Dubai property transactions: How to read official sale data

Two Dubai apartments can have similar asking prices and very different records of registered sales. Start with Dubai Land Department’s Real Estate Data page, narrow the results to a comparable group and record the dates you used. The result is a record of activity in that group. It gives you a stronger basis for comparison than a listing alone, especially when you keep the property type, registration category and measurement consistent. Dubai Land Department’s Real Estate Data page

Choose sales before you compare prices

Dubai Land Department’s public transaction interface separates sales, mortgages and gifts. A sale is the relevant starting point for comparing registered sale amounts. A mortgage record concerns financing, and a gift is a separate kind of transfer. If you combine all three, you are looking at a broader measure of recorded activity. A total headed “transactions” can therefore answer a different question from “how much property was sold?” DLD’s transaction categories

The department’s 2024 annual report shows the difference in actual published data. Its table records AED 522.4 billion in sales, AED 187.3 billion in mortgages and AED 51.3 billion in gifts. The sales figure answers the narrower question about sales value. The sum of the three displayed categories is AED 761.0 billion using the report’s rounded numbers. Both figures describe Dubai in 2024. To compare either with another year, match the scope of the figure on both sides. DLD’s 2024 annual report, transaction type table

A similar distinction applies to the number of records. In its first-quarter 2026 release, DLD reported 60,303 real estate transactions within 718,160 real estate procedures. The larger number covers a wider set of departmental activity. If you want to describe how many properties changed hands through sale, look for the sale-specific count and how the release defines it. DLD’s Q1 2026 report

Define the comparison in the search

Start by setting the from and to dates in the Transactions section of the Real Estate Data page. Choose Sales as the transaction type. Then narrow the search by registration type, area, usage and property type. The results show additional details such as property subtype, room count and project where populated. If you are comparing a ready apartment, look for ready residential units and then use those extra details to find similar apartments. Keep off-plan sales as a separate group if you want to understand them as well. A registered off-plan sale can appear in the sale data before the property is ready to occupy. DLD’s filters and transaction columns

Write down the area and project names as they appear in the records. A listing’s neighbourhood label can be broader than the area you select in an official search. If the project is available, compare records from that project first. If there are too few, widen the search in a deliberate step. For example, add nearby projects with similar units, or use a longer date window. Note which change you made and how many results it added. This lets you see whether the comparison still reflects the property you are trying to understand.

DLD exposes a CSV download on its data page and directs readers to Data Dubai for earlier years. Save the extract and the date you retrieved it. If you use a historical file, check its coverage and update date before comparing it with newer results. A file retrieved today can end before today. If you see an empty result in a browser view, check the date, filters and whether the search has finished before treating the display as evidence of zero transactions. DLD’s official download and archive direction · Data Dubai

Use the amount and area that describe the same sale

The public table has separate columns for Amount, Transaction Size and Property Size. The two size columns are in square metres. When dividing a sale amount by area, make sure the denominator describes the same interest as the amount. If the two size fields differ, investigate the transaction subtype and the basis of each size before using the row in a price-per-area comparison. Leave out missing or zero areas from the calculation and record why you excluded them. The row can still count in a separate measure of transaction activity if it meets that measure’s rules. DLD’s amount and size columns

Here is a hypothetical example. A sale for AED 1.35 million covering 90 square metres works out to AED 15,000 per square metre. The same area is approximately 969 square feet, giving about AED 1,394 per square foot. A nearby asking price of AED 1.5 million for an apartment of the same reported size is approximately AED 16,667 per square metre. The calculation puts the two figures on a common basis. The difference tells you how the asking price compares with that sale. It does not tell you what a buyer will pay for the listing.

Compare the same slice of the calendar

If you want to know how registered sales changed over the past quarter, start with the registration dates. Compare a complete quarter with the same quarter a year earlier if you are looking at annual change. For a quarter still underway, stop both samples at the equivalent date and label them as partial periods. Check the end date of the data itself. A current-year export can lag the day you opened the page, and the number of published records can change as more registrations appear.

