Arada vs Nakheel

Arada is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 1,319 against AED 2,138 for Nakheel, so Nakheel is 62% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 3.12M for a median 2,080 sqft home from Arada, against AED 5.60M for a median 2,921 sqft home from Nakheel. 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. Nakheel leans to 2 BR units, 109 records at AED 2,020 per sqft and AED 2.80M a unit.

Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 299K from Arada and AED 600K from Nakheel.

Across 77 published plans from Arada, the median asks 40% before handover, with 0% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Nakheel publishes 81 plans, a median of 80% 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. 5% of Arada plans want 60% or more before keys, against 91% of Nakheel plans. At the light end, 94% of Arada plans and 9% of Nakheel plans ask 50% or less.

Arada builds in Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman, across 17 communities, most of it in Aljada, Tilal City, Al Rowdat Suburb. Nakheel builds in Dubai, across 13 communities, concentrated in Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai Islands, Al Furjan.

Arada peaks in 2027, when 19 of its 47 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Nakheel peaks in 2028 with 30 of 82. 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 46% for Nakheel. 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.