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Dubai United Arab Emirates
In September 2026, Dubai recorded the highest level of residential leases since the beginning of the year, in a sign of continued strong demand in the real estate market, in conjunction with a significant rise in mortgage activity and increased interest of buyers, especially villas and townhouses.
Total leases registered through the Ejari system, which includes residential and commercial contracts, amounted to about 96,000 contracts in September, an increase of 15.8% compared to August, according to data from Property Finder.
31.2 thousand new residential lease
The number of new residential leases, with the exception of renewed contracts, amounted to about 31.2 thousand contracts, recording a monthly increase that exceeds the rates witnessed in September in 2024 and 2025, indicating that the recorded rise is not only related to seasonal factors.
Lease data is particularly important in monitoring demand levels, given that contracts are usually recorded within a short period of their signing, making them more reflective of actual market movement.
The number of new residential leases, excluding renewed contracts, was about 31.2 thousand
Property Finder’s data has reinforced this trend, with residential rental queries in the UAE up 53% compared to February, reaching their highest levels of the year.
Enquiries for apartments increased by 57%, while inquiries related to villas and townhouses increased by 36%.
According to the number of bedrooms, various apartment categories recorded increases of more than 50% compared to February, while one-bedroom units topped the growth with an increase of 64%.
Inquiries for units whose annual rent costs less than AED 150,000 have increased by more than 60% compared to February levels.
Increased interest in buying real estate
Demand has improved to the sales market, with queries related to the purchase of residential properties in the UAE up 17 per cent in September, the second consecutive monthly increase, exceeding the seasonal increase recorded during the same period last year.
Home inquiries in the secondary market increased by 17.5%, while in the primary market it increased by 9.1%.
Demand for the purchase of apartments in all categories has also improved, especially two or more bedroom units, while villas and townhouses have continued to perform stronger than apartments since February.
The rise in interest included all price segments, with the highest-priced categories recording the largest rate of increase, in conjunction with the rise of “Model F” orders in Dubai, which is an indicator of the confirmed demand for purchase.
The value of mortgages registered with the Dubai Land Department increased by 43.6% to reach AED 9.72 billion
Sales of AED 29.4 billion
Despite the growing interest of buyers, this trend has not fully been reflected in the sales achieved, as Dubai recorded real estate deals worth 29.4 billion dirhams, in September, an increase of 3.1% compared to August.
In contrast, the number of secondary market transactions decreased by 1.7% to about 4,700 transactions.
This is due to the time gap between the rise of buyers’ queries and their transformation into recorded sales, which may take several months before it appears in official data.
Mortgages jump 43.6%
Mortgage activity accelerated significantly in September, as the value of mortgages registered with the Dubai Land Department increased by 43.6% to reach AED 9.72 billion.
The number of mortgages increased by 14.4% to 3,622 mortgages, the highest level recorded during the quarter.
Mortgage operations were associated with about 31% of apartment sales, compared to 20.3% in July, while mortgages covered 44.2% of the value of apartment sales, more than double the 20.5% recorded in July.
Sales of villas accounted for about 79.2% of them as mortgages, equivalent to about four in five deals.
The average mortgage value of apartments increased to AED 2.67 million, compared to AED 2.05 million in August, while the average mortgage of villas increased to AED 2.74 million, compared to AED 2.61 million.
Change in the composition of buyers
Sharif Suleiman, Chief Revenue Officer, pointed to a clear shift in the composition of buyers over the past three months, with the percentage of those wishing to buy houses for private housing rising to 92.6% of the total activity, compared to 87.2% in July.
The share of high-income applicants has also increased; the proportion of those who earn AED 60,000 or more per month has increased from 27.5% to 32.8% of total applications.
He added that the share of villas and townhouses rose from about 30% to 34.4% of total applications.
This trend has spread to wider income segments; customers with a monthly income of 80 thousand dirhams or more have preferred to buy villas on apartments for the three months monitored.
During this September, customers with monthly incomes ranging from AED 60,79,999 to AED 79,999, joined this trend for the first time during the same period.
These shifts suggest that villas’ share of demand could continue to increase in the coming months, although apartments remain the largest share of the market, with nearly two-thirds of total orders in the near term.
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