What Emaar Apartments Actually Cost in Dubai, Community by Community
What Emaar apartments really cost in Dubai in 2026: price ranges by community, per-square-foot figures and the fees buyers forget. Updated August 2026.
The spread is the story. An Emaar apartment price in Dubai starts around AED 600,000 at Emaar South and runs past AED 4.3 million for a launch unit at Dubai Creek Harbour — sometimes for a similar number of rooms. You are not paying for bedrooms. You are paying for the community, then the tower, then the floor and the outlook, roughly in that order.
This is the numbers post. It sets out the verified figures we have as of August 2026, explains what the fee stack adds on top of the sticker, and covers what actually moves price between two apparently identical units in the same building. It also says clearly where the verified data stops, because a price guide that fills its gaps with invented per-square-foot rates is worse than no price guide at all.
A note on figures. Everything below is current as of August 2026. Dubailaunch prices and availability move quickly, sometimes within weeks of arelease. Treat these as orientation rather than a quote, and confirm livepricing with SY Capital before you commit to anything.
The verified starting prices
Emaar publishes starting prices for current launches. Here is what is confirmed as of August 2026.
Project / community | Unit | From (AED) |
|---|---|---|
Emaar South | Studios and 1-beds | 600,000 – 800,000 |
Dubai Creek Harbour | Apartment average across community | 1,700,000 – 1,800,000 |
Aeon, Dubai Creek Harbour | 2-bed | 3,197,888 |
Creek Palace, Dubai Creek Harbour | 2-bed | 4,034,888 |
Dubai Creek Residences, Dubai Creek Harbour | 2–3 bed | 4,356,888 |
Two warnings about how to read that.
"From" means the worst unit in the tier. The lowest floor, the least desirable orientation, the smallest layout available at that bedroom count. The unit you actually want is typically well above the advertised entry point, and the gap is larger in towers with a strong view differential.
A community average is not a price for any specific unit. Dubai Creek Harbour's AED 1.7–1.8 million average covers everything from small ready stock to new launch towers pricing at more than double that. It is useful for sizing a market, not for budgeting a purchase.
Price by community: what drives each level
Emaar South is the cheapest way into the Emaar name, at AED 600,000–800,000 for studios and one-beds. It sits near Al Maktoum International Airport, and the price reflects a location whose thesis depends on that airport's expansion actually happening on schedule. Golf Trails, Golf Fields, Golf Vale and Golf Meadow are the current launches here. Longer horizon, lower entry, more uncertainty.
Dubai Creek Harbour is the most active apartment community in the portfolio. Average prices sit at AED 1.7–1.8 million across the community, with current towers pricing well above. It is also the highest-yielding Emaar apartment community we have verified figures for. Current and recent projects: Aeon, Creek Palace, Creek Bay, Cedar Creek Beach, Dubai Creek Residences and Valia.
Downtown Dubai commands the highest brand premium in the portfolio, and the highest running costs to go with it. That premium is priced into both purchase and resale, and it is the most liquid brand story Emaar has.
Dubai Hills Estate is a 2,700-acre masterplan around an 18-hole championship golf course, with community yields quoted at 5.5–6.8%. Family-led demand, which tends to make pricing less volatile than in investor-heavy towers. Greencrest is among the current launches.
Dubai Marina is mature and liquid. You are largely buying ready stock at today's price rather than a launch price, which removes construction risk and removes the launch discount at the same time.
Emaar Beachfront at Dubai Harbour is scarce waterfront product. We have no verified price, yield or service-charge figure for it as of August 2026 and will not publish one we cannot stand behind.
Expo Living, The Valley, Rashid Yachts & Marina, Grand Polo Club & Resort and The Oasis are newer masterplans earlier in their build cycles. Terra Woods at Expo Living is among the recent apartment launches.
