# Dubai South projects by launch and stated handover year (2026)

> Compare four Dubai South project records by launch date, stated handover, DLD stage, escrow listing and official payment-plan claims.

Source: https://withlida.com/projects/dubai-south-projects-launch-handover-comparison

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:::intro
Four current [Dubai South](/projects/dubai-south-projects-status) project families in this comparison span launches from [April 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases) to [July 2025](https://ellingtonproperties.ae/en/media-center/news/ellington-properties-expands-into-dubai-south-dubais-fastest-growing-urban-district), while their current first-party records state handover windows from [Q3 2026](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living) to [Q3 2028](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/). Those dates are not interchangeable with the [DLD registry fields](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) checked on 25 September 2026, so the useful comparison keeps each clock on its own line.
:::

:::summary
- South Bay phase 4 is the earliest launch record here, [dated 3 April 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases), while Windsor House is the latest, [dated 31 July 2025](https://ellingtonproperties.ae/en/media-center/news/ellington-properties-expands-into-dubai-south-dubais-fastest-growing-urban-district).
- [South Living's current page states Q3 2026 handover and a five-year payment plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living), but the [DLD name result](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) could not be matched confidently to the 2024 launch.
- [Hayat's current page states Q3 2028 handover and a 10% + 55% + 25% + 10% payment split](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south), which totals 100% of the property-price stages.
- [Windsor House's current page states Q3 2028 handover, with a payment schedule totalling 70% before completion and 30% on completion](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/).
- [DLD showed Active records](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) for South Bay 4 Premium, Hayat 4, Hayat 5 and Windsor House on 25 September 2026. Each displayed an escrow agent and an account field.
:::

## Dubai South projects at a glance

The cleanest comparison is four project families, each anchored to a current first-party page and a dated launch record. An off-plan property is sold before construction and handover are complete. Handover is the developer's customer-facing possession or completion milestone; the sale and purchase agreement, or SPA, carries the unit's contractual wording.

| Project record | Launch record | Current developer date | DLD stage, 25 Sep 2026 | Current payment-plan claim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| South Bay phase 4 | [3 Apr 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases) | [Q1 2027 completion](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases), latest fetchable first-party phase statement | [Project 2844 Active, 85.5%; DLD date blank; escrow listing present](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) | [Not stated on the current live overview](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live) or phase page |
| South Living | [5 Jun 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-properties-unveils-south-living-an-exclusive-luxury-apartment-project-in-the-residential-district) | [Q3 2026 handover](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living) | [Name match unresolved; the DLD result predates the 2024 launch chronology](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) | [Five years; no stage split stated on the current page](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living) |
| Hayat phases 4 and 5 | [30 Jun 2025](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-launches-hayat-a-10-million-square-foot-wellness-inspired-community) | [Q3 2028 handover](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south) | [Projects 4038 and 4053 Active, both 0%; July 2028 DLD dates; escrow listings present](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) | [10% down, 55% during construction, 25% at handover, 10% post-handover](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south) |
| Windsor House | [31 Jul 2025](https://ellingtonproperties.ae/en/media-center/news/ellington-properties-expands-into-dubai-south-dubais-fastest-growing-urban-district) | [Q3 2028 handover](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/) | [Project 4035 Active, 3.08%; DLD date 31 Jul 2029; escrow listing present](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) | [70% before completion, 30% on completion](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/) |

The DLD rows come from the official [Project Status Enquiry](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/), queried by name and project number on 25 September 2026. The broader [Dubai South project-status master](/projects/dubai-south-projects-status) preserves the construction evidence for additional phases; this companion concentrates on launch chronology and the payment wording visible on current developer pages.

## The launch chronology runs from April 2024 to July 2025

[South Bay phase 4 starts this set on 3 April 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases), followed by [South Living on 5 June 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-properties-unveils-south-living-an-exclusive-luxury-apartment-project-in-the-residential-district), [Hayat on 30 June 2025](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-launches-hayat-a-10-million-square-foot-wellness-inspired-community) and [Windsor House on 31 July 2025](https://ellingtonproperties.ae/en/media-center/news/ellington-properties-expands-into-dubai-south-dubais-fastest-growing-urban-district). These are developer announcement dates, not DLD registration dates.

