The Land Department's figures for January to March 2026: AED 252 billion in total value, up 31% on the same quarter last year, across 60,303 sales, up 6%. 48,448 investors bought, up 8%, and 29,312 of them were buying in Dubai for the first time, up 14%. AED 148 billion came from outside the country, up 26%. The luxury segment was AED 87.7 billion, up 26%.
Read the two growth rates together. Value up 31% against count up 6% means the money moved through roughly the same number of deals. Either prices rose, or the mix shifted towards larger tickets, or both. The luxury figure says a good part of it was mix.
Our read: what a quarter like this proves is depth, not direction. Sixty thousand sales in three months, six in ten buyers new to the market, and most of the money coming from abroad, means there is a buyer for your unit when you want out. That is the strongest argument for Dubai at this ticket size, and it is the one we make. We would read it differently if value keeps climbing while the count flattens over the next two quarters, because that is a market leaning on fewer and fewer buyers.
What we tell a buyer: a quarter this strong pulls asking prices up everywhere, including in buildings where the rent has not moved. The bigger the headline, the more carefully the unit needs checking, and that is the work we do before we say buy.
Source: Dubai Land Department, first quarter 2026, published 9 April 2026.