Dubai Islands vs Palm Jebel Ali
At the median, Palm Jebel Ali asks AED 2,501 per sqft against AED 2,492 in Dubai Islands, under 1% dearer per sqft. Half of Palm Jebel Ali inventory sits between AED 2,266 and AED 2,927 per sqft, against AED 2,139 to AED 2,962 in Dubai Islands.
Dubai Islands carries the larger pipeline: 183 tracked off-plan projects and 2,309 priced units, against 48 projects and 94 priced units in Palm Jebel Ali.
Payment plans are lighter before handover in Dubai Islands: the median plan asks 50% before keys across 196 published plans, against 80% across 42 plans in Palm Jebel Ali.
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.
- Palm Jebel Ali2,501 94
- Dubai Islands2,492 2,309
Dot is the median asking price per sqft, bar is the middle half of the priced inventory. Bases are 2,309 priced units in Dubai Islands and 94 in Palm Jebel Ali.
Side by side
| Metric | Dubai Islands | Palm Jebel Ali |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 183 | 48 |
| Priced units | 2,309 | 94 |
| Median AED per sqft | 2,492 | 2,501 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 2,139 to 2,962 | 2,266 to 2,927 |
| Median asking price | AED 3.41M | AED 18.1M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 1.10M | AED 2.50M |
| Median paid before handover | 50% | 80% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 12% | 0% |
| Peak handover year | 2027 (79 projects) | 2028 (23 projects) |
| Active developers | 86 | 1 |
Every figure is computed by OffplanIndex over developer-published unit inventories and payment plans. Rows a community cannot answer are left out rather than filled in. Not investment advice.
Price
Dubai Islands is the cheaper side per sqft, at AED 2,492 against AED 2,501 in Palm Jebel Ali, so Palm Jebel Ali is under 1% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 3.41M for a median 1,391 sqft home in Dubai Islands, against AED 18.1M for a median 7,724 sqft home in Palm Jebel Ali.
Inventory is weighted differently. Dubai Islands is dominated by 2 BR units, 1,045 priced records at a median AED 2,490 per sqft and AED 3.37M a unit. Palm Jebel Ali leans to 5 BR units, 32 records at AED 2,206 per sqft and AED 18.1M a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price is AED 1.10M in Dubai Islands and AED 2.50M in Palm Jebel Ali.
Supply and delivery
Dubai Islands peaks in 2027, when 79 of its 183 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Palm Jebel Ali peaks in 2028 with 23 of 48. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than a delivered date.
Of the projects tracked, 25% in Dubai Islands and 20% in Palm Jebel Ali are listed as sold out or out of stock, which is the share of the pipeline no longer taking new bookings at listed prices.
86 developers are active in Dubai Islands, led by Nakheel, Imtiaz, Ellington. Palm Jebel Ali has 1, led by Nakheel.
Go deeper
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Dubai Islands and Palm Jebel Ali 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.