Dubai property sales rise to AED 34.8 billion in October as resales lead

Property Finder counted 11,883 Dubai property sales worth AED 34.8 billion in October 2026, up 5 per cent in number and 18 per cent in value on September and the first monthly rise in three months, as reported by Arabian Business on 9 November 2026. Resale transactions rose 13 per cent while off plan volume was flat, and Dubai Land Department mortgage registrations rose for a third consecutive month to 3,811. For an investor, October is the month the ready market did the work, and the month mortgage buyers borrowed more often for less.

The headline figures

Of the 11,883 sales, 11,294 were residential and worth AED 30.2 billion, up 6 per cent in number and 18 per cent in value on September, per Property Finder. Commercial deals numbered 589, down 4 per cent, but their value rose 22 per cent to AED 4.5 billion. October's value was close to July's AED 34.9 billion, though July had 14,138 deals, and January and February each recorded more than 17,000, so the month is a recovery from the summer rather than a return to the start of the year.

Cherif Sleiman, Chief Revenue Officer at Property Finder, said: "Dubai's recovery is being built from the middle." The analysis also found that applicants to Mortgage Finder earning AED 20,000 to 59,999 a month made up 68.5 per cent of the total, up from 55.7 per cent in September, which is the evidence behind that sentence.

The Dubai Land Department's own running totals, as reported by Emirates 24|7 on 31 October 2026, put all registered transactions, including mortgages and gifts, at AED 625 billion across 181,866 deals in the first ten months of 2026, with sales of AED 412 billion and Business Bay, Airport City and Al Yalayis 1 the best selling areas. Set against the nine month total of AED 574.12 billion across 165,018 deals reported on 1 October 2026, October added about AED 51 billion across roughly 16,850 transactions of all kinds. That is arithmetic on two published totals, not a figure the department has released for the month, and it counts a wider set of transactions than Property Finder's sales figure.

Resale takes the lead

Resale transactions rose 13 per cent to 5,304 in October and stood 37 per cent above their May low, with value up to AED 18.1 billion from AED 15.8 billion in September. Off plan transactions were flat at 6,579 against 6,593, although their value rose to AED 16.7 billion from AED 13.6 billion. Off plan still had the larger count, but in October the ready market carried the larger value.

Prices did not move with volume. CBRE's review of the third quarter of 2026, reported by Arabian Business on 4 November 2026, put Dubai residential prices down about 1 per cent and rents down 7 per cent, while Abu Dhabi apartments rose 13 per cent. Property Finder described asking prices in October as stable.

Mortgages: more loans, smaller loans

The Dubai Land Department registered 3,811 mortgages in October 2026, up 5.2 per cent and the third monthly rise in a row, while the registered value fell 24.7 per cent to AED 7.32 billion. Apartments were 85.8 per cent of mortgage registrations, and the share of apartment sales carrying a mortgage rose to 34.7 per cent from 31 per cent in September and 26.7 per cent in August. The average apartment mortgage fell to AED 1.77 million from AED 2.67 million.

Villas moved the other way. There were 1,037 villa sales, the highest in four months, but the share with a mortgage fell to 52.1 per cent from 79.2 per cent in September, and the average villa loan rose to AED 2.87 million from AED 2.74 million. Read together, the two series describe a month in which financed buyers bought apartments at lower price points and villa buyers paid cash more often.

What it means for investors

First, the resale market is where the liquidity is right now. A seller of a completed apartment found more buyers in October than in any month since the spring, and a buyer of a ready home had more comparable transactions to price against. Our guide to the cost of buying property in Dubai sets out the fees on a resale, which differ from an off plan purchase.

Second, flat prices and rising volumes are a buyer's conditions, not a seller's. CBRE's third quarter figures of about 1 per cent off prices and 7 per cent off rents mean a buyer underwriting a rental purchase should use current asking rents rather than 2025 contracts; our buy to let mortgage guide explains how banks treat rental income. We draw no conclusion about where prices go next.

Third, financing is doing more of the work in the apartment market. A non resident buyer can borrow from UAE banks on their own terms, generally with a larger deposit than a resident and only on approved projects, and the rising mortgage share of apartment sales alongside a lower average loan shows banks lending more often at smaller ticket sizes. We quote no rate that a bank has not published with a date; our rates guide explains how UAE banks price against EIBOR and the calculator shows what a given deposit and term produce.

Fourth, for a buyer in the United States, Canada or Latin America, the dirham is pegged at AED 3.6725 to the US dollar, so October's average apartment mortgage of AED 1.77 million is about USD 482,000 and the AED 34.8 billion of sales about USD 9.5 billion, with no currency risk against the dollar. Freddie Mac put the US 30 year fixed rate at 7.18 per cent on 5 November 2026, a reference point for a buyer weighing a UAE bank's published terms against borrowing at home. Our guide for investors from the Americas covers the reporting questions to raise with an adviser; we do not forecast returns.

What to watch

Watch for the Dubai Land Department's November figures, for whether resale volume holds above 5,000 a month, for whether the mortgage share of apartment sales passes 35 per cent, and for the fourth quarter consultancy indices from CBRE, ValuStrat and Knight Frank. Castilion Estates advises on both ready and off plan purchases in Dubai and arranges mortgages as a RERA licensed broker; ask us for current listings and bank terms before relying on any figure in a report.