Arada vs Ellington
At the median, Ellington asks AED 2,427 per sqft against AED 1,319 across Arada stock, 84% dearer per sqft. Half of the Ellington inventory we hold a price for sits between AED 1,813 and AED 3,010 per sqft, against AED 1,208 to AED 2,896 for Arada.
Ellington runs the larger book: 67 tracked off-plan projects and 301 priced units, against 47 projects and 753 priced units for Arada.
Arada asks for less cash before handover: the median plan takes 40% before keys across 77 published plans, against 70% across 74 plans for Ellington.
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 753 priced units in Arada and 301 in Ellington.
Side by side
| Metric | Arada | Ellington |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 47 | 67 |
| Priced units | 753 | 301 |
| Median AED per sqft | 1,319 | 2,427 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 1,208 to 2,896 | 1,813 to 3,010 |
| Median asking price | AED 3.12M | AED 2.98M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 299K | AED 429K |
| Median paid before handover | 40% | 70% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 0% | 1% |
| Plans asking 60% or more before keys | 5% | 80% |
| Peak handover year | 2027 (19 projects) | 2026 (22 projects) |
| Communities built in | 17 | 26 |
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
Arada is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 1,319 against AED 2,427 for Ellington, so Ellington is 84% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 3.12M for a median 2,080 sqft home from Arada, 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.
Arada sells mostly 2 BR units, 320 priced records at a median AED 1,321 per sqft and AED 1.89M 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 299K from Arada and AED 429K from Ellington.
Terms
Across 77 published plans from Arada, the median asks 40% before handover, with 0% 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. 5% of Arada plans want 60% or more before keys, against 80% of Ellington plans. At the light end, 94% of Arada plans and 20% of Ellington plans ask 50% or less.
Where and when
Arada builds in Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman, across 17 communities, most of it in Aljada, Tilal City, Al Rowdat Suburb. Ellington builds in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, across 26 communities, concentrated in Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Dubai Islands, Jumeirah Lake Towers.
Arada peaks in 2027, when 19 of its 47 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.
44% of the Arada 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.
Go deeper
More comparisons
The full report: every community, every developer, ranked.
Arada and Ellington 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.