Dubai vs Sharjah
At the median, Dubai asks AED 2,021 per sqft against AED 1,193 in Sharjah, 69% dearer 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 964 to AED 1,320 in Sharjah.
Dubai carries the larger book: 2,337 tracked off-plan projects and 42,490 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 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 42,490 priced units in Dubai and 1,383 in Sharjah.
Side by side
| Metric | Dubai | Sharjah |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan projects tracked | 2,337 | 118 |
| Priced units | 42,490 | 1,383 |
| Median AED per sqft | 2,021 | 1,193 |
| AED per sqft, p25 to p75 | 1,608 to 2,649 | 964 to 1,320 |
| Median unit size, sqft | 916 | 1,486 |
| Median asking price | AED 1.91M | AED 1.68M |
| Lowest starting price | AED 310K | AED 299K |
| Median booking deposit | 20% | 10% |
| Median paid before handover | 60% | 40% |
| Plans with a post-handover tail | 17% | 16% |
| Peak handover year | 2027 (750 projects) | 2028 (32 projects) |
| Communities tracked | 135 | 27 |
| Developers building | 582 | 22 |
| Projects sold out or gone | 42% | 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 2,021 in Dubai, so Dubai is 69% dearer per sqft. On the typical unit that reads as AED 1.68M for a median 1,486 sqft home in Sharjah, 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.
Dubai publishes mostly 1 BR units, 15,866 priced records at a median AED 1,916 per sqft and AED 1.50M 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 Dubai is AED 310K, 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 3,315 published plans in Dubai, the median asks 20% on booking and 60% before handover, with 17% 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. 57% of Dubai plans want 60% or more before keys, against 19% in Sharjah. At the light end, 41% of Dubai plans and 81% of Sharjah plans ask 50% or less.
Concentration
Jumeirah Village Circle carries 295 of Dubai's 2,337 tracked projects, 13% of the emirate, across 135 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, Emaar is the largest builder in Dubai with 331 projects of 582 developers active, and Arada leads Sharjah with 75 of 22.
Largest in Dubai: Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Islands, Dubai South, Business Bay, Dubailand. Largest in Sharjah: Muwaileh, Aljada, Al Khan, Tilal City, Al Rowdat Suburb.
When and what is left
Dubai peaks in 2027, when 750 of its 2,337 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.
42% of the Dubai 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.
Dubai 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.