Why urgent below-market sales happen in Dubai — and how to tell a real discount from a staged one
By market estimates, nine out of ten off-plan projects bring the investor no profit during construction itself. That is where the stream of forced assignments comes from. Why it happens, and how to separate a genuine discount from a staged one.
"Urgent sale, below market" listings are a constant backdrop in Dubai. It helps to understand where the stream of them comes from.
The base statistic that never makes it into presentations
According to estimates circulating in the market, around nine out of ten projects bought at the excavation stage bring the investor no profit during construction itself. The price growth the buyer counted on either arrives later or not at all — while the instalments keep falling due on schedule.
That is where the supply comes from: part of the buyers realise halfway through that they do not want to, or cannot, carry the obligation any further, and exit through an assignment. The price of such an exit is almost always below the developer's current price list — otherwise there would be no buyer.
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How to tell a real discount from a staged one
- Compare with transactions, not the price list. "20% below market" against the developer's price list can mean "at market" against actual deals in the same building.
- Look at what is being transferred. In an assignment you buy not an apartment but a place in a contract: how much has been paid, what remains, on what schedule. A good headline price can come with a heavy balance.
- Check the reason for the urgency. Genuine urgency has an explanation — relocation, divorce, a change of plans, inability to pay. No clear explanation usually means there is no urgency.
- Count the exit costs. The developer's assignment fee, the registration fee, the commission — all of this eats into the discount, sometimes down to zero.
The other side of the coin
If you are buying off-plan on a payment plan yourself, this statistic is about you too. Plan your exit before you enter: know under what conditions you could assign, whether the developer allows assignment and from what point, and whether you have enough of a cushion not to sell at the worst moment.
Based on practice in Dubai's secondary market for off-plan property.
Video on this topic
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