Abu Dhabi vs Sharjah
At the median, Abu Dhabi asks AED 1,981 per sqft against AED 1,193 in Sharjah, 66% dearer per sqft. Half of the Abu Dhabi inventory we hold a price for sits between AED 1,600 and AED 2,969 per sqft, against AED 964 to AED 1,320 in Sharjah.
Abu Dhabi carries the larger book: 269 tracked off-plan projects and 1,757 priced unit records, against 118 projects and 1,383 for Sharjah.
Sharjah asks for less cash before handover: the median plan takes 40% before keys across 179 published plans, against 50% across 398 plans in Abu Dhabi.
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 1,757 priced units in Abu Dhabi and 1,383 in Sharjah.
Side by side
| Metric | Abu Dhabi | Sharjah |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 269 | 118 |
| Priced units | 1,757 | 1,383 |
| Median AED per sqft | 1,981 | 1,193 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 1,600 to 2,969 | 964 to 1,320 |
| Median unit size, sqft | 2,210 | 1,486 |
| Median asking price | AED 4.58M | AED 1.68M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 340K | AED 299K |
| Median booking deposit | 10% | 10% |
| Median paid before handover | 50% | 40% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 6% | 16% |
| Peak handover year | 2029 (73 projects) | 2028 (32 projects) |
| Communities tracked | 28 | 27 |
| Developers building | 63 | 22 |
| Projects sold out or gone | 35% | 59% |
Every figure is computed by OffplanIndex over developer-published unit inventories and payment plans, and every row uses that emirate's own records. Two emirates with very different book sizes are still compared at the median, so a thin book moves on less evidence than a thick one. Not investment advice.
Price
Sharjah is the cheaper square foot, AED 1,193 against AED 1,981 in Abu Dhabi, so Abu Dhabi is 66% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.68M for a median 1,486 sqft home in Sharjah, against AED 4.58M for a median 2,210 sqft home in Abu Dhabi. Part of that gap is product rather than location: the two are not selling the same mix of unit.
Abu Dhabi publishes mostly 2 BR units, 539 priced records at a median AED 2,181 per sqft and AED 3.67M a unit. Sharjah leans to 2 BR units, 564 records at AED 1,260 per sqft and AED 1.56M a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price anywhere in Abu Dhabi is AED 340K, against AED 299K in Sharjah. That is a single listing on each side, so read it as what exists rather than as a level.
Terms
Across 398 published plans in Abu Dhabi, the median asks 10% on booking and 50% before handover, with 6% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Sharjah publishes 179 plans: 10% on booking, 40% before handover and 16% with a post-handover tail.
The heavy end matters more than the median when the plan is the reason to buy. 45% of Abu Dhabi plans want 60% or more before keys, against 19% in Sharjah. At the light end, 51% of Abu Dhabi plans and 81% of Sharjah plans ask 50% or less.
Concentration
Al Reem Island carries 67 of Abu Dhabi's 269 tracked projects, 25% of the emirate, across 28 tracked communities. Muwaileh carries 51 of Sharjah's 118, 43%, across 27 communities. A concentrated emirate median is a project decision rather than a market signal: if the anchor scheme reprices, the emirate reprices with it.
On the supply side, Aldar is the largest builder in Abu Dhabi with 89 projects of 63 developers active, and Arada leads Sharjah with 75 of 22.
Largest in Abu Dhabi: Al Reem Island, Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, Masdar City, Hudayriyat Island. Largest in Sharjah: Muwaileh, Aljada, Al Khan, Tilal City, Al Rowdat Suburb.
When and what is left
Abu Dhabi peaks in 2029, when 73 of its 269 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Sharjah peaks in 2028 with 32 of 118. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than as a delivered date.
35% of the Abu Dhabi projects tracked are listed as sold out or out of stock, against 59% in Sharjah. A young book looks available because it launched recently, and an old one looks scarce because what did not sell has quietly stopped being listed, so this is a supply reading rather than a demand one.
Go deeper
More comparisons
The full report: every community, every developer, ranked.
Abu Dhabi and Sharjah 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.