Dubai’s 2026 Launch Cohort, in US Dollars

In 2026 Dubai developers registered 243 new projects with the Dubai Land Department, carrying 83,011 homes and USD 20.17 billion of declared value. The median project among them is zero per cent built.

That is not a criticism. It is the thing an American buyer needs to understand before wiring money, because in Dubai the phrase off plan means something far earlier in the build than it usually does in the United States.

The numbers, in dollars

Measure	2026 cohort
Active projects registered	243
Further projects pending	80
Separate developers	145
Homes	83,011
Apartments and other units	69,337 (83.5 per cent)
Villas	13,674 (16.5 per cent)
Declared value	USD 20.17 billion
Average declared value per home	USD 242,963
Median completion	0.0 per cent

Stop on the second to last row. The average declared value of a home in Dubai’s entire 2026 launch cohort is about USD 243,000. That is the developer’s own declared project value divided by the homes in it, so it is a construction and land figure rather than a sale price. But it tells you the altitude of this market. Dubai is not building 83,011 luxury villas. It is building a lot of mid market apartments.

Almost none of it is built

• 147 of 243 projects sit at exactly zero per cent complete
• 211 of 243 are under one per cent
• 236 of 243 are under five per cent
• Exactly one project in the cohort is more than a quarter built
• The most advanced project carrying 500 homes or more is at 2.03 per cent

An American reading that list should not panic. A project registered in June should be at zero in September. Registration is the beginning, not the middle.

What it should change is the question you ask. In the United States you ask when it will be finished. In Dubai you ask what percentage is built today, and on what date was that recorded. The Dubai Land Department records it and inspects it. Most buyers never ask for it.

Where the supply is going

The 83,011 homes are spread across 45 registered areas, but they are not spread evenly. Three areas take a quarter of everything.

Area	Projects	Homes	Share of cohort
Al Yelayiss 1	12	8,694	10.5 per cent
Madinat Al Mataar	31	6,624	8.0 per cent
Nad Al Shiba First	8	5,761	6.9 per cent
Jabal Ali First	8	4,341	5.2 per cent
Wadi Al Safa 3	13	4,273	5.1 per cent
Wadi Al Safa 5	16	4,160	5.0 per cent
Madinat Dubai Almelaheyah	11	3,827	4.6 per cent
Al Barsha South Fourth	13	3,649	4.4 per cent

Those are DLD area names, not marketing names, which is why some will look unfamiliar. Madinat Al Mataar is the Dubai South and Expo corridor. Al Barsha South Fourth is Jumeirah Village Circle territory. Nad Al Shiba First sits inland from Meydan.

Thirty one separate projects launched in Madinat Al Mataar alone. If you are buying there, you are buying into the most crowded launch pipeline in the city.

The villa half of the story

Of the 83,011 homes, 13,674 are villas, spread across 46 projects. Every one of those 46 is villa only, with no apartments mixed in, so the villa market in Dubai is being launched as whole communities rather than as a few houses inside a tower scheme.

The villa numbers look different from the cohort as a whole in two ways that matter to an American buyer.

They cost roughly 68 per cent more per home. The average declared value across the 46 villa projects works out at USD 407,996 per villa, against USD 242,963 across the whole cohort. Again, that is a build and land figure rather than a sale price, but the ratio is the useful part.

They are slightly further along. Median villa project completion is 0.18 per cent against 0.0 for the cohort, and 21 of 46 sit at zero rather than the 60 per cent rate across everything. The most advanced villa project is at 4.09 per cent. Marginally better, still barely started.

Developer	Villa projects	Villas
Emaar	16	4,684
DAMAC	10	4,659
Danube	1	1,456
Dubai South Properties	7	902
Zaya	1	564

Emaar and DAMAC between them account for 9,343 of the 13,674 villas, which is 68 per cent. If you are buying a new build Dubai villa from the 2026 cohort, two thirds of the time you are buying from one of those two companies.

Concentration by location is tighter still. Al Yelayiss 1 alone holds 4,659 of the villas, followed by Al Yelayiss 5 with 1,554 and Al Rowaiyah First with 1,456. Three DLD areas carry more than half of every villa launched in 2026.

The biggest single bets

Project	Developer	Homes	Built
Sobha Central	Sobha	2,169	0.0 per cent
DAMAC Islands, The Tropics 2	DAMAC	2,130	0.0 per cent
DAMAC Islands, The Tropics 1	DAMAC	1,905	0.0 per cent
Maybach Six	Binghatti	1,878	0.0 per cent
Binghatti Skyterraces	Binghatti	1,587	0.0 per cent
Greenz by Danube	Danube	1,456	0.0 per cent

Six projects. 11,125 homes. Every one of them at zero.

What an American should actually do with this

Treat the completion percentage as a required field. Ask for it in writing with the date it was recorded. If the agent cannot produce it, that tells you something about the agent.

Check the promised handover against the percentage. Zero per cent with a 2028 date is ordinary. Zero per cent with a 2027 date is a conversation.

Understand what protects your money. Every registered Dubai project must hold buyer funds in an escrow account. That is real protection and it is better than most markets. It protects the money. It does not guarantee the date.

Assume clustering. When a large share of 83,011 homes completes in the same window, rents in those specific communities feel it first. That is a timing risk, not a Dubai risk, and it is manageable if you know which communities you are exposed to.

This page is market research and general information. It is not investment advice, not tax advice and not a recommendation about any project or developer. Cresco Real Estate LLC is a RERA licensed brokerage in Dubai, ORN 34288. Figures are as recorded on 2 September 2026 and will change.