing Demand Active in Dubai?

Dubai’s property market doesn’t move in isolation. Jobs, business activity, tourism, and population growth all play a role. In 2025, each of these stayed strong, which explains why Dubai’s property demand never really lost momentum.

Better Job Opportunities

The UAE economy grew close to 4% in the first half of 2025 and around 4.5% in the second. While oil played its part, most of the growth came from sectors such as trade, tourism, finance, and logistics. 

These industries create jobs, and jobs bring people into the country. Once people arrive, they need somewhere to live, and that demand feeds directly into the housing market.

A Growing Population

Dubai reached 4 million residents in 2025, with population growth above 5% for the second year in a row. That translates into thousands of new households forming across the city, each one looking for a place to live, whether renting or buying.

Tourism

About 17.5 million overnight visitors came to Dubai in the first 11 months of the year, with hotel occupancy hovering around 80%. Some visitors rent short-term, some return for work, and many decide to buy after spending time in the city. Tourism feeds long-term housing demand in quieter but meaningful ways.

Favourable Tax Rules

With no income tax and no capital gains tax on personal property sales, Dubai attracts investors and people who plan to build long-term lives here. When buyers sit down and look at the numbers, that difference becomes hard to ignore.

Together, these forces create a solid base of demand that supports the housing market in a very real way.

Off-plan vs Ready Properties in Dubai

Buying off-plan properties in Dubai has become the norm. Around 132,000 off-plan properties were sold in 2025, with about AED 286 billion flowing into new projects. It no longer feels strange to sign papers for a place that will not be ready for a few years. Payment plans make it easier, since the money is paid out slowly rather than all at once, and many buyers keep renting during that time.

Areas such as Jumeirah Village Circle, Business Bay, and Dubai South attracted much of this interest, largely because prices remain within reach for a wide range of buyers.

Off-plan buyers were drawn by:

• Lower starting prices
• Staggered payment plans
• Ability to keep renting while paying

At the same time, ready homes stayed busy. About 71,000 of them were sold for AED 262 billion. Some people want to move in straight away. Others bought years ago and now feel it is time to sell. Those two groups meet in the resale market, and that back-and-forth keeps deals flowing in both directions.

Ready-home buyers preferred:

• Immediate move-in or rental income
• Established communities
• No construction wait

How Many New Homes are Coming in 2026?

Supply always plays a role in where prices go, no matter how strong demand feels. 

In 2025, about 40,000 new homes were handed over across Dubai. Roughly 31,000 of those were apartments, with the rest made up of villas and townhouses. Areas like Jumeirah Village Circle, Arjan, Business Bay, and Sobha Hartland saw many of these new flats sell to buyers. Family-focused communities such as Arabian Ranches 3, Tilal Al Ghaf, and Dubai South led the list of handovers for larger homes.

In 2026, close to 100,000 new homes are expected to be completed, with most in the apartment segment, as was the case last year. More homes usually ease price pressure, and that idea makes sense. However, Dubai continues to add residents, jobs, and visitors, so new homes fill up faster than many expect. When both sides grow together, prices rise more slowly than they drop.

For buyers and tenants, this points to more choice and a market that feels less rushed than it did a few years ago.

How Many Apartments will be Delivered in Dubai in 2026?

Things are expected to pick up further in 2026. About 81,000 apartments are due for completion, which will lead to a noticeable increase in choice for buyers and renters. Demand will not fade away, but people will get more time to look around, compare options, and make decisions without feeling rushed.

What Rents in Dubai Tell Us About Demand?

Rent shows what is really happening in a city. Sales can jump up and down, but people still need a roof over their head. 

In 2025, about 530,000 rental contracts were signed in Dubai, the highest number to date. Most of them came from people renewing their homes, which says a lot about how full the city already is.

Rents had already risen a lot in previous years, and that change nudged many people toward buying. When monthly rent is close to a mortgage payment, ownership becomes more appealing, which sends more people into the sales market.

Are Dubai Prices Going Up or Slowing Down?

Prices in Dubai are still rising, just not as sharply as people saw a few years ago. Most owners saw values increase again in 2025, but the jumps were smaller and more controlled.

More homes are coming onto the market, so buyers have more to choose from and do not feel rushed into quick decisions. At the same time, new people keep arriving for work, business, and long-term living, which keeps demand steady.

So, yes, prices are still rising, but the rate of growth is slowing.

Conclusion

Dubai property does not feel like it is topping out. Prices are still rising, people are still moving in, and homes are still being taken up. What feels different now is the pace, since more homes are coming onto the market and buyers have more time to think. That makes this phase easier for anyone planning to buy, since decisions can be made without pressure, which is usually how a market moves forward in a healthier way.

For a closer look at how prices, supply, and demand are shaping up across different areas, our FY 2025 Dubai market report breaks this down in more detail.