Dubai Market Data
Registered sales and Ejari contracts, organized for clear comparisons and better property decisions.
Public records · Dubai Land Department
Annual report
Dubai property market — 2008
Every figure below comes from sale transactions registered with the Dubai Land Department and dated inside 2008. Mortgages and gifts are excluded; the register's own record of a sale is the only source.
In a sentence
The Land Department registered 23,634 property sales in 2008, worth AED 110.08B in total, across 129 communities. That is 160% more than the year before.
The median sale was AED 1,200,000 at AED 591/sqft, 45.7% above the year before. 0% of sales were off-plan.
Marsa Dubai was the busiest community with 5,604 registered sales, while Burj Khalifa took the most money at AED 11.02B.
Against the previous year, Al Warsan First rose 2,730% to 5,264 sales, while Mirdif fell 43% to 161.
Sales by year
Price per square foot by year
Where the sales were
The fifteen communities with the most registered sales in 2008, and how each moved against the year before.
| Community | Sales | vs prior | Total value | Median price | Price/sqft | Off-plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marsa Dubai | 5,604 | +177.8% | 10.62B | 949K | 787/sqft | 0% |
| Al Warsan First | 5,264 | +2730.1% | 4.90B | 336K | 559/sqft | 0% |
| Al Thanayah Fourth | 2,498 | +16.0% | 6.74B | 1.70M | 389/sqft | 0% |
| Al Thanyah Third | 1,974 | +267.6% | 5.33B | 1.37M | 970/sqft | 0% |
| Wadi Al Safa 6 | 1,640 | +87.0% | 4.64B | 2.37M | 386/sqft | 0% |
| Al Ruwayyah | 1,312 | +3544.4% | 3.43B | 893K | 125/sqft | 0% |
| Palm Jumeirah | 860 | +129.3% | 6.17B | 3.20M | 388/sqft | 0% |
| Al Thanyah Fifth | 738 | +138.8% | 3.30B | 1.31M | 699/sqft | 0% |
| Burj Khalifa | 446 | +725.9% | 11.02B | 2.46M | 1,214/sqft | 0% |
| Jabal Ali | 411 | +2835.7% | 3.89B | 5.55M | 235/sqft | 0% |
| Al Barsha South Fourth | 386 | — | 6.16B | 10.01M | 327/sqft | 0% |
| Al Jadaf | 256 | -21.2% | 5.81B | 19.34M | 1,500/sqft | 0% |
| Nad Al Shiba | 204 | +88.9% | 3.80B | 9.09M | 300/sqft | 0% |
| Mirdif | 161 | -42.5% | 1.17B | 6.00M | 600/sqft | 0% |
| Trade Center Second | 130 | +12900.0% | 467.14M | 3.68M | 1,498/sqft | 0% |
Where the money went
Ranked by total registered value rather than count — a different list, and the one that shows where capital actually landed.
| Community | Value | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Burj Khalifa | 11.02B | 446 |
| Marsa Dubai | 10.62B | 5,604 |
| Al Thanayah Fourth | 6.74B | 2,498 |
| Palm Jumeirah | 6.17B | 860 |
| Al Barsha South Fourth | 6.16B | 386 |
| Al Jadaf | 5.81B | 256 |
| Al Thanyah Third | 5.33B | 1,974 |
| Al Warsan First | 4.90B | 5,264 |
| Wadi Al Safa 6 | 4.64B | 1,640 |
| Jabal Ali | 3.89B | 411 |
Biggest movers
Change in registered sales against the previous year. Limited to communities with at least 50 sales in both — below that a swing is noise.
| Community | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Al Warsan First | 5,264 | +2730.1% |
| Burj Khalifa | 446 | +725.9% |
| Al Thanyah Third | 1,974 | +267.6% |
| Marsa Dubai | 5,604 | +177.8% |
| Al Thanyah Fifth | 738 | +138.8% |
| Palm Jumeirah | 860 | +129.3% |
| Nad Al Shiba | 204 | +88.9% |
| Wadi Al Safa 6 | 1,640 | +87.0% |
| Mirdif | 161 | -42.5% |
| Jabal Ali Industrial First | 117 | -31.6% |
The largest sales of 2008
Each row links to its own register record, so any figure in this report can be traced to the transactions behind it.
| Date | Community | Project / building | Type | Beds | Size | Price/sqft | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 May 2008 | Zaabeel Second | Akala Hotels and ResidencesDubai International Financial Center | LandResidential · Existing Properties | Not specified | 138,466 sqft | AED 8,500/sqft | AED 1,176,961,000 |
| 5 Jun 2008 | Trade Center First | BURJ AZIZI | LandCommercial · Existing Properties | Not specified | 40,000 sqft | AED 18,000/sqft | AED 720,000,000 |
| 28 Feb 2008 | Al Safouh Second | — | BuildingCommercial · Existing Properties | Not specified | 167,800 sqft | AED 4,172/sqft | AED 700,000,000 |
| 12 May 2008 | Burj Khalifa | —Business Bay | LandResidential · Existing Properties | Not specified | 586,391 sqft | AED 942/sqft | AED 552,441,000 |
| 17 Sept 2008 | Nad Al Shiba | —City Of Arabia | LandResidential · Existing Properties | Not specified | 100,246 sqft | AED 4,988/sqft | AED 500,000,000 |
| 29 Sept 2008 | Burj Khalifa | —Business Bay | LandResidential · Existing Properties | Not specified | 125,627 sqft | AED 3,900/sqft | AED 489,945,300 |
| 29 Sept 2008 | Nad Al Shiba | —Silicon Oasis | LandOther · Existing Properties | Not specified | 96,076 sqft | AED 4,840/sqft | AED 465,000,000 |
| 26 May 2008 | Al Hamriya | — | BuildingCommercial · Existing Properties | Not specified | 63,920 sqft | AED 6,571/sqft | AED 420,000,000 |
| 12 May 2008 | Burj Khalifa | —DownTown Dubai | BuildingCommercial · Existing Properties | Not specified | 198,934 sqft | AED 2,111/sqft | AED 420,000,000 |
| 19 Feb 2008 | Al Thanyah Fifth | —DMCC Master Community | BuildingCommercial · Existing Properties | Not specified | 17,760 sqft | AED 21,396/sqft | AED 380,000,000 |
Source: Dubai Land Department open data, retrieved from the Digital Dubai data.dubai platform. Figures cover registered transactions and Ejari-registered tenancy contracts, and are statistical summaries of public record — not a valuation of any individual property. Registration data can be amended or backdated by the source after first publication. Refresh times vary by dataset; records shown here are not a live feed.