### 3 April 2024: South Bay phase 4

[Dubai South Properties](/developers/dubai-south-properties) [announced phase 4 on 3 April 2024 and stated Q1 2027 completion](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases). The [current Dubai South live overview](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live) still carries South Bay as a project family, but it does not publish a replacement completion date or payment plan. The dated phase statement is therefore the latest normally fetchable first-party date used here.

### 5 June 2024: South Living

Dubai South Properties [announced South Living on 5 June 2024](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-properties-unveils-south-living-an-exclusive-luxury-apartment-project-in-the-residential-district). Its [current project page states Q3 2026 handover and a five-year plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living). A [construction announcement dated 10 September 2024 stated Q1 2027 completion and described a post-handover plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-150-million-construction-contract-for-its-south-living-project). Both statements belong to the developer, but the current page is the current customer-facing record. The difference is reported without assigning a cause or rewriting either date.

::figure{src="images/blog/dubai-south-projects-launch-handover-comparison/inline-1.png" alt="Timeline of four Dubai South project launch records from April 2024 to July 2025" caption="The launch record and the handover statement are separate dated fields."}

### 30 June 2025: Hayat

Dubai South Properties [launched Hayat on 30 June 2025, stating Q2 2028 completion for the first phase and a five-year plan beginning with 5%](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-launches-hayat-a-10-million-square-foot-wellness-inspired-community). The [current Hayat page, linked to a Hayat 4 and 5 brochure, now states Q3 2028 and a different staged plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south). This comparison uses the current page for the present claim and keeps the launch-page values in the chronology.

### 31 July 2025: Windsor House

Ellington [announced Windsor House on 31 July 2025](https://ellingtonproperties.ae/en/media-center/news/ellington-properties-expands-into-dubai-south-dubais-fastest-growing-urban-district). The [current project page states Q3 2028 handover and publishes every payment milestone](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/). Its [DLD project number, 4035](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/), lets the developer page and registry result be kept separate without relying on a marketing-family match.

## Developer handover and DLD status answer different questions

The DLD record identifies the registered project and reports a status, completion percentage and completion-date field. [DLD says its Project Status Enquiry accepts a land number, project number or project name and returns completion percentage and project details](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/), as of September 2026.

Escrow is also a registry concept with a narrow meaning here. DLD's [Register Project service](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/register-project/) says project registration includes opening an escrow account for off-plan sales. In this article, **escrow listing present** means the live DLD result displayed an escrow agent and populated account field. It does not establish the balance, movement or treatment of any buyer's payment.

::figure{src="images/blog/dubai-south-projects-launch-handover-comparison/inline-2.png" alt="Four-step project identity check using developer page, DLD number, registry stage and SPA" caption="Match the project identity before comparing any date or payment milestone."}

The South Living result shows why identity matching matters. [Searching DLD by that name returned project 1946, with a registration date of 30 August 2017 and a start date of 5 January 2018](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/), years before the developer's [5 June 2024 launch page](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-properties-unveils-south-living-an-exclusive-luxury-apartment-project-in-the-residential-district). That result is not assigned to the current project in this comparison. A matching name alone is weaker than a matching project number, developer and chronology.

For South Bay 4 Premium, Hayat 4, Hayat 5 and Windsor House, the developer and project identities matched the [named DLD records](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/). Their percentages are a snapshot from 25 September 2026, not a forecast of the remaining programme.

## Payment plans need their own evidence date

The payment-plan comparison is most useful when it reports only what the current official page states. It does not convert a marketing plan into unit availability, a financing offer or a transaction schedule.

### South Bay phase 4: no current plan stated

The [current Dubai South overview](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live) confirms South Bay as a project family, and the [dated phase announcement supports the Q1 2027 statement](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases). Neither normally fetchable page published a current payment schedule in this run. The accurate entry is therefore **not stated**, not a plan copied from a portal or an older brochure.

### South Living: five years, without a current stage split

The [current South Living page states a five-year payment plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living) but does not break it into booking, construction, handover and post-handover shares. The [10 September 2024 construction announcement described a post-handover plan](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-150-million-construction-contract-for-its-south-living-project) without publishing the instalments. A buyer comparing cash timing needs the current written schedule for the specific contract rather than a subtotal inferred from the plan length.

### Hayat: four stages total 100%

The [current Hayat page states 10% down, 55% during construction, 25% at handover and 10% post-handover over 12 months in two instalments](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south). The property-price stages total 100%: 10 + 55 + 25 + 10. The page separately names other charges; they are outside that 100% property-price split and outside this comparison.

