Al Satwa vs Business Bay
At the median, Business Bay asks AED 3,188 per sqft against AED 2,331 in Al Satwa, 37% dearer per sqft. Half of Business Bay inventory sits between AED 2,650 and AED 3,664 per sqft, against AED 2,090 to AED 2,501 in Al Satwa.
Business Bay carries the larger pipeline: 68 tracked off-plan projects and 1,458 priced units, against 47 projects and 598 priced units in Al Satwa.
Payment plans are lighter before handover in Al Satwa: the median plan asks 50% before keys across 52 published plans, against 60% across 124 plans in Business Bay.
Price per sqft, and the band around it
Dot is the median AED per sqft, bar is p25 to p75. Figures after each name are the median AED per sqft and the priced units.
- Business Bay3,188 1,458
- Al Satwa2,331 598
Dot is the median asking price per sqft, bar is the middle half of the priced inventory. Bases are 598 priced units in Al Satwa and 1,458 in Business Bay.
Side by side
| Metric | Al Satwa | Business Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 47 | 68 |
| Priced units | 598 | 1,458 |
| Median AED per sqft | 2,331 | 3,188 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 2,090 to 2,501 | 2,650 to 3,664 |
| Median asking price | AED 1.80M | AED 3.61M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 756K | AED 650K |
| Median paid before handover | 50% | 60% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 8% | 20% |
| Peak handover year | 2027 (21 projects) | 2027 (29 projects) |
| Active developers | 37 | 50 |
Every figure is computed by OffplanIndex over developer-published unit inventories and payment plans. Rows a community cannot answer are left out rather than filled in. Not investment advice.
Price
Al Satwa is the cheaper side per sqft, at AED 2,331 against AED 3,188 in Business Bay, so Business Bay is 37% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.80M for a median 757 sqft home in Al Satwa, against AED 3.61M for a median 1,209 sqft home in Business Bay.
Inventory is weighted differently. Al Satwa is dominated by 1 BR units, 323 priced records at a median AED 2,313 per sqft and AED 1.84M a unit. Business Bay leans to 2 BR units, 609 records at AED 2,969 per sqft and AED 3.76M a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 756K in Al Satwa and AED 650K in Business Bay.
Supply and delivery
Al Satwa peaks in 2027, when 21 of its 47 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Business Bay peaks in 2027 with 29 of 68. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than a delivered date.
Of the projects tracked, 17% in Al Satwa and 37% in Business Bay are listed as sold out or out of stock, which is the share of the pipeline no longer taking new bookings at listed prices.
37 developers are active in Al Satwa, led by Object 1, JAD Global, Holm Avenue. Business Bay has 50, led by DAMAC, Select Group, Omniyat.
Go deeper
More comparisons
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Al Satwa and Business Bay in context: price per sqft by community and developer, payment plan structures ranked by cash due before handover, the 2026 to 2029 delivery pipeline, and the CSV behind every table. PDF plus data, delivered instantly.
Source: OffplanIndex derived analytics, built 2026-09-02 from developer-published project facts and unit inventories aggregated from public portals (latest observation 2026-07-30). All statistics are computed by OffplanIndex; no third-party database is reproduced. See the methodology and data policy. Not investment advice.