The Dubai residential real estate market saw another rise in the first quarter of 2026, with 44,100 transactions taking place from January to March, as per new data published by Cavendish Maxwell, a real estate advisory firm.
Even though it appears that there is enough demand for buying residential properties in Dubai, there was variation in the number of transactions in various segments of the real estate market in the period under review.
Most of the increase originated from the off-plan category, which means unsold homes purchased while under development.
Off-plan projects dominate sales
The developments accounted for 73 percent of the total residential sales and showed an increase in sales of 10.3 percent when comparing them to sales figures from the previous year. As it is seen, developers have become more dependent on sales of off-plan units and offered special conditions like flexible payments, in order to attract buyers interested in investing in real estate for profits and purchasing newly built properties.
As a whole, sales of both off-plan and ready properties increased by 4.2 percent when comparing these figures to similar sales from the previous year. Thus, we can say that the market is still growing, but not evenly in all segments.
While off-plan sales were going up, ready properties, those houses which had been already built and available for immediate purchase, showed their sales decline by 9.2 percent.
March proved to be the least active month of the quarter as there was a slight decline in market activity. In March, approximately 12,700 trades were executed, marking a 10.5 percent decrease compared to March 2025.
However, experts believe that it would be too early to attribute the decline to the unrest that has recently engulfed the region.
March property data reflects deals signed before and after regional tensions, expert says
As per Ronan Arthur, Director and Head of Residential Valuation at Cavendish Maxwell, property information is delayed due to the fact that it is based on deals that occurred many weeks back. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that March’s figures represent deals made before and after the geopolitical events unfolded.
It is therefore safe to say that at present time, this information does not give us an insight into whether the ongoing happenings affect people’s purchasing behavior.
According to Arthur, the second quarter’s information will be a much better reflection of the influence of the aforementioned issues, since the information will show the effects of the mentioned changes in investors’ behavior, financial situations, and general demand for real estate.
An analysis of the March information demonstrates the growing gap between the two key sectors of the real estate market. There was a significant drop in the number of sales of ready houses that showed down by 35 percent when compared to last year’s performance. At the same time, the off-plan sector witnessed only 0.6 percent growth in the period in question.
This difference emphasizes the importance of new developments within the property market of Dubai. Since this city has continued to receive more foreign investors and to build huge housing projects, it means that off-plan purchases will continue being important to the growth of business.
On the other hand, those in the real estate business will be looking forward to seeing whether the decline in sales of ready-to-use properties will become a trend or not.