Meraas vs Nakheel

Nakheel is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 2,138 against AED 2,558 for Meraas, so Meraas is 20% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 5.60M for a median 2,921 sqft home from Nakheel, 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.

Meraas sells mostly 3 BR units, 231 priced records at a median AED 2,042 per sqft and AED 5.80M 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 1.20M from Meraas and AED 600K from Nakheel.

Across 77 published plans from Meraas, the median asks 60% before handover, with 4% 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. 62% of Meraas plans want 60% or more before keys, against 91% of Nakheel plans. At the light end, 38% of Meraas plans and 9% of Nakheel plans ask 50% or less.

Meraas builds in Dubai, across 16 communities, most of it in City Walk, Umm Suqeim, Jumeirah. Nakheel builds in Dubai, across 13 communities, concentrated in Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai Islands, Al Furjan.

Meraas peaks in 2026, when 19 of its 56 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.

57% of the Meraas 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.