# Why Dubai property price figures disagree — Dubai Real Estate Data

> Median price per sqft, the DLD's official index and mix-adjusted indices measure different things over different windows, so they can point in different directions at the same time. None of them is wrong.

## Three measures, three questions

- Median price per sqft (this site, built residential, 12 months to 16 Oct 2026): AED 1,736/sqft, +5.7% vs the prior 12 months. Answers: what the typical registered home sold for. Moves with the mix of what is sold.
- DLD residential sales price index (official, quarterly, Q4 2025): 167.3, +8.9% YoY. Answers: the Land Department's own settled view; published several quarters after the period.
- Mix-adjusted index (example: Dubai Property Price Index (PIX), PropertyIndex.ae, September 2026): 205.8, -4% YoY (https://www.propertyindex.ae/dubai-real-estate-price-index, checked 15 Oct 2026). Answers: how the price of comparable homes changed; fixed cell weights remove the mix effect.

## The composition effect (this site's data)

Same calendar month a year apart, public monthly medians, AED per sqft:

| Median price per sqft | September 2025 | September 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready (existing) homes | 1,343 | 1,429 | +6.4% |
| Off-plan homes | 1,794 | 1,753 | -2.3% |
| All registered sales | 1,699 | 1,695 | -0.2% |
| Off-plan share of sales | 70.5% | 64.8% | — |

Both segments moved, yet the overall median moved -0.2% because the mix changed. Month-level figures are provisional (registration lag); headline figures use 12-month windows.

## Other reasons the figures differ

- Window: 12 months, one month, a 3-month pooled index and a settled quarter are different periods.
- Registration lag: the latest month is always undercounted; month-on-month changes read from it are unreliable.
- Population: apartments and villas only, or also land, buildings, offices and shops.
- Registered prices (DLD) versus asking prices (listing portals).
- Averages versus medians: record sales lift an average, barely a median. This site never publishes averages.

## Where Dubai price figures come from

| Source | Operator | Headline figure | Data | Cadence | Access | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayut market reports | Bayut.com | Trimmed means of advertised prices | Listing prices advertised on Bayut; the reports state they are not representative of transaction prices unless stated | Half-yearly market reports | Free | https://www.bayut.com/mybayut/dubai-sales-market-report-h1-2026/ |
| Dubai Data (datadubai.ae) | Continental Club Property, a licensed Dubai brokerage | Medians with IQR over trailing 12 complete months | DLD open data, the project register and developer-supplied register fields | Daily imports, monthly report | Free; reuse welcome with attribution | https://datadubai.ae/methodology/ |
| Dubai Land Department: Residential Sales Price Index | Dubai Land Department (launched with Property Finder in 2020) | Hedonic index: a regression on property characteristics, per its 2020 methodology | Sales registered with the DLD | Quarterly on the DLD open-data gateway, published several quarters after the period | Free | https://dubailand.gov.ae/media/qnslugbi/the-dubai-house-price-index-methodology.pdf |
| Dubai Real Estate Data (this site) | Independent; not affiliated with the DLD | Median price per sqft of built residential property with IQR, trailing 12 months | DLD open data: registered sales, Ejari rents, project and unit registers | Weekly | Free, no sign-up to read | https://www.dubairealestatedata.com/methodology |
| Property Finder transaction pages | Property Finder | Transaction prices after outlier cleanup | DLD residential transactions, per its own page | Not stated | Free | https://www.propertyfinder.ae/en/transactions/buy/dubai |
| Property Monitor: Dynamic Price Index | Property Monitor | Moving average of median prices with the Dutot formula, 42 communities, January 2008 = 100 (per its 2020 release note) | Not stated in the method note | Monthly, subject to backward revision | Reports free; PMiQ platform by subscription | https://propertymonitor.ae/pmdpi/Dynamic-Price-Index-Release-005-2020-02.pdf |
| PropertyIndex.ae: PIX | GXM Ventures FZE LLC, trading as Property Index | Chained stratified median: area × type × bedroom cells, 3-month pooled window, fixed weights, January 2012 = 100 | Sales registered with the DLD, apartments and villas | Monthly; the latest month may be revised | Index and CSV free; Pro from AED 500 a month | https://www.propertyindex.ae/dubai-real-estate-price-index/methodology |
| REIDIN: UAE residential price indices | REIDIN | Moving average of median price per square metre, January 2014 = 100 | Not stated in the index note | Monthly, about two weeks after the month | Monthly reports free; platform and API paid | https://reidin.com/category/reports |
| ValuStrat Price Index (VPI) | ValuStrat, an RICS-regulated firm | Valuation-based index of capital values from RICS registered valuers | Expert valuations of sample properties, not a transaction median | Monthly for Dubai residential capital values | Free download after registration | https://valustrat.com/products/dubai-vpi-residential-values-september-2026 |

## Which figure to quote

- What a home costs per sqft: the median, with window and date.
- Whether like-for-like prices are rising: a mix-adjusted index, or this site's ready-resale momentum by area.
- The official view: the DLD index, with the quarter it describes.

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- Source: Dubai Land Department (DLD) open data via Dubai Pulse (https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/open-data/real-estate-data/)
- Data through: 16 Oct 2026 · registered transactions only · updated weekly
- License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — free to reuse with attribution
- Attribution: "Dubai Real Estate Data (dubairealestatedata.com), based on Dubai Land Department open data"
- Canonical page: https://www.dubairealestatedata.com/price-measures (this markdown mirror: https://www.dubairealestatedata.com/price-measures.md)
- Methodology: https://www.dubairealestatedata.com/methodology#medians
- Independent analytics; not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Government of Dubai, the Dubai Land Department or any government entity. Not investment advice, not a valuation.