Methodology and data sources
What this site is
Property Radar compares Dubai off plan projects on public figures. It is not a developer, not a portal and not a rating agency. There is no score out of ten, because a score is an opinion dressed up as a number. Every figure on the site is dated and attributed, and where a figure does not exist we say so instead of filling the gap.
Where the transaction figures come from
Prices, price per square foot and transaction counts come from the Dubai Land Department open data on real estate transactions for 2026 year to date, read on 16 September 2026. That extract contains 157,432 registered sales and 152,316 registered rent contracts. We publish medians, not averages, because a handful of penthouses distorts an average and tells the buyer nothing about what a normal unit costs.
Figures are shown per unit type, studio, one bedroom, two bedrooms and three bedrooms, because a single price per square foot for a whole building hides the fact that studios almost always carry a higher rate than three bedroom units.
How we compare a project to its community
For each unit type we compute the median price per square foot in the project and the median price per square foot in the surrounding community, over the same period and the same data. The difference is expressed as a percentage above or below. A project that sits above its community median is not a bad buy, it simply has to justify the premium with something, a view, a brand, a finish level or a location inside the community.
We also publish the number of sales of that unit type registered in 2026, in the project and in the community. It is a liquidity signal. A unit type that trades often is easier to resell than one that almost never changes hands.
Rental yields
Gross yields are computed from registered rent contracts for the community and unit type, against resale prices of completed units in the same community, restricted to ready stock so that off plan prices do not contaminate the calculation. Yields are gross, before service charges, agency fees and vacancy. A community without ready stock has no yield, and we leave it blank rather than borrow a number from somewhere else.
Project status, escrow and construction progress
The RERA project registration number, the project status, the escrow bank, the construction progress and the inspection dates come from the Dubai Land Department Mashrooi project status enquiry, read in September 2026. Construction progress is the percentage recorded at the last official inspection, not the percentage the developer communicates.
We publish the bank that holds the escrow account, and whether the project has one at all, because an escrow account is what protects instalments paid before delivery. We do not publish the account number. It serves no purpose for a buyer at this stage, and payment instructions must always be confirmed directly with the developer.
The completion date we show is the one registered with the Dubai Land Department. It often differs from the handover date a developer advertises, and the gap is itself useful information.
Prices and payment plans
Starting prices, payment plans and handover quarters are read from the developer's own published page where it exists, and from a property portal listing where the developer publishes no price. Each project page names which of the two it is. Prices change without notice, so they must be confirmed before any money is committed.
Cashback
The buyer pays the developer's own published price and the developer's own payment plan. The developer pays a commission to the licensed brokerage that registers the sale, whether the buyer comes alone, through another agent, or through Property Radar. We return about 30 percent of that commission to the buyer, in cash, after the sale is registered and once the commission has actually been received. The figure shown next to a project is an estimate based on the standard commission for that kind of project, and the exact amount is confirmed in writing before registration, never after.
What we do not have
Three gaps, stated plainly. We cannot yet show the resale gain since launch, because the Dubai Land Department portal serves the current year only and the historical series lives in Dubai Pulse. We cannot show the average delivery delay against the originally announced handover, because no public source keeps the dates developers first announced. And projects in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah carry no Dubai Land Department figures at all, since that department covers Dubai only.
Corrections
If a figure on this site is wrong, tell us and we will correct it and date the correction. Write to contact@property-radar.ae.
Independent comparison of Dubai off plan projects and developers. Cashback paid when you buy a listed project through Property Radar.
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