Dubai’s Property Boom Is Splitting Into Two Markets

Dubai’s property market has become too large to describe with a single number.

On one side sits the city’s vast off-plan machine: new launches, staged payment plans and buyers committing capital years before handover. On the other is the ready market, where completed apartments and villas can be occupied, leased and valued against a visible trading history.

Both are moving. They are not necessarily moving in the same way.

Gulf Today reported on July 24 that Dubai recorded 87,800 real-estate transactions worth AED291.7 billion during the first half of 2026. Citing analysis released by developer MERED, it said off-plan property represented 71 per cent of transactions, while average property prices increased 9 per cent over the half.

Those figures present the familiar Dubai story: buyers remain prepared to enter early, developers continue to bring major projects to market and confidence in the city’s longer-term growth has not disappeared.

Yet a daily market review published the same day by Wakhan Properties provides a useful counterweight.

Using Dubai Land Department data for transactions registered on July 23, Wakhan reported AED913.72 million in total deal value. Ready property accounted for AED505.13 million, or 55.3 per cent, while off-plan sales contributed AED408.59 million, or 44.7 per cent.

One day does not overturn a half-year trend. It does, however, show why transaction count and transaction value should not be treated as interchangeable.

Off-plan apartments can generate enormous volume because the entry price is lower, payment is spread across construction and developers release inventory in concentrated campaigns. Completed homes can produce fewer transactions but greater value, particularly when larger apartments and villas change hands.

The strongest common thread is the apartment market. Wakhan said apartments generated AED740.11 million across the ready and off-plan segments on July 23, equal to 81 per cent of total value. Villas were a secondary contributor, while commercial property and hotel apartments represented relatively modest shares.

For investors, that concentration matters. A market can be liquid in aggregate while behaving very differently by location, developer, completion status and price bracket.

There is also a discrepancy worth acknowledging. Other recent analyses based on Dubai Land Department records have produced different first-half totals, depending on whether they count all real estate, residential sales only, registrations or completed transactions. Projectory, for example, reported 79,698 residential sales worth AED227.1 billion, while other market summaries have placed total sales closer to 86,000 transactions and AED286 billion.

That does not make the market story less compelling. It makes definitions more important.

The more useful conclusion is that Dubai is not choosing between off-plan and ready property. It is supporting two sizeable markets at once.

Off-plan remains the engine of transaction volume and the clearest expression of confidence in future supply. Ready property provides immediate utility, visible rental evidence and a clearer basis for comparison. In a mature market, buyers need to understand the difference before being impressed by the headline.

Point Piper’s tightly held trophy-home market is beginning to stir.

Only days after Radford in Point Piper arrived with an $85 million price guide, one of the peninsula’s best-known waterfront estates has returned to the market.

Set directly above Lady Martins Beach at 16 Longworth Avenue, Deauville occupies one of the rare positions where the boundary between private residence and Sydney Harbour feels almost indistinguishable.

The property’s north-easterly orientation opens it towards the harbour, with views stretching across the water towards Sydney Heads. More importantly, its beachfront setting offers direct access to the harbour from the lower reaches of the estate — an attribute that places it within Point Piper’s most tightly held category of homes.

Deauville has long been associated with the Mediterranean architecture of the French Riviera. Its pale exterior, deep terraces and arched openings give the house a distinctly European presence, while its progression down towards the water is characteristic of Sydney’s great harbour estates.

The residence was originally built around 1935 and has undergone extensive alterations during its long history. A major rebuilding program commissioned during the 2010s substantially reconsidered the four-level property, with approved plans including a new pool, larger garaging, landscaped grounds and a new boatshed.

Earlier plans also involved landscaping by celebrated garden designer Paul Bangay.

The result is a home in which its historic Mediterranean character is paired with the scale, amenity and infrastructure expected of a contemporary Point Piper residence.

At the centre of the property is a sequence of formal and informal living spaces oriented towards the harbour. The progression from the principal rooms to terraces, gardens and the waterfront gives Deauville the relaxed rhythm of a European coastal villa, despite its location only kilometres from Sydney’s CBD.

Accommodation is arranged across multiple levels, creating separation between private bedroom quarters, entertaining rooms and the lower waterfront spaces. The home’s elevation allows harbour views to remain present throughout much of the interior, while the lower level establishes a more direct connection with the beach and water.

The waterfront position is complemented by a swimming pool and boatshed, allowing the property to function as both a substantial family residence and a base for life on Sydney Harbour.

Lady Martins Beach is one of Point Piper’s most discreet stretches of shoreline. The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club and Royal Motor Yacht Club are nearby, reinforcing the neighbourhood’s unusually close relationship with sailing and boating.

Deauville also carries a notable ownership and sales history.

The property sold for $13.5 million in 2012, when it was marketed as a five-bedroom Mediterranean-inspired home on approximately 800 square metres. It was subsequently acquired during a major rebuilding program by luxury-car importer and yachtsman Neville Crichton.

Contemporary reports placed that 2017 transaction at $39 million, although some coverage cited a value of approximately $45 million for the completed residence. Given the private nature of Point Piper transactions, both figures have appeared regularly in accounts of the sale.

That history places Deauville among a small group of Sydney homes whose value cannot be understood solely through bedroom numbers or land area. Direct waterfront access, orientation, harbour frontage and the scarcity of comparable properties carry far greater weight.

Point Piper contains only a few hundred homes and records remarkably little turnover. Cotality placed its median house value at more than $17 million in early 2026, although that figure tells only part of the story. Waterfront estates occupy a market of their own, with landmark sales reaching up to $130 million in recent years.

Fact box

Property: Deauville
Address: 16 Longworth Avenue, Point Piper, NSW
Position: Directly on Lady Martins Beach
Orientation: North-east
Land: Around 800 sqm
Residence: Multi-level Mediterranean-inspired waterfront home
Key features: Harbour views, swimming pool, landscaped grounds, boatshed, garaging and direct beach access
Previous sale: Reported at $39 million in 2017, with some contemporary reports citing approximately $45 million upon completion
Current campaign: Ken Jacobs, Forbes Global Properties
Price: $85m – $90m