Apartments versus townhouses: where there is less competition now

One of the clearer observations of the 2026 market: the apartment format is losing ground in several segments because of increased competition and oversupply, while townhouses hold up noticeably better.

Why it turned out that way

Apartments are simpler and faster to build, give a developer more units per hectare and sell to a mass buyer. That is why the bulk of recent years' launches went into them — and why they are all reaching handover at the same time now.

Townhouses and villas need land, and land in Dubai is finite and expensive. Supply in that format grows more slowly by definition.

The numbers behind the interest

Townhouse rents hold in the upper segment, while the price per square metre in new projects is on the order of $3,000–4,000. For comparison, the average across the Dubai housing market with finishing and parking is estimated at around $6,000 a square metre.

The difference is explained by location: townhouses in that price band are built not in the centre but in developing communities and on the islands. The buyer pays less per metre and more in travel time.

What to weigh when choosing a format

• The tenant is different. A townhouse is taken by a family for several years; a central apartment often by a single person or a couple for one. Turnover is lower and voids are rarer — but finding a tenant takes longer.
• Costs are higher. A house with a yard and its own services costs more to run than an apartment of the same area.
• Liquidity is narrower. There are fewer buyers for a townhouse than for a one-bedroom, and a sale takes longer.
• Competition at handover. Check not the segment as a whole but how many similar houses complete in the same quarters in the same community.