Dubai property sales and prices: October 2026
October 2026 recorded 11,902 Dubai property sales worth AED 33.838 billion. The eligible flat median was AED 1,663 per sq ft, counted from the DLD register.
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Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only. It is based on cited public data and published under Lida Moghaddam's RERA-licensed masthead. It is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Dubai's property market moves quickly, so figures, yields, and rules may change or become outdated by the time you read this. Verify current information with the relevant authority or a qualified professional before acting. Read the full disclaimer.
Table of contents
Dubai registered 11,902 property sales in October 2026, +5.4% on September, with a filtered sales value of AED 33.838 billion, +14.9%, according to the Dubai Land Department sales register. The eligible median was AED 1,663 per sq ft, down 0.9% on September; October's eligible sample contains flats only because this export classifies villas under buildings. The snapshot runs to 2 November 2026 and was loaded on 12 November 2026.
October 2026 in numbers
October recorded more sales and a higher total value than September, while the eligible median price per sq ft was lower (DLD sales register, October 2026). If you're comparing a property with these figures, the distinction matters: the count covers all registered property sales, while the price median covers only the homes that pass the filter.
Source: DLD sales register, calendar months shown, snapshot to 2 November 2026. Values follow the exclusions in the method below; percentage changes use unrounded figures.
The median is the middle registered price per square foot, not the total value divided by the number of sales. October's median rests on 8,607 clean flat sales (DLD register, October 2026). The previous October's eligible sample also contained villas, so that headline yearly comparison changes property mix as well as prices. The flat-only comparison appears below.
Off-plan and ready sales
Off-plan registrations totalled 6,846 sales worth AED 13.368 billion in October 2026; ready registrations totalled 5,056 sales worth AED 20.470 billion (DLD sales register). Off-plan means registered before completion; ready is the register's completed-property procedure.
Source: DLD sales register, October 2026. Counts and values cover all property types; medians cover eligible flats this October, against eligible homes in the comparison periods. Off-plan has 5,627 clean price observations and ready has 2,980.
The combined median also reflects how much of each segment traded. Off-plan's share of all registrations was 57.5% in October, against 65.2% in September 2026 (DLD register, calculated from the sales counts). A change in the combined figure does not describe the same home changing value.
The ten DLD areas with the most sales
Al Barsha South Fourth, the DLD area used for Jumeirah Village Circle, led with 847 registered sales in October 2026 (DLD sales register). This table ranks every property type by the register's exact area names; its medians use the narrower clean-home sample.
Source: DLD sales register, October 2026, snapshot to 2 November 2026. The ranking counts all property sales; each segment median uses clean flats only. Medians based on fewer than ten clean sales are withheld, with the sample size shown.
Al Rowaiyah First has no eligible home-price observations among its 638 October registrations, so there is no median to publish (DLD register, October 2026). The Madinat Al Mataar boundary is wider than one neighbourhood: the linked Dubai South record also counts Expo City projects within that DLD area. The remaining names are kept as registered, rather than assigned to a smaller marketing district.
Apartments and villas: what can be compared
Dubai apartment prices had a median of AED 1,663 per sq ft in October 2026, -2.0% against the flat-only median a year earlier (DLD sales register). A comparable October villa price is unavailable under this report's method.
Source: DLD sales register; clean residential rows registered as Unit/Flat, in each calendar month shown.
The October export records 995 sales as type “Building” and subtype “Villa,” and none as type “Villa” (DLD register, October 2026). They remain in total sales and value, but buildings are excluded from the house price-per-square-foot calculation. That is a classification limit, not evidence that no villas sold.
Source: DLD sales register, October 2026; registered types shown literally. Land with a villa-related subtype is outside this home-group table and remains in the all-property totals.
How much is a three-bedroom apartment in Dubai?
