From January to October 2026, 339,557 tenancy contracts were registered in Dubai's freehold areas, 6.8% more than a year earlier, Arabian Business reports. To beat the full-year 2025 record of 377,976 contracts, about 38,420 more would need to be registered in November and December.
October alone accounted for 44,841 contracts: 21,987 new leases and 22,854 renewals. New contracts were 3.8% higher than in October last year and renewals 0.5% higher. One-bedroom apartments make up about 41% of all contracts this year. The figures count registrations and say nothing about the level of rents.
On the sales side, October saw 11,974 transactions with a total value of AED 35.01 billion. That is 18% more in value and 5.4% more in number than in September. Off-plan sales accounted for 7,609 transactions (AED 19.2 billion) and resales of existing homes for 4,289 transactions (AED 15.6 billion). The number of villas sold rose by 62% compared with September.
Most of the market sits in the lower and middle price bands: 63.7% of October transactions were below AED 2 million, while 10.4% were above AED 5 million. Dubai South was the area with the most off-plan sales for the eighth month in a row.
