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Dubai Land Department records

Up-and-coming areas in Dubai, by the numbers

We call an area up-and-coming when its ready units are in the cheaper half per sqft of the areas we can measure, its prices rose over 3 years, and it sold at least as many in the last four quarters as in the same quarters 1 year earlier. Areas that pass are ranked by their yearly rise over 3 years.

For units, 4 of 52 measured areas pass all three tests. Dubai Investment Park Second rose fastest, 17.7% a year over 3 years.

UnitsVillas
  1. Rank 1
    Dubai Investment Park Second
    • +18.5% over 1 year
    • AED 746 per sqft · 217 sales, up from 197
    +17.7% a year +63.0% in total
  2. Rank 2
    Al Barshaa South Third
    • +10.6% over 1 year
    • AED 1,352 per sqft · 1,410 sales, up from 1,261
    +15.5% a year +54.1% in total
  3. Rank 3
    Madinat Al Mataar
    • +6.8% over 1 year
    • AED 1,067 per sqft · 868 sales, up from 856
    +13.5% a year +46.2% in total
  4. Rank 4
    Wadi Al Safa 3
    • +2.9% over 1 year
    • AED 996 per sqft · 1,148 sales, up from 569
    +6.5% a year +20.6% in total
How the 52 areas were narrowed down
  1. 52 areas had a published price change over 1 year
  2. 26 were in the cheaper half, at or below AED 1,377 per sqft
  3. 22 of those rose over 3 years
  4. 4 of those also sold at least as many units as 1 year earlier

See the records

Ready sales in the four quarters to Sep 2026, against the same quarters 1 year and 3 years earlier.

An area is measured only when both periods have at least 30 sales, and listed only when it passes the rule above.

Source: DLD sale transactions

Updated with each nightly build. Sales through 12 Oct 2026. Published 14 Oct 2026.

See every area on Trends

How this is measured

We start from the areas with a published price change over 1 year for ready units, every size together. An area passes when its median price per sqft is at or below the middle area's, its price change over 3 years is above zero, and it kept at least as many sales in the last four quarters as in the same quarters 1 year earlier. Areas that pass are ranked by the yearly rate of their change over 3 years. We make a list only when at least 10 areas were measured. How we pick up-and-coming areas

What this does not tell you

  • This is our rule, not a forecast. An area that passes it can still fall, and one that fails it can still rise.
  • Price change compares medians of what sold, not the same properties resold.
  • Sales under 269 sqft a bedroom are left out of every year compared. DLD records the sale of a share in a property that way, and many of them in the earlier years would make a rise look bigger than it was.
  • Off-plan sales are left out, because their medians move with which projects launched.

These figures describe registered sales and rents. They are not advice on what to buy or rent.

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