The median registered price of a three-bedroom apartment in October 2026 was AED 3,566,888 off-plan and AED 3,700,000 ready, based on 207 and 220 clean sales respectively (DLD sales register). These are whole-apartment prices, not prices per square foot.
Source: DLD sales register, October 2026, clean residential flats with the bedroom count recorded. One additional clean ready-flat sale has no bedroom count and is excluded from these bedroom rows. A median requires at least ten clean sales.
Villa bedroom counts can still be reported for the Building/Villa group, even though this method gives it no price median:
Source: DLD sales register, October 2026, type Building and subtype Villa. These are counts of registrations, without the clean-price filter.
Dubai property prices in dollars and rupees
October's eligible median converts to about USD 453 or INR 42,575 per sq ft using the Central Bank of the UAE rates displayed on 12 November 2026. The underlying prices are October DLD medians; the currency date is later.
Conversion inputs: CBUAE exchange rates, checked 12 November 2026, show AED 3.6725 per USD and AED 0.039049 per INR. Each equivalent is the unrounded AED median divided by that currency's rate, rounded to a whole dollar or rupee. These are arithmetic equivalents using published VAT-reference rates, not bank transfer quotes or total purchase costs.
Did Dubai property prices fall in October 2026?
The eligible off-plan median rose 1.5% on September, while the ready median fell 0.6% (DLD sales register, October 2026). Both October and September samples contain flats only; those movements describe the sales registered, not the value of every home or what happens next.
The monthly table gives the 2026 observations behind that comparison:
Source: DLD sales register, calendar months in 2026. These are eligible-home medians under the fixed filter, not a price index. Earlier months can include type Villa; later months exclude Building/Villa. The mix of properties also changes within each segment.
The ten-year comparison: October apartment prices
The off-plan flat median was AED 1,050 per sq ft in October 2016 and AED 1,765 in October 2026; the ready-flat medians were AED 1,026 and AED 1,375 respectively (DLD sales register). This table uses flats throughout to keep the property type consistent across the villa classification break.
Source: DLD sales register, October only in every year shown. These are monthly observations across a decade, not full-year averages or the resale history of an unchanged group of homes.
For published index readings, see the Dubai house price index report. The comparison of property price indexes explains their different samples and methods. The earlier H1 2026 property scorecard covers its own half-year period.
What the data cannot say
The sales register cannot show asking prices, unregistered agreements or the future price of your property. October is a complete calendar month in this snapshot, but later registrations and amendments can still change the record; the latest weeks are particularly exposed to that timing.
A median cannot account for the view, floor, condition or payment terms of an individual home. This export also cannot supply rent, service charges or a rental yield. Bedroom counts describe only the rows where the field is recorded, and the villa classification prevents a consistent all-home price comparison here.
How this report is made
This report counts the DLD sales-register snapshot through 2 November 2026, loaded on 12 November 2026, rather than prices advertised for sale. Every registered sale with a valid date counts; value excludes missing or floor-flagged prices and entries above AED 50,000 per sq ft. Price per sq ft is the median of clean residential built-home rows, specifically Unit/Flat or type Villa, excluding land, buildings, offices, shops and hotel units; a median requires at least ten eligible sales.
“Clean” means the export's quality flags are zero, covering price, area, date and outlier checks. Because October villas are recorded as Building/Villa, October's price sample is flats only. Off-plan and ready are calculated separately; percentage change is the current unrounded figure divided by the comparison figure, minus one, multiplied by 100. Counts are exact; values in billions and displayed medians are rounded.
Source credit: Dubai Real Estate Data, based on Dubai Land Department open data, released under CC BY 4.0. withlida calculated the aggregates and comparisons from the dated export pointer; it has not changed the underlying rows.
Dubai Land Department real estate data
The official source for registered transactions, with sale and registration-type filters.
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Lida MoghaddamArchitect-turned-real-estate-specialist based in Dubai. She helps buyers, sellers, and investors read property with a designer's eye — structure, location, and long-term value.
