Alef vs Arada
At the median, Arada asks AED 1,319 per sqft against AED 1,269 across Alef stock, 4% dearer per sqft. Half of the Arada inventory we hold a price for sits between AED 1,208 and AED 2,896 per sqft, against AED 1,188 to AED 1,597 for Alef.
Arada runs the larger book: 47 tracked off-plan projects and 753 priced units, against 40 projects and 344 priced units for Alef.
Payment terms sit level: the median plan on both sides asks 40% before keys, from 43 published plans for Alef and 77 for Arada.
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 344 priced units in Alef and 753 in Arada.
Side by side
| Metric | Alef | Arada |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 40 | 47 |
| Priced units | 344 | 753 |
| Median AED per sqft | 1,269 | 1,319 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 1,188 to 1,597 | 1,208 to 2,896 |
| Median asking price | AED 1.49M | AED 3.12M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 515K | AED 299K |
| Median paid before handover | 40% | 40% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 44% | 0% |
| Plans asking 60% or more before keys | 30% | 5% |
| Peak handover year | 2029 (13 projects) | 2027 (19 projects) |
| Communities built in | 4 | 17 |
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 1,319 for Arada, so Arada is 4% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.49M for a median 1,169 sqft home from Alef, against AED 3.12M for a median 2,080 sqft home from Arada. Part of that gap is product, not premium: the two are not selling the same mix of unit.
Alef sells mostly 1 BR units, 149 priced records at a median AED 1,368 per sqft and AED 729K a unit. Arada leans to 2 BR units, 320 records at AED 1,321 per sqft and AED 1.89M a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 515K from Alef and AED 299K from Arada.
Terms
Across 43 published plans from Alef, the median asks 40% before handover, with 44% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Arada publishes 77 plans, a median of 40% before handover and 0% with a post-handover tail.
The heavy end matters more than the median when the plan is the reason to buy. 30% of Alef plans want 60% or more before keys, against 5% of Arada plans. At the light end, 70% of Alef plans and 94% of Arada plans ask 50% or less.
Where and when
Alef builds in Sharjah, across 4 communities, most of it in Muwaileh, Hayyan, Al Mamzar - Sharjah. Arada builds in Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman, across 17 communities, concentrated in Aljada, Tilal City, Al Rowdat Suburb.
Alef peaks in 2029, when 13 of its 40 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Arada peaks in 2027 with 19 of 47. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than a delivered date.
0% of the Alef projects tracked are listed as sold out or out of stock, against 44% for Arada. 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.
Alef and Arada 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.