Nakheel vs Sobha Realty

Nakheel is the cheaper book per sqft, at AED 2,138 against AED 2,775 for Sobha Realty, so Sobha Realty is 30% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 5.60M for a median 2,921 sqft home from Nakheel, against AED 2.19M for a median 802 sqft home from Sobha Realty. Part of that gap is product, not premium: the two are not selling the same mix of unit.

Nakheel sells mostly 2 BR units, 109 priced records at a median AED 2,020 per sqft and AED 2.80M a unit. Sobha Realty leans to 1 BR units, 2,732 records at AED 2,895 per sqft and AED 2.05M a unit.

Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 600K from Nakheel and AED 800K from Sobha Realty.

Across 81 published plans from Nakheel, the median asks 80% before handover, with 0% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Sobha Realty publishes 99 plans, a median of 60% before handover and 2% with a post-handover tail.

The heavy end matters more than the median when the plan is the reason to buy. 91% of Nakheel plans want 60% or more before keys, against 87% of Sobha Realty plans. At the light end, 9% of Nakheel plans and 13% of Sobha Realty plans ask 50% or less.

Nakheel builds in Dubai, across 13 communities, most of it in Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai Islands, Al Furjan. Sobha Realty builds in Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Abu Dhabi, across 25 communities, concentrated in Umm Al Quwain Marina, Bukadra, Mohammed Bin Rashid City.

Nakheel peaks in 2028, when 30 of its 82 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Sobha Realty peaks in 2029 with 32 of 97. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than a delivered date.

46% of the Nakheel projects tracked are listed as sold out or out of stock, against 25% for Sobha Realty. 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.