The existing [Hayat project record](/projects/hayat-by-dubai-south) provides the project-specific context. For chronology, the important point is that the [30 June 2025 launch announcement used a different plan description, five years beginning with 5%](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-launches-hayat-a-10-million-square-foot-wellness-inspired-community), while the [current page publishes the four-stage split above](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south).

### Windsor House: 70% before completion, 30% on completion

[Windsor House publishes ten pre-completion instalments: 20% at booking, 10% after 60 days, four 5% time-based payments and four 5% construction-linked payments. Those stages total 70%. A final 30% is stated on completion, bringing the published schedule to 100%](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/).

That structure is the clearest milestone schedule in this four-project set. It is still a [developer-page claim](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/) accessed on 25 September 2026, not a substitute for the payment schedule attached to an SPA.

## Match the project to the question you are trying to answer

South Bay phase 4 is the clearest fit for comparing an earlier multi-phase villa launch with an [advanced DLD percentage](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) and a [developer completion statement](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-awards-aed-15-billion-contract-to-al-kharafi-construction-for-south-bay-new-phases). Its [current public overview does not supply a payment schedule](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live), so it fits a stage comparison better than a cash-timing comparison.

South Living is the strongest test of identity discipline. Its [current page gives a handover quarter and plan length](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/dubai-south-living), while the [DLD name result](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) does not align with the [launch chronology](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-properties-unveils-south-living-an-exclusive-luxury-apartment-project-in-the-residential-district). It fits a buyer who wants to know exactly what must be resolved before treating a registry result as evidence for the current project.

[Hayat offers the most explicit post-handover structure](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/live/hayat-by-dubai-south) in this set. Its current page and [DLD phase records](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) can be matched to Hayat 4 and 5, while the [launch page preserves the earlier first-phase wording](https://www.dubaisouth.ae/en/newsroom/dubai-south-launches-hayat-a-10-million-square-foot-wellness-inspired-community). The [official escrow-check workflow](/projects/dubai-project-escrow-checks-official-route) shows how to repeat that project-number check.

[Windsor House has the most granular current payment schedule here](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/). It fits a milestone comparison because every stage can be recomputed and the [DLD record has a distinct project number](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/). The [developer Q3 2028 date](https://windsor-house.ellingtonproperties.ae/) and [DLD 31 July 2029 field](https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/real-estate-project-status-landing/) remain side by side because neither should be silently converted into the other's meaning.

## Sources and method

The inclusion date is 25 September 2026. Current project pages came from Dubai South Properties and Ellington; launch dates came from their dated newsrooms. DLD status, completion percentage, completion-date field and escrow listing were checked separately through the official Project Status Enquiry.

The table is not a catalogue of every Dubai South development. A project was included only when a current first-party page, a dated launch source and a usable handover or plan statement were normally fetchable. Portal inventory and unit availability were excluded. Where a first-party page did not state a plan, the table says so. Where DLD identity could not be resolved confidently, the table preserves that limit.

::::faq
:::faq-item{q="Which Dubai South projects are compared here?"}
South Bay phase 4, South Living, Hayat phases 4 and 5, and Windsor House. Each had a current first-party project page and a dated developer launch record available on 25 September 2026.
:::
:::faq-item{q="Does DLD Active mean a handover date has been met?"}
No. Active is the registry status displayed on the evidence date. Read it beside the completion percentage, developer statement and the SPA without treating those fields as interchangeable.
:::
:::faq-item{q="Is a DLD escrow listing the same as a payment guarantee?"}
No. In this comparison it means the DLD result displayed an escrow agent and a populated account field. It does not establish what has happened to a particular buyer's payment.
:::
:::faq-item{q="Why can a developer handover date differ from the DLD completion-date field?"}
They are separately labelled fields from different sources and update cycles. Preserve both with their evidence dates, then use the SPA for the unit's contractual wording.
:::
::::

:::callout{variant="note" title="Keep the evidence dated"}
Subscribe to the withlida market brief for sourced Dubai project checks and new comparison files.
:::

:::callout{variant="info" title="Before you act"}
This guide is general information, not financial, legal, or investment advice. Fees, thresholds, and rules change; verify the current requirements with the Dubai Land Department (DLD), RERA, or your licensed agent before you commit.
:::