The per-square-foot question
The honest answer first: we do not have verified per-square-foot purchase price figures for Emaar communities as of August 2026, and inventing them would be worse than useless to you, because per-square-foot rates are exactly the number buyers use to negotiate.
What we do have is the mechanism, which is more portable than any single rate. Ask the sales team for two things: the rate per square foot being applied to the unit you are looking at, and the same rate for a comparable unit in the same tower at a different floor or aspect. The gap between those two numbers is the premium the developer is charging for the view, and it is the part of the price that is most open to discussion.
Then divide the quoted price by the actual measured area yourself. Marketing material sometimes quotes suite area, sometimes built-up area including balconies. Those are different numbers, and the rate you derive changes depending on which one you used. Confirm which definition applies before comparing two projects.
The one per-square-foot figure we can state with confidence is the service charge, which is covered below and is levied on exactly this basis.
The cost on top of the price
The purchase price is not the purchase cost. Here is the full fee stack on a Dubai transaction.
Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
DLD registration | 4% of declared value |
Developer admin / Oqood processing | AED 1,000–6,000 |
Trustee / registration office | AED 2,100 below AED 500,000, AED 4,200 above (often waived on initial off-plan sale, applies on resale) |
Title deed issuance | AED 250, plus AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees |
Mortgage registration, if financing | 0.25% of the loan plus around AED 270 |
Lender valuation, if financing | AED 2,500–3,500 |
Developer NOC, on resale | AED 1,000–5,250, normally seller-paid |
Assignment / transfer fee, on resale | ~2–5% of the original purchase price, developer-specific |
The DLD fee is the one that catches people. On an AED 1,200,000 apartment it is AED 48,000. On the AED 3,197,888 two-bedroom at Aeon it is AED 127,916. It falls at or shortly after SPA signing rather than at handover, and Emaar does not routinely waive it on off-plan purchases.
It is legally a 2% buyer and 2% seller split. In practice the buyer pays all 4% on effectively every Dubai transaction. Do not budget around the split.
As a working rule: budget roughly 4.5% on top of the purchase price for a cash off-plan purchase, and closer to 5% if you are financing.
Buying an off-plan unit from another investor rather than from Emaar directly is a different cost picture entirely. Total transaction costs on a resale before handover typically run 7–11% of the sale price once the NOC and the assignment fee are included. That is why some off-plan resale listings sit unsold for months: the seller cannot clear their costs at any price a buyer will pay.
The ongoing price: service charges
This is the cost that continues after you own the apartment, and it is the one verified per-square-foot figure in this post. Rates are annual, per square foot.
Community | AED per sq ft per year |
|---|---|
Burj Khalifa residences | ~68 |
Downtown Dubai | 25–40 |
Dubai Marina | 18–25 |
Business Bay | 15–22 |
JLT | 12–18 |
Arjan | 12–16 |
JVC | 10–15 |
DSO / DLRC | 8–12 |
International City | 6–10 |
The Downtown range is worth staring at. A tower at AED 25 and a tower at AED 68 sit in the same postcode, and on a 1,200 square foot apartment that is the difference between roughly AED 30,000 and AED 82,000 a year. Over a ten-year hold that gap is larger than most people's negotiation on the purchase price.
We have no verified service-charge figure for Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills Estate or Emaar Beachfront, and will not invent one. Ask for the rate for the specific building, in writing, before you sign. It is the single largest ongoing cost of ownership and it varies enormously between towers a few hundred metres apart.
What moves the price inside a single building
Two apartments with identical floor plans in the same tower can differ in price by a wide margin. The drivers, roughly in order of impact:
Floor. Higher generally costs more, but not linearly. The premium tends to jump at the point where a unit clears a neighbouring building or gains a specific view, then flattens again above it. Ask where those steps sit in the tower rather than assuming a smooth curve.
Outlook. A protected view — water, park, skyline — carries a real premium and holds it on resale. A view that a future tower can block does not. The question to ask is not "what can I see" but "what is the plot opposite zoned for".
