Market concept

What is the difference between the primary and secondary property market in Dubai?

Primary vs secondary market: Primary sales are sold by the developer; secondary (resale) sales are sold by a previous owner. In 2025, primary (developer) sales were 69.2% of Dubai's 215,608 property sales and resales 30.8%.

Data to: 16 Oct 2026Updated: 17 Oct 2026
Primary share of sales, 2025
69.2%
149,153 of 215,608 sales
Primary median price, 2025
⃃ 1,521,683
⃃ 1,741 per sq ft
Resale median price, 2025
⃃ 1,640,000
⃃ 1,500 per sq ft

What does primary vs secondary market mean?

A primary sale is the first sale of a unit, made by its developer — usually off-plan, sometimes after completion. A secondary sale, or resale, is any later sale by an owner.

Primary versus secondary is about who sells. It is not the same split as off-plan versus ready, which is about whether the unit is built: an off-plan unit can be resold before completion (a secondary off-plan sale), and a developer can sell a finished unit (a primary ready sale).

Formula: Primary share = primary sales ÷ all sales × 100

What is the primary vs secondary market in Dubai?

Dubai, all property types. Current year is year to date.
YearPrimary salesResalesPrimary sharePrimary medianResale median
2026 YTD92,41738,43270.6%⃃ 1,358,000⃃ 1,660,000
2025149,15366,45569.2%⃃ 1,521,683⃃ 1,640,000

What should you watch out for?

  • Do not label primary/secondary charts as off-plan/ready or vice versa — they are different axes.
  • A small number of transactions carry no seller flag; they are counted in the total only.

How these figures are calculated

Method
Counts registered sale transactions by the seller type flag in Dubai Land Department data.
Also
Shares are by number of sales for a calendar year; the current year is year to date.

Full definitions: DXBinteract methodology · market indicators explained

Source and how to cite

DXBinteract analysis based on Dubai Land Department transaction data.

Data to
(latest registered transaction)
Last updated
— figures refresh hourly from the live dataset
Permanent URL
https://dxbinteract.com/dubai-real-estate-indicators/primary-vs-secondary
What is the difference between the primary and secondary property market in Dubai?. DXBinteract, data to 16 Oct 2026. https://dxbinteract.com/dubai-real-estate-indicators/primary-vs-secondary

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