Off-plan sales made up 76.2% of all Dubai property transactions in the first half of 2026. That is 53,048 sales in six months, and it is precisely why your phone keeps buzzing with developer promotions: off-plan's share of the market jumped from 69.3% a year earlier, yet off-plan volume itself slipped 2.3%. A bigger slice of a smaller pie is a competition, and in competitions, buyers get incentives.
This is a field guide to the offers currently on the table, what each one is worth in actual dirhams, and the market data that explains why developers are suddenly so generous.
Key Takeaways
- A 4% DLD fee waiver on the median H1 2026 off-plan purchase (AED 1,385,018) is worth AED 55,401 in upfront cash you do not pay.
- Off-plan took 76.2% of all Dubai sales in H1 2026, up from 69.3% in H1 2025, while ready-market transactions fell 31.2%.
- The median off-plan price per square foot rose 3.1% year on year to AED 1,806, yet the median ticket price fell 5.5%. Units got smaller; land did not get cheaper.
- Prop971 currently lists 21 live developer offers, from flat 40% discounts on full payment to AED 1,999 per month plans.
What offers are on the table right now
The short answer: waivers, discounts, stretched payment plans and free extras, usually in combinations. Prop971's offers page tracks 21 live developer promotions as of 29 July 2026. They cluster into four types. (There is technically a fifth type, where the offer is just the price. Nobody runs a campaign for that one.)
| Developer | Offer | Type | The catch to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAMAC (Chelsea Residences) | 4% DLD waiver + Golden Visa | Waiver + extras | Visa is tied to qualifying purchase value |
| Samana | Flat 40% discount | Discount | Requires 100% upfront payment |
| Binghatti | Up to 35% off + DLD waiver | Discount + waiver | “Up to” does the heavy lifting |
| Nshama (Town Square) | 2-bed from AED 1.6M at 5% down | Payment plan | Entry price is a from-price |
| Samana | 2% on booking | Payment plan | Balance schedule still applies |
| Ohana (Manchester City) | 40/60 payment plan | Payment plan | 60% due at completion |
| East & West (Rixos, Reem Island) | 40/60 + Accor Diamond status | Plan + extras | Status is a perk, not equity |
| DAMAC | AED 1,999/month plan + DLD waiver | Payment plan | Check the total against the monthly maths |
| Tiger Properties | Up to 35% off summer promo | Discount | Unit-by-unit, not portfolio-wide |
| Samana | 50% off furniture package | Extras | Value depends on the furniture price list |
Two housekeeping notes. First, a couple of listed promotions carry June 2026 end dates and are being rotated out, so treat the offers page as the live source of truth. Second, offers change weekly; this article describes the market pattern, not a permanent menu.
What a DLD fee waiver is actually worth
On the median off-plan purchase, AED 55,401. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) charges a 4% transfer fee on every property purchase, payable at registration. For off-plan that registration is called Oqood, the DLD's registry for properties that are sold before they are built. When a developer advertises a "DLD waiver," they are paying that 4% on your behalf.
The arithmetic is simple and worth doing on your specific unit. H1 2026 median off-plan prices from DLD transaction data:
- Apartments: AED 1,346,000 median, so a waiver saves AED 53,840
- Villas: AED 2,982,000 median, so a waiver saves AED 119,280
A waiver is the cleanest offer type to evaluate because it maps to a number printed on a government fee schedule. There is no "up to" involved. (Developers know this, which is why the waiver usually arrives bundled with things that are harder to price, like branded furniture or hotel loyalty status.)
Discounts up to 40%: read the payment terms first
The largest discounts are payment-linked, not unconditional. The flat 40% discount currently listed by Samana applies to full upfront payment: you trade the developer's financing for a lower price. Tiger Properties and Binghatti both advertise "up to 35%," where the top figure typically applies to specific units or bulk terms.
A discount against full payment is really an exchange rate between your capital today and the developer's cash-flow needs. If you have the liquidity, it can be the strongest offer on this list; a 40% reduction on price is worth far more than a 4% fee waiver. If you do not, the comparison is irrelevant to you, which is exactly why both offer types coexist.
One analytical caution that the data supports: the median off-plan price per square foot in Dubai was AED 1,806 in H1 2026, 3.1% above the H1 2025 figure of AED 1,751, even as headline discounts multiplied. Discounts are competing against list prices, and list prices are not falling. A discount is only as real as the price underneath it. Evaluate the net price per square foot against the district median on the Prop971 analytics dashboard, not against the brochure.
Payment plans: 5% down, 2% bookings, 40/60 and the post-handover stretch
The plans currently listed range from 2% at booking to 30/70 and 40/60 structures. Translation for first-time off-plan buyers: a 40/60 plan means 40% paid in instalments during construction and 60% at completion, also called handover, the point where the developer delivers the finished unit. The instalments sit in a DLD-regulated escrow account, a project-specific bank account that developers can only draw from as construction milestones are certified.
