Alef vs Ellington

Alef is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 1,269 against AED 2,427 for Ellington, so Ellington is 91% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.49M for a median 1,169 sqft home from Alef, against AED 2.98M for a median 1,254 sqft home from Ellington. 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. Ellington leans to 2 BR units, 146 records at AED 2,439 per sqft and AED 3.03M a unit.

Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 515K from Alef and AED 429K from Ellington.

Across 43 published plans from Alef, the median asks 40% before handover, with 44% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Ellington publishes 74 plans, a median of 70% before handover and 1% 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 80% of Ellington plans. At the light end, 70% of Alef plans and 20% of Ellington plans ask 50% or less.

Alef builds in Sharjah, across 4 communities, most of it in Muwaileh, Hayyan, Al Mamzar - Sharjah. Ellington builds in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, across 26 communities, concentrated in Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Dubai Islands, Jumeirah Lake Towers.

Alef peaks in 2029, when 13 of its 40 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Ellington peaks in 2026 with 22 of 67. 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 59% for Ellington. 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.