New Emaar Apartment Launches in Dubai: What Is Releasing in 2026

A new launch Emaar apartment in Dubai is not really a product you buy. It is a queue you join. The price list matters less than most buyers expect, because by the time a launch opens, the available units, the payment plan and the price band are fixed. What is not fixed is whether you get allocated anything at all, and that is decided by where you sit in the Expression of Interest queue before the doors open.

That reframing changes what you should be doing right now. If you are three weeks from a launch you care about, the useful work is registering, getting financing pre-approved and deciding your unit preferences in advance. Comparing floor plans on launch morning is how people end up with the unit nobody else wanted.

This guide covers the Emaar projects currently on the board, how EOI and allocation actually function, what the launch payment terms look like, and how to judge whether a given launch is worth your deposit.

A note on figures. Everything below is current as of August 2026. Emaarlaunch prices, release schedules and payment terms change frequently andsometimes within weeks. Treat these as orientation rather than a quote, andconfirm live figures with SY Capital before committing.

What "launch" means at Emaar, and why the date matters

Emaar releases inventory in phases. A tower is not put on sale in its entirety on day one; it is released in tranches, and the earliest tranche typically carries the lowest price in that building's life cycle. Later releases in the same tower frequently price above the first, which is the entire commercial logic of buying at launch rather than six months in.

There are three consequences worth internalising.

The first is that the launch price is a floor, not an average. Published "from" figures describe the least desirable unit in the release: lowest floor, worst orientation, smallest layout in its tier. The unit you actually want normally sits well above the advertised entry point.

The second is that allocation is competitive on well-subscribed projects. When demand exceeds the tranche, position in the queue decides who selects first, and whoever selects first takes the best stack.

The third is that a launch is always off-plan. You are buying a drawing, a specification and a delivery commitment. Everything else in this guide follows from that.

The Emaar apartment projects on the board

Emaar's confirmed master communities are Downtown Dubai, Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Marina, Emaar Beachfront at Dubai Harbour, Emaar South, Expo Living, The Valley, Arabian Ranches I–III, Rashid Yachts & Marina, Grand Polo Club & Resort and The Oasis. Apartment launches concentrate in a handful of these.

Dubai Creek Harbour is the busiest apartment pipeline in the portfolio. Recent and current projects include Valia, Aeon, Creek Palace, Creek Bay, Cedar Creek Beach and Dubai Creek Residences. It is also the highest-yielding Emaar apartment community we hold verified figures for, at 6.0–6.9% gross depending on unit size. Apartments across the community average AED 1.7–1.8 million.

Emaar South carries the Golf Trails, Golf Fields, Golf Vale and Golf Meadow launches. It sits near Al Maktoum International Airport and is the cheapest entry point in the entire Emaar portfolio, with studios and one-beds from around AED 600,000–800,000. The investment case rests on Al Maktoum's expansion arriving broadly on schedule, which makes this a longer-horizon position than the established communities.

Dubai Hills Estate has Greencrest among its current launches. The community is a 2,700-acre masterplan built around an 18-hole championship golf course, with yields quoted at 5.5–6.8%.

Expo Living has Terra Woods. Elsewhere in the portfolio, Selvara, Altan, Greenway 2 and Fairway Villas 3 are recent launches whose payment structures are worth knowing, and we come to those below.

One deliberate omission: we are not publishing handover dates for these projects. Emaar sets a completion date in each SPA, it is project-specific, and it is not something to take from a blog post. Ask for the contractual date on the specific unit and read it in the document.

How the EOI process actually works

This is the part of a new launch Emaar apartment purchase in Dubai that most buyers underestimate.

The process starts with a refundable Expression of Interest deposit. It is not a purchase, it does not commit you to a unit, and you can walk away with it back. What it does is put you in the allocation queue and establish your position for unit selection when the tranche opens.

That deposit then converts into your down payment once a unit is allocated to you. It is not a separate cost sitting on top of the 10% booking; it becomes part of it.

Practically, the sequence looks like this:

1. Register interest and pay the EOI through a broker with allocation access.
2. Prepare your shortlist in advance — tower, floor band, orientation, layout, and a second and third choice you would genuinely accept.
3. Get financing pre-approved if you are borrowing. UAE lenders typically fund up to 50% of an off-plan purchase for non-residents, which is a much larger cash requirement than most buyers expect, and pre-approval takes longer than a launch window allows.
4. Selection opens and units are allocated in queue order.
5. Pay the booking deposit, typically 10%, and the unit is yours to contract.
6. Sign the SPA and pay the 4% DLD fee.
7. Registration on Oqood, the DLD's off-plan register, formally records your interest in the unit.

If you skip step two, you will make a seven-figure decision under time pressure with incomplete information. That is the single most common way launch buyers end up disappointed.

Launch prices and what sits on top of them

Verified Emaar starting prices as of August 2026:

Those are the figures we can stand behind. Where a project is not in that table, we do not have a verified launch price for it and will not print one.