Current examples from the offers page: Nshama's Town Square two-bedroom units from AED 1.6M with 5% down, Samana's 2% booking fee, Ohana and East & West both at 40/60, Royal Development at 30/70, and DAMAC advertising a plan from AED 1,999 per month. Emaar is running 2.5% monthly instalments for Emirati buyers.
Low entry payments move the affordability threshold, not the price. AED 1,999 per month sounds like a phone contract, and that is the point of the marketing; the discipline is to multiply the full schedule out and compare the total against the same unit type's transaction record. The June 2026 median off-plan transaction was AED 1,025,726 across 8,803 sales, so a surprising share of this market is genuinely priced within instalment range; the risk is not that the numbers are fake, it is that the schedule outlives your enthusiasm.
Why developers are offering all this in 2026
Because competition for the off-plan buyer intensified while the buyer pool stopped growing. The transaction data tells the story cleanly:
- H1 2026 off-plan sales: 53,048, down 2.3% from 54,314 in H1 2025
- H1 2026 ready-market sales: 16,582, down 31.2% from 24,114
- Off-plan share of all transactions: 69.3% to 76.2% in a year
- Trailing 12 months (July 2025 to June 2026): 129,860 off-plan sales, 76.1% of the 170,664 total
The market did not shrink because Dubai stopped selling property; it consolidated into off-plan. Monthly off-plan volume ran between 6,619 and 10,319 sales through H1 2026 with no growth trend, which means every new sales office opening is fighting existing ones for the same buyer, and waivers, furniture packages and 2% bookings are the visible result. None of this required a crisis; it is what a supply-side race looks like in the data.
How to compare two offers without a spreadsheet headache
Convert everything to dirhams off the effective price, then compare per square foot. A worked example on the H1 2026 median apartment (AED 1,346,000):
- 4% DLD waiver: AED 53,840 saved, effective price unchanged
- 10% discount: AED 134,600 saved directly off price
- 40% discount for full payment: AED 538,400 saved, if the capital is available
- Furniture package or hotel status: whatever you would genuinely have paid for it, which is usually less than the advertised value
Then three checks that outrank any incentive. Confirm the project has a DLD-registered escrow account and that your payments go into it. Confirm your purchase gets an Oqood registration in your name. And compare the net price per square foot against actual transactions in the same district, which is exactly what the area pages and the analytics dashboard exist for. An offer that only looks good against the developer's own price list is a discount on imagination.
Off-plan investment carries real risks, including construction delays and market movement between purchase and handover; this article is information, not financial advice.
Methodology
Transaction figures are computed from Dubai Land Department open transaction data as processed in the Prop971 analytics pipeline, covering 332,073 Dubai sales from 29 July 2024 to 27 July 2026, of which 69,630 fall in H1 2026. Medians are used throughout; in a market that sells studios and AED 30M penthouses in the same month, an average is a number about nothing in particular. Offer details reflect the Prop971 offers page as of 29 July 2026 and change without notice.
FAQ
What is a DLD waiver in Dubai off-plan sales?
The Dubai Land Department charges a 4% registration fee on property purchases. In a waiver promotion the developer pays this fee for you. On the H1 2026 median off-plan price of AED 1,385,018 that is worth AED 55,401, making it one of the few offers with an exact cash value.
Are Dubai off-plan discounts of 30 to 40% real?
The discounts are real but conditional, most commonly tied to paying 100% upfront instead of using the payment plan. "Up to" figures usually apply to selected units. Always compute the net price per square foot after discount and compare it with recorded transactions in the same district before treating the discount as savings.
What does a 40/60 payment plan mean?
You pay 40% of the price in instalments while the project is under construction and the remaining 60% at handover, when the finished unit is delivered. Variants like 30/70 shift the split. Instalments are paid into a DLD-regulated escrow account that releases funds to the developer only as construction milestones are certified.
Is off-plan cheaper than ready property in Dubai?
Per square foot, no. In H1 2026 the median off-plan transaction ran AED 1,806 per sqft against AED 1,426 for ready units. Off-plan buyers pay a premium for new stock, payment plans and incentives; the offers in this article are part of how developers compete for that premium.
Sources
- Dubai Land Department open transaction data, processed via the Prop971 analytics pipeline (dataset through 27 July 2026)
- Prop971 offers page, live developer promotions as of 29 July 2026
- DLD published fee schedule (4% transfer/registration fee)
Compare any offer against 332,000 real Dubai transactions on the Prop971 analytics dashboard, then browse the current promotions on the offers page.