Separate the reporting date from the transaction date. A report issued in April may describe transactions registered during January to March. A sale that appears near the start of a month might have been negotiated earlier. Use the transaction date in your analysis and avoid assigning an earlier negotiation date unless you have a source for it. When using a report, name the period it covers and carry its definition of the activity into any comparison. DLD transaction date field · DLD’s dated quarterly release

One practical test is to save the filter settings before running the second period. Repeat the same area, usage, property type and registration category. If you widen the area because the earlier period has too few observations, widen it on both sides and record the change. Comparing a tower this quarter with a whole district last quarter can create a large difference even when the prices of similar apartments barely changed.

Keep count, total value and typical sale separate

Use the number of sales to show how many records you found. Use their total registered amount to describe the value recorded in that sample. To describe a typical sale, show the median alongside the count. The median is the middle value when you order the prices. That makes it less sensitive to a single very expensive transaction. For a price-per-area comparison, calculate the value for each usable sale first, then take the median of those results if that is the measure you intend to report.

There are three sales with a combined value of AED 4.95 million. The median sale amount is AED 1.35 million, while the mean is AED 1.65 million. The median price per square metre is AED 15,000. Dividing the total amount by the total area gives about AED 17,069 per square metre, a measure that gives larger units more weight. Each number is correct for its definition. If you compare your result with someone else’s, check which calculation they used before interpreting the difference.

Now imagine the following month includes another sale with the size and value of C, but the price of each type stays the same. The average sale amount rises because the sample includes more expensive units. To see whether similar apartments moved in price, compare like-sized units within the same registration category and area. Keep the number of observations beside the result. With only a few records, one added unit can move the headline number substantially.

Record the comparison so someone else can repeat it

For a ready apartment comparison, save the export with the dates, official area name, property type and registration filter. Add the project and room count if you used them. Write down which rows you left out of the price-per-area calculation and keep the transaction numbers for the ones you use. Then record the count, currency, size unit and calculation. This gives the reader enough information to tell whether your figure describes a building, an area or a larger part of the market. DLD’s export fields and identifiers

When the dataset lacks enough detail, keep the conclusion at the level it supports. Two sales in the same development may differ by floor, condition, layout or view, and some of those details may be missing from the public export. An asking price also reflects what a seller is advertising at a given time. Keep it in its own column with the date you saw it. If your sales range is wide, show the range and explain what you know about the mix before using a single figure.

If an official report and your filtered export seem to disagree, check the date range, geography and transaction categories first. A citywide annual total can include land and buildings while your extract contains ready residential units. If both measures claim the same scope, compare the source date and the inclusion rules before deciding which to use. DLD publishes annual reports and property indices in its research section. Use the definition for the exact series you cite. DLD’s official research and indices

For a listing you are considering, finish by writing one sentence that describes the sample and the result. Include the number of comparable sales, their registration window and what you measured. Keep the asking price and any features you could verify separately. That makes the comparison easy to revisit when a new sale is registered or the advertised price changes.

Use the citywide numbers for context

When a headline gives the value of all transactions, look for the breakdown behind it. The 2024 annual report shows why. Sales made up about 69% of the sum of the three published categories. If you compared that year’s AED 761 billion in combined activity with a later year’s sales alone, the apparent difference would partly reflect what each number includes. To compare sales, pull the sales line from both sources and check that they cover the same period. To compare the wider market, keep the categories aligned. DLD’s annual transaction breakdown

For a building-level question, a citywide figure is background. Begin with the comparable sales you can actually identify and report how broad you had to make the search. A narrow sample can be useful when its limits are visible. If only a few records match, keep those prices alongside their sizes and dates so you can see what drives the result.

Keep a copy of the numbers you calculated before updating the comparison. When you rerun the same filters later, you can tell whether a new record entered the period or whether you changed the definition of the sample.