Median price versus price per square foot
The median sale price answers "what did a typical property in this segment cost". It is useful when the properties being compared are broadly similar in size, and it is reported as a median rather than an average because a small number of very high-value sales would otherwise pull the figure away from reality.
Price per square foot answers a different question: "what did a unit of space cost". It is the right measure when unit sizes vary, which is why it dominates professional analysis. Its weakness is that it is only comparable within a consistent property type and location — a villa AED/sqft and an apartment AED/sqft are not meaningfully comparable, and neither are two apartments with different recorded area definitions.
Why apartment and villa prices must be analysed separately
Apartments and villas are different products with different buyers, different size distributions and different price-per-foot levels. A community median that blends them describes neither, and will move whenever the mix shifts.
The same logic applies one level deeper. Studios and three-bedroom apartments in the same tower have different AED/sqft levels, so a building-level median is most useful when filtered to a unit size band.
Why prices differ so much between communities
None of these are visible in a single city-wide number, which is why community-level and building-level analysis exists.
- Location and access: proximity to employment centres, transport and amenities.
- Age and build quality of the stock, which affects both price and service charges.
- Tenure and product type: the mix of apartments, villas and townhouses within the community.
- Supply history: communities that have absorbed large recent delivery volumes often price differently from supply-constrained ones.
- Liquidity: communities where few properties trade have less reliable price signals and typically slower exits.
Asking prices are not prices
An asking price is a seller’s opening position. A recorded sale price is what a completed transaction was registered at, after negotiation. The gap between them widens and narrows with market conditions, and in a slower market it can be substantial.
This distinction is the single most common source of error in Dubai price discussion. Portal data reflects asking prices; transaction records reflect what was paid. Only the second is evidence of price.
How to compare prices properly
- Hold property type constant — apartments with apartments, villas with villas.
- Hold the unit size band constant, or use AED/sqft and accept its limitations.
- Hold the period constant across every option you compare.
- Check the sample size behind each figure before trusting a difference between them.
- Prefer recorded transactions over asking prices wherever a price conclusion matters.