Orientation. In Dubai this is a running-cost question as much as an aesthetic one. Direct western exposure means heavier cooling load through the afternoon. Buyers who have lived through a Dubai August price this in; buyers viewing in January often do not.
Layout efficiency. Two units of equal area are not equally usable. Corridor space, awkward columns and unusable balcony depth all reduce effective area without reducing the price per square foot you are quoted.
Position within the floor plate. Corner units usually cost more for the dual aspect. Units adjacent to lift cores and service risers usually cost less, for reasons you will notice at seven in the morning.
None of these appear on a price list. All of them appear in the resale price.
Price and yield are linked, and not in the direction you expect
One pattern is consistent across every Dubai community with verified figures: gross rental yield falls as the unit gets larger.
Community | Studio | 1-bed | 2-bed |
|---|---|---|---|
Dubai Creek Harbour | 6.9% | 6.3% | 6.0% |
Downtown Dubai | 6.3% | 5.7% | 5.5% |
Dubai Marina | 6.3% | 5.8% | 5.5% |
Dubai Hills Estate | 6.1% | 5.6% | 5.4% |
Those figures are gross. Service charges, agency letting fees, maintenance and void periods all come out before you see anything, and a realistic net figure is roughly 1 to 1.5 percentage points lower. A 6.0% gross at Creek Harbour is closer to 4.5–5% net. A Downtown apartment carrying AED 40 per square foot in service charges can land well under 4%.
The practical consequence for pricing: the cheapest apartments in this guide are the ones that produce the most income per dirham invested, and the most expensive produce the least. If income is your objective, price up the ladder is working against you. If capital growth, end-user demand and resale depth are what you want, it is working for you. Decide which before you choose a community.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest Emaar apartment in Dubai? Emaar South, where studios and one-bedrooms start at approximately AED 600,000–800,000 as of August 2026. It is the lowest entry point in the Emaar portfolio by a wide margin, near Al Maktoum International Airport. Availability changes constantly, so confirm current stock before relying on that figure.
How much is an Emaar two-bedroom apartment? Verified starting prices at Dubai Creek Harbour as of August 2026: Aeon from AED 3,197,888 and Creek Palace from AED 4,034,888, with Dubai Creek Residences from AED 4,356,888 across its two-to-three bedroom range. Those are entry prices for the least desirable units in each tier. Expect to pay meaningfully more for a better floor or aspect.
What is the price per square foot for Emaar apartments? We have no verified per-square-foot purchase figure as of August 2026 and will not publish an estimate. Ask the developer or your broker for the rate applied to the specific unit, confirm whether it is calculated on suite area or built-up area, and compare it against a similar unit in the same tower. The one verified per-square-foot figure is the annual service charge.
What fees do I pay on top of the purchase price? The 4% DLD registration fee is the largest, payable at or shortly after SPA signing. Add AED 1,000–6,000 in developer admin and Oqood processing, AED 250 plus AED 20 for the title deed, and, if financing, mortgage registration at 0.25% of the loan plus roughly AED 270 and a valuation of AED 2,500–3,500. Budget around 4.5% cash, or 5% financed.
Are Emaar apartment prices going up? Nobody can tell you that, and anyone who does is selling. Dubai prices move by community and by cycle rather than uniformly, and no property is guaranteed to appreciate. Buy on a horizon long enough that you are not forced to sell into a soft quarter, and treat capital growth as a possibility rather than a plan.
Get pricing on a specific unit
Community ranges will get you to a shortlist and no further. The number that matters is what a specific unit in a specific tower costs this month, including the floor premium and the service charge attached to it. SY Capital works across the full Emaar portfolio and can pull live availability, real pricing and current payment terms for any project named here.
Get in touch and tell us your budget and the communities you are weighing up.
Figures verified August 2026 and subject to change. This article is general information, not financial or investment advice. Confirm all prices, payment terms and fees directly before entering any agreement.
