Average prices by Dubai district: AED 1,301 a foot in JVC to 2,433 in Downtown

Search statistics by Dubai district are a rare case of data showing what people are looking for rather than what is being sold. Five districts account for more than 60% of all location-related searches in the emirate. Here is what a square foot costs in each.

How to use this table

Its most useful application is testing a developer's price list. Take the price per foot of the off-plan scheme you are looking at and put it next to the average for its district. In a great many cases the new-build turns out to be more expensive than the established market — sometimes considerably.

That is not a verdict. Above average can be entirely justified. But the question has to be asked directly: what exactly is the difference buying?

• Position inside the district. First row on the canal and the second street back from Al Khail Road are the same district and different assets.
• The developer's name. Sometimes a demonstrated delivery record, sometimes only marketing.
• The product. Layout efficiency, ceiling height, the specification you actually receive, and the amenity package you will be funding through the service charge.
• The payment plan. Money paid in year four is cheaper than money paid today, and a back-loaded schedule is worth a premium on the sticker.

What the table does not tell you

An average across a district conceals a spread that is frequently twofold inside it. In Business Bay a canal-facing floor in a new tower and a low floor in a fifteen-year-old building sit in the same average and in different markets. Use the figure as a sanity check on the order of magnitude, and comparable transactions for anything more precise.

The second limitation: these are asking-price averages by district, not registered transactions. In a slower market the gap between the two widens, and it widens most in exactly the districts with the most new supply.