For investors
Off-plan or ready: what the record actually shows
Off-plan means buying before completion, usually on a payment plan, against a handover date. Ready means buying something that exists and can be rented or lived in immediately. They carry different risks and they price differently, which is why mixing them in one average produces a number that describes neither.
The registered record shows you the share of sales in an area that were off-plan. A high share tells you the area's pricing is being set largely by developers rather than by resales, which matters because a developer price and a resale price are not the same kind of evidence.
What the record cannot tell you is whether a specific project will be delivered on time or to the standard promised. That is a question about the developer, not about the price, and no transaction dataset answers it.
The useful discipline is to compare like with like: off-plan against off-plan in the same area and period, ready against ready. Anyone showing you a single blended figure is either being careless or is counting on you not to ask.
Common questions
- Is off-plan cheaper than ready in Dubai?
- Often, but not always, and the gap varies sharply by area and by developer. The registered record shows the off-plan share and the prices in each, which is the only reliable way to compare.
- What does the off-plan share of an area tell me?
- How much of that area's pricing is being set by developers rather than by resale between owners. A very high share means fewer independent price points.
- Can data tell me if a project will be delivered on time?
- No. Transaction data is about price, not delivery. Delivery is a question about the developer's track record.
Now do it with real numbers.
See the off-plan share in your area