Savills estimated Abu Dhabi City home sales fell 19% in the third quarter of 2026 from the previous quarter, while transactions above Dh10 million more than doubled from a year earlier.
The property adviser counted 6,085 residential sales from July through September, 7% fewer than a year earlier. It recorded 582 deals above Dh10 million, up 104% from the third quarter of 2025 and 35% from the previous quarter. Its estimates cover Abu Dhabi City, excluding Al Ain and Al Dhafra, and may change as delayed registrations arrive.
Homes bought before completion, known as off-plan properties, made up 81% of Savills’ third-quarter count. They accounted for 95% of its sales above Dh10 million, tying much of the luxury activity to properties yet to be delivered.
Savills’ report gives conflicting totals for the value of its third-quarter sales. Its statistics panel and chart show Dh21.5 billion, while the text gives Dh27.85 billion. The city-only total remains unverified.
Separate calculations from registrations held by the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre (ADREC) provide context but do not resolve that conflict. Projectory Research counted 6,006 sales worth Dh27.39 billion, while Prop971 Research counted 6,070 worth Dh27.4 billion. The firms used their own filters, and it has not been established that either covered the same set of city sales as Savills.
In Projectory’s dataset, homes costing at least Dh10 million generated 87.6% of the year-over-year gain in registered sales value. Projectory also said villa sales reached their highest quarterly count in its series, which begins in January 2019.
Savills put average apartment prices at Dh22,700 per square meter, up 9% from a year earlier. Villa and townhouse prices averaged Dh18,200 per square meter, up 8%. Savills identified a shortage of moderately priced homes as an obstacle for families seeking to buy and said developers were offering more flexible payment terms and financing during construction.
ADREC said off-plan purchases represented 82% of residential sales by number and 89% by value across the whole emirate in the first half of 2026. Those figures cover a different area and period from Savills’ city estimate. ADREC forecasts roughly 71,000 additional homes across the emirate by 2030, with annual deliveries projected to reach their highest level, about 21,800, in 2028.
