Alef vs Meraas

Alef is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 1,269 against AED 2,558 for Meraas, so Meraas is 102% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.49M for a median 1,169 sqft home from Alef, against AED 4.85M for a median 2,101 sqft home from Meraas. 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. Meraas leans to 3 BR units, 231 records at AED 2,042 per sqft and AED 5.80M a unit.

Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 515K from Alef and AED 1.20M from Meraas.

Across 43 published plans from Alef, the median asks 40% before handover, with 44% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Meraas publishes 77 plans, a median of 60% before handover and 4% 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 62% of Meraas plans. At the light end, 70% of Alef plans and 38% of Meraas plans ask 50% or less.

Alef builds in Sharjah, across 4 communities, most of it in Muwaileh, Hayyan, Al Mamzar - Sharjah. Meraas builds in Dubai, across 16 communities, concentrated in City Walk, Umm Suqeim, Jumeirah.

Alef peaks in 2029, when 13 of its 40 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Meraas peaks in 2026 with 19 of 56. 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 57% for Meraas. 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.