A Guide to Dubai Real Estate Data Sources
The categories of Dubai property data that exist, what each one can and cannot answer, and how to tell official records from derived analytics.
Knowing which source answers which question saves more time than any analytical technique. It also prevents the most common category error in property research.
Official records
Dubai Land Department publishes open real estate data covering categories including transactions, rents, projects, valuations, land, buildings, units, brokers and developers. These are records of registered events, which is what gives them their authority.
Official records answer questions about what happened: what sold, at what registered value, when, and where. They are the base layer for everything else.
Derived analytics
Medians, price per square foot, gross yields, indices and supply aggregates are all derived — they are computed from records using a stated method. They answer different questions from the records themselves, and their reliability depends on both the underlying data and the method.
The distinction matters because a derived figure inherits the limitations of its source and adds its own. An index built on records with reporting lag will revise; a yield built on mismatched segments will mislead regardless of how good the underlying records are.
Listing and advertising data
Portal and listing data describes what is currently available and at what asking price. It is genuinely useful for understanding current availability and seller positioning.
It is not evidence of price. Asking prices are untested positions, and the gap between asking and achieved varies with market conditions. Listing data and transaction data should never be combined in the same calculation.
How to tell them apart in practice
A source that cannot answer those four questions about its own figures is not a source you should quote. This is the standard we hold ourselves to: every metric on our platform has a stated definition, and figures for thin segments carry coverage labels rather than a false appearance of precision.
- Ask what event the figure describes. A registered transaction? An advertisement? A calculation?
- Ask what method produced it. If a figure is derived and the method is not stated, you cannot assess it.
- Ask what period it covers, and whether that period is complete.
- Ask how many records sit behind it.
This article explains method rather than forecasting the market. For definitions and how measures are computed, see our data methodology and data coverage.