Aldar vs Alef
At the median, Aldar asks AED 1,958 per sqft against AED 1,269 across Alef stock, 54% dearer per sqft. Half of the Aldar inventory we hold a price for sits between AED 1,603 and AED 3,632 per sqft, against AED 1,188 to AED 1,597 for Alef.
Aldar runs the larger book: 132 tracked off-plan projects and 563 priced units, against 40 projects and 344 priced units for Alef.
Alef asks for less cash before handover: the median plan takes 40% before keys across 43 published plans, against 60% across 118 plans for Aldar.
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.
Dot is the median asking price per sqft, bar is the middle half of the priced inventory. Bases are 563 priced units in Aldar and 344 in Alef.
Side by side
| Metric | Aldar | Alef |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 132 | 40 |
| Priced units | 563 | 344 |
| Median AED per sqft | 1,958 | 1,269 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 1,603 to 3,632 | 1,188 to 1,597 |
| Median asking price | AED 5.60M | AED 1.49M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 340K | AED 515K |
| Median paid before handover | 60% | 40% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 1% | 44% |
| Plans asking 60% or more before keys | 72% | 30% |
| Peak handover year | 2029 (45 projects) | 2029 (13 projects) |
| Communities built in | 13 | 4 |
Every figure is computed by OffplanIndex over developer-published unit inventories and payment plans. A row neither side can answer is left out rather than filled in. Comparing two developers compares their current off-plan books, not their build quality or their delivery record. Not investment advice.
Price
Alef is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 1,269 against AED 1,958 for Aldar, so Aldar is 54% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.49M for a median 1,169 sqft home from Alef, against AED 5.60M for a median 2,210 sqft home from Aldar. Part of that gap is product, not premium: the two are not selling the same mix of unit.
Aldar sells mostly 2 BR units, 243 priced records at a median AED 3,420 per sqft and AED 6.58M a unit. Alef leans to 1 BR units, 149 records at AED 1,368 per sqft and AED 729K a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 340K from Aldar and AED 515K from Alef.
Terms
Across 118 published plans from Aldar, the median asks 60% before handover, with 1% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Alef publishes 43 plans, a median of 40% before handover and 44% with a post-handover tail.
The heavy end matters more than the median when the plan is the reason to buy. 72% of Aldar plans want 60% or more before keys, against 30% of Alef plans. At the light end, 25% of Aldar plans and 70% of Alef plans ask 50% or less.
Where and when
Aldar builds in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, across 13 communities, most of it in Dubailand, Saadiyat Island, Yas Island. Alef builds in Sharjah, across 4 communities, concentrated in Muwaileh, Hayyan, Al Mamzar - Sharjah.
Aldar peaks in 2029, when 45 of its 132 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Alef peaks in 2029 with 13 of 40. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than a delivered date.
30% of the Aldar projects tracked are listed as sold out or out of stock, against 0% for Alef. That is the share of each book no longer taking new bookings at listed prices, which reads as demand on the way in and as scarcity on the way out.
Go deeper
More comparisons
The full report: every community, every developer, ranked.
Aldar and Alef 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.