New market study reveals a sharp divide between high-end apartments and villas, and why certainty prevails at the top end
By Firas Al Msaddi, CEO, fäm Properties
Most Dubai real estate commentary focuses on launches, off-plan absorption, developer momentum, and payment plans. But none of that tells investors what they really want to know: how does the asset behave at exit?
The answer reveals a stark divide in Dubai’s luxury market. While high-end apartments above AED 10 million trade flexibly, even before completion, ultra-luxury villas above AED 40 million operate under a completely different rule: certainty is non-negotiable.
The resale market showed this clearly in 2025, with 98% of luxury villa buyers choosing completed properties, while apartment buyers were far more willing to transact on promise and buy off-plan.
This isn’t about preference; it’s about fundamentally different buyer behaviour, risk tolerance, and what each asset class actually represents, and the only sector that answers the exit question honestly is the resale market.
A dedicated resale-only study conducted by fäm Luxe, the luxury division of fäm Properties, revealed the very clear line between apartments above AED 10 million and villas above AED 40 million.
Data shows off-plan can work for high value apartments
DXBinteract resale data shows that apartments priced above AED 10M behave in a relatively flexible way at exit, with around 28% of resale transactions occurring while the unit is still under construction.
This tells us several things: buyers accept construction risk, the product is standardized and comparable, liquidity exists earlier in the lifecycle, and assets trade more like financial instruments.
But this does not make apartments inferior; it makes them transactional, because they trade on price, view, yield, and timing. The resale market confirms that off-plan can work for high-value apartments.
For villas, and specifically resale villas above AED 40M, the picture changes completely. Our study showed that 98% of resale transactions are for fully completed villas, and only 2% are for homes under construction.
This is not a weakness, it represents a higher standard, as luxury villa buyers do not tolerate uncertainty because they do not need to. They are not chasing yield, but instead are allocating capital into lifestyle, privacy, and long-term security.
Villa at AED 50–70M is not a unit, it’s an environment
The strongest market indicator is in the AED 50–70 million villa bracket, which recorded the highest annual resale values over the past three years: AED 2.40 billion in 2023, AED 3.33 billion in 2024, and AED 3.49 billion in 2025. Just 24 of the 159 deal in this period were mortgaged.
These buyers are not speculative, they are disciplined, waiting for completion by choice, not by limitation. At this level, buyers want to walk the land, experience privacy, inspect finishes, and understand their surroundings, light, and noise. A villa in this range is not a unit, it is an environment, and environments are not bought on promise.
Meanwhile, the AED11.57 billion resale value of all villas above AED 40 million last year, mostly paid in cash, with only 15.7% mortgaged, shows the market is strong and stable. This low-debt, equity-driven demand reflects resilience, not fragility.
Rather than creating demand, completion unlocks it. In villas, pricing power appears after handover, not before it, and this does not undermine villa investment, but explains how to maximize returns from it.
Selling too early often gives away future gains to the next buyer, while waiting until the villa is finished captures the full benefit of a finished, risk-free property.
Based on this, our development arm, Nordic by fäm, adopted a build first strategy for our AED 3 billion portfolio in Dubai, deciding to sell only when the luxury villas are fully finished and furnished. This matches exactly what the data shows: serious luxury buyers want to see the final product before they pay.
What this means for the market
For Developers: Off-plan works for apartments. Ultra-luxury villas reward completion. Finish first, then sell into peak demand.
For Brokers: Stop applying apartment logic to villas. Villa brokerage is advisory, not urgency-driven.
For Buyers: Villas are not risky, they are selective. Certainty is not a cost at this level, it is the product.
For sellers: Before handover, you compete for a very small buyer pool. After completion, you access almost the entire market.
For Investors: Resale is the exit. Resale is the truth. Apartments trade on flexibility. Ultra-luxury villas win on certainty.
The final takeaway
Launch data shows what can be sold. Resale data shows what survives. Apartments survive abstraction, while ultra-luxury villas reward execution. This elevates villa investment, and explains exactly why the most serious capital behaves the way it does.
