Ajman vs Dubai
At the median, Dubai asks AED 2,021 per sqft against AED 764 in Ajman, 2.6 times the price per sqft. Half of the Dubai inventory we hold a price for sits between AED 1,608 and AED 2,649 per sqft, against AED 576 to AED 857 in Ajman.
Dubai carries the larger book: 2,337 tracked off-plan projects and 42,490 priced unit records, against 35 projects and 2,327 for Ajman.
Ajman asks for less cash before handover: the median plan takes 50% before keys across 56 published plans, against 60% across 3,315 plans in Dubai.
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 2,327 priced units in Ajman and 42,490 in Dubai.
Side by side
| Metric | Ajman | Dubai |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 35 | 2,337 |
| Priced units | 2,327 | 42,490 |
| Median AED per sqft | 764 | 2,021 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 576 to 857 | 1,608 to 2,649 |
| Median unit size, sqft | 1,311 | 916 |
| Median asking price | AED 1.05M | AED 1.91M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 164K | AED 310K |
| Median booking deposit | 10% | 20% |
| Median paid before handover | 50% | 60% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 52% | 17% |
| Peak handover year | 2025 (10 projects) | 2027 (750 projects) |
| Communities tracked | 22 | 135 |
| Developers building | 19 | 582 |
| Projects sold out or gone | 45% | 42% |
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
Ajman is the cheaper square foot, AED 764 against AED 2,021 in Dubai, so Dubai is 2.6 times the price per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.05M for a median 1,311 sqft home in Ajman, against AED 1.91M for a median 916 sqft home in Dubai. Part of that gap is product rather than location: the two are not selling the same mix of unit.
Ajman publishes mostly 1 BR units, 1,184 priced records at a median AED 812 per sqft and AED 944K a unit. Dubai leans to 1 BR units, 15,866 records at AED 1,916 per sqft and AED 1.50M a unit.
Entry pricing: the lowest published starting price anywhere in Ajman is AED 164K, against AED 310K in Dubai. That is a single listing on each side, so read it as what exists rather than as a level.
Terms
Across 56 published plans in Ajman, the median asks 10% on booking and 50% before handover, with 52% carrying instalments that run past the keys. Dubai publishes 3,315 plans: 20% on booking, 60% before handover and 17% with a post-handover tail.
The heavy end matters more than the median when the plan is the reason to buy. 38% of Ajman plans want 60% or more before keys, against 57% in Dubai. At the light end, 61% of Ajman plans and 41% of Dubai plans ask 50% or less.
Concentration
Al Zorah carries 13 of Ajman's 35 tracked projects, 37% of the emirate, across 22 tracked communities. Jumeirah Village Circle carries 295 of Dubai's 2,337, 13%, across 135 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, GJ is the largest builder in Ajman with 20 projects of 19 developers active, and Emaar leads Dubai with 331 of 582.
Largest in Ajman: Al Zorah, Al Amerah, Al Zorah City, Al Alia, Al Yasmeen. Largest in Dubai: Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Islands, Dubai South, Business Bay, Dubailand.
When and what is left
Ajman peaks in 2025, when 10 of its 35 tracked projects are scheduled to hand over. Dubai peaks in 2027 with 750 of 2,337. Published handover dates move, so read them as developer intent rather than as a delivered date.
45% of the Ajman projects tracked are listed as sold out or out of stock, against 42% in Dubai. 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.
Ajman and Dubai 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.