Dubai registered AED 28.51 billion ($7.76 billion) in residential and commercial property sales across 10,218 deals in May 2026, with off-plan accounting for AED 14.18 billion of residential activity (DLD data, via Springfield Properties and Construction Week Online).

The May 2026 headline

Dubai's property registry recorded AED 28.51 billion ($7.76 billion) in residential and commercial property sales across 10,218 deals in May 2026. Residential carried most of that value, and within residential, off-plan carried most of the count.

Source: DLD data for May 2026, via Construction Week Online and Economy Middle East.

Transaction volume here means the count of registered deals, the simplest liquidity signal: more registered sales in a segment means more comparable transactions to price against and an easier resale later. Residential accounted for 9,507 of the 10,218 deals, so a homebuyer is operating in the deeper, more active half of the market.

Why the "May total" differs by source

Search for Dubai's May 2026 total and you will find more than one number. They are not in conflict; they count different things. The figure below sits side by side so you can pick the one that answers your question.

Both are DLD registry data for the same month. The AED 28.51 billion figure is property sales, the number a buyer or seller cares about. The AED 40.63 billion figure is the widest scope: it adds land plots (AED 16.34 billion in May) and other registered transaction types on top of sales. If you are reading a report and the totals do not match, check the scope before assuming anyone is wrong.

Off-plan versus secondary

Off-plan means a property bought before completion, directly from the developer on a payment plan. The secondary (or ready) market is a completed home resold by its current owner. The split below is the residential half of the headline figure.

Source: DLD data for May 2026, via Economy Middle East.

For a buyer, the two segments answer different needs. Off-plan was the larger pool in May 2026 by both value and count, so a buyer comparing new launches had the widest set of options and developer payment plans to weigh. The secondary market is smaller in volume but lets a buyer see the actual unit, the building, and the service charges before committing.

Commercial sales broke down as follows.

Source: DLD data for May 2026, via Economy Middle East.

Where activity concentrated

Registered value clustered in a handful of communities. The off-plan and ready markets pointed to different addresses.

Source: DLD data for May 2026, via Gulf Business.

Business Bay was the only community to lead on both sides, taking the top off-plan slot and the second ready-market slot. For a buyer, a community with high registered value across both new launches and resales is one with depth on both the entry and the exit: stock to choose from now, and a track record of completed sales to price against later. The single largest deal of the month was a land sale in Jumeirah Bay at AED 280 million; the top completed-home sale was a villa at Club Villas on Palm Jumeirah at AED 60 million.

Business Bay

The community that led both off-plan and ready-market value in May 2026.

Price per square foot reference

AED per square foot is the per-unit price that lets you compare a small apartment against a large villa on the same basis: total price divided by floor area. The city-wide average sale price in May 2026 was AED 1,650 per square foot.

Source: Waves, May 2026 (DLD-derived).

Apartments made up 50 percent of sales value and villas 25 percent (Waves), so the apartment per-square-foot figure is the one most buyers will price against. The primary and resale columns let you see what a new-build commands versus a completed unit in the same asset class before you negotiate.

For renters and landlords, the May 2026 average annual rents were as follows.

Source: Waves, May 2026.

Period context

The figures below are the registered totals on the all-transaction-types basis, the widest DLD scope. They answer a different question from the sales-only headline above, so read them as the broadest measure of registry activity by period.

Source: DLD data, via Gulf Business; Q1 2026 via Dubai Land Department.

Each row is the total registered transaction value for that period across every type, including land and mortgages. On a sales-only basis, Q1 2026 (January to March) recorded AED 176.7 billion (Gulf News), the comparable figure to the AED 28.51 billion monthly sales total above. When you cite any of these, name the period and the scope, since the two move the number substantially.

How many property transactions did Dubai record in May 2026?+

Dubai recorded 10,218 residential and commercial property sales worth AED 28.51 billion in May 2026 (DLD data). On an all-transaction-types basis that includes land and mortgages, the registry recorded 12,879 transactions worth AED 40.63 billion.

Why do sources report different May 2026 totals for Dubai?+

They count different scopes of the same DLD registry. AED 28.51 billion is residential and commercial sales only. AED 40.63 billion is all registered transaction types, which adds AED 16.34 billion of land plus other transfers on top of sales.

What share of Dubai's May 2026 residential sales was off-plan?+

Off-plan was 7,079 of the 9,507 residential sales, worth AED 14.18 billion of the AED 22.01 billion residential total (DLD data via Economy Middle East).

Which Dubai communities led property transactions in May 2026?+

Business Bay led off-plan value at AED 2.42 billion, followed by Dubai Islands and Dubai South. Burj Khalifa led the ready market at AED 713.9 million, ahead of Business Bay and Palm Jumeirah (DLD data via Gulf Business).

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