Comparing projects: price per square foot against price per apartment

The most common error in choosing between two projects is comparing the price of the apartment. That number tells you nothing until it has been reduced to area.

An example from practice

Two schemes in Business Bay, both one-bedroom apartments, prices comparable at around AED 1.1–1.2m. Reduced to price per square foot, one turned out to be 33% cheaper than the other — and 39% cheaper than a second tower by the same neighbouring developer. The reason is simple: apartments in the second scheme are substantially larger. A buyer looking only at the total would never have seen it.

What else has to be brought to a common basis

• What is included in the area. Balconies, terraces and maid's rooms are counted differently by different developers. Compare like with like or the ratio is meaningless.
• The payment schedule. Money paid in year four is cheaper than money paid today. Two identical prices on different plans are different prices.
• Fees and packages. A waived registration fee is 4%. An included furnishing package is a real number. Both belong in the comparison.
• The service charge. Projected rate per foot per year, because it is a cost you carry for the whole holding period.
• Handover date. Two years of difference is two years of rent you either receive or do not.

The one comparison that beats all of these

Price per foot against registered transactions in the same district, and where possible in the same building. A scheme can be cheaper than its neighbour and still expensive against what the district actually transacts at. That comparison is available in the Land Department data and takes minutes.

The reverse trap

Cheapest per foot is not automatically best. A larger apartment at a lower rate per foot can be harder to let and harder to sell if the district's demand is for compact units — you are paying for floor area the market does not price. Efficiency and lettability of the layout matter alongside the ratio, which is why the number is a screening tool rather than a decision.