Then there is the cost of registering the purchase, which is not on any price list:

On an AED 3.2 million launch unit, the DLD fee alone is AED 128,000, and Emaar takes it at or shortly after SPA signing rather than at handover. It does not routinely waive it on off-plan. Budget roughly 4.5% on top of the purchase price for a cash purchase and closer to 5% if you are financing.

The payment plan attached to a launch

Emaar's launch terms are more conservative than much of the Dubai market, and this is the thing to understand before you compare an Emaar launch against a competitor's.

• 10% on booking, with a minority of premium projects asking 20%.
• Construction instalments of roughly 10% each, falling on calendar dates aligned to construction benchmarks rather than triggered by milestones. In practice a payment every five to eight months, on dates known in advance.
• The balance at handover, under one of three shapes: 80/20 (10% booking, around 70% construction, 20% at handover), 90/10 (10% booking, around 80% construction, 10% at handover), or a 10/75/15 mid-split.

Recent structures by project: Selvara, Grand Polo Club and Altan have run on 80/20. Greenway 2 and Fairway Villas 3 on 90/10.

The calendar-date mechanism deserves a note of its own. Because instalments are not milestone-triggered, a construction delay does not delay your payments. You keep paying on schedule whether or not the building keeps pace. That is predictable, which is genuinely useful for planning, but it removes a protection that milestone-linked plans give buyers elsewhere.

Emaar offers no post-handover payment plans. Its current plans settle 100% by handover and have done since around 2021. A developer offering 40/60 post-handover terms lets you take keys having paid 40%. Emaar wants the full amount before you hold them. You are trading payment flexibility for Emaar's delivery record, and on a launch that trade should be conscious rather than discovered at instalment four.

How to evaluate a launch before you register

Six questions worth answering before the EOI leaves your account.

Which community, and why that one? Yield, tenant profile and delivery horizon differ sharply. Dubai Creek Harbour runs 6.0–6.9% gross across unit sizes. Downtown Dubai runs 5.5–6.3%, Dubai Marina 5.5–6.3%, Dubai Hills Estate 5.4–6.1%. Those are gross figures; service charges, letting fees and voids take roughly 1 to 1.5 percentage points off before you see anything.

What is the service charge for this specific building? It is the largest ongoing cost and it varies by tower, not by community. Downtown Dubai spans AED 25–40 per square foot per year, with Burj Khalifa residences around AED 68. Dubai Marina runs AED 18–25. We have no verified figure for Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills Estate or Emaar Beachfront, so ask the developer directly and get the answer in writing.

Can you carry the full cash schedule? With no post-handover option, the whole amount is due before the asset produces any rent. Plot the instalment dates against your actual income and check the worst month.

What does the SPA say about delay? Read the contractual delivery date, the defect liability period and the penalty provisions for developer delay. This is the document that governs everything if the project slips.

What is your exit if plans change? Selling before handover is possible and expensive. Combined off-plan resale costs typically run 7–11% of the sale price, including a developer NOC of AED 1,000–5,250 and an assignment fee of roughly 2–5% of the original purchase price. A seller trying to exit near their entry price often cannot cover those costs.

Are you buying the right unit type for your objective? Across every community with verified data, gross yield falls as unit size rises. If income is the point, a studio or one-bed beats a larger unit. If capital growth and end-user demand are the point, the calculus changes. And no unit at any launch is guaranteed to appreciate, whatever the presentation implies.

Frequently asked questions

What new Emaar apartment projects are launching in Dubai? As of August 2026, recent and current Emaar apartment launches include Valia, Aeon, Creek Palace, Creek Bay, Cedar Creek Beach and Dubai Creek Residences at Dubai Creek Harbour; Greencrest at Dubai Hills Estate; Terra Woods at Expo Living; and the Golf Trails, Golf Fields, Golf Vale and Golf Meadow releases at Emaar South. Release schedules change often, so confirm what is actually open before planning around any of them.

How do I get access to an Emaar launch? Register an Expression of Interest through a broker with allocation access, well before the release date. The EOI is refundable, sets your position in the unit-selection queue, and converts into your down payment once a unit is allocated. On a well-subscribed project, queue position is what determines whether you get a unit at all.

Is the EOI deposit refundable? Yes. The EOI is a refundable deposit that reserves your place in the allocation queue rather than a commitment to buy. If you decline the units offered to you, it comes back. Confirm the specific terms in writing for the project you are registering for.

What payment plan do new Emaar launches use? Typically 10% on booking, construction instalments of around 10% each on fixed calendar dates, and the balance at handover under an 80/20, 90/10 or 10/75/15 structure. Emaar does not offer post-handover instalments on any current plan. The 4% DLD fee falls at or shortly after SPA signing.

Is buying at launch cheaper than buying later? Usually the first tranche in a tower carries the lowest price in that building's cycle, and later releases often price above it. That is the commercial case for launch-day access. It is not a guarantee of appreciation, and it does not offset a badly chosen unit in a stack you did not research.

Registering for something specific?

Launch access comes down to being in the queue early with your preferences already decided. SY Capital works across the full Emaar portfolio and can confirm which projects are genuinely opening, what the current payment terms are, and what a given tower's stack actually looks like before you commit an EOI.

Get in touch and tell us which launch you are watching.

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.