The Journal
Insight, not noise.
Live market data first, editorial guides as they publish — nothing invented.
Buyer guides
The rules, checked and dated.
Each guide cites its sources and names the advisor who reviewed it.
Residency
The Golden Visa through property: the 2026 rules
AED 2 million buys more than a home — it qualifies you for a renewable 10-year UAE residency. What counts, what changed for off-plan buyers, and how Dubai and Abu Dhabi differ.
Qasim Saeed · 8 min readOwnership
Where foreigners can own UAE property — emirate by emirate
Freehold, usufruct, musataha: what each title actually gives you, the official Abu Dhabi investment zones, Dubai’s designated areas, and the 2% vs 4% fee gap between them.
Qasim Saeed · 9 min readBuying off-plan
Payment plans, escrow and the fees nobody mentions
60/40, post-handover, escrow retention, the 50% mortgage cap — how off-plan money actually flows in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and what protects yours when it does.
Mark Merlin · 9 min readMarket Data
UAE Off-Plan Supply Tracker — September 2026
First edition of our monthly census: 1,234 off-plan projects on sale across the UAE, a median entry of AED 1.67M, a 2027 handover wall — and what actually changed in a month, measured from our daily catalogue.
Qasim Saeed · 6 min readBuying off-plan
Off-plan vs ready property in the UAE
Not two kinds of building — two kinds of contract. Payment structure, price, registration cost and risk compared, with every fee traced to DLD or ADREC.
Shahzeb Zaidi · 12 min readBuying off-plan
The off-plan buying process in the UAE
Reservation form, SPA, escrow, Oqood or DARI registration, the DLD 4%, snagging and the title deed — the whole sequence, with every fee traced to source.
Ahmed Saeed · 13 min readBuying off-plan
What an off-plan purchase actually costs
A worked example built from the live catalogue: the entry ticket, the registration fee each emirate charges, the handover invoices and the running costs — with every percentage traced to a land department page.
Lijesh Kappli · 12 min readSelling off-plan
Assignment and resale before handover
Selling an off-plan unit before the keys exist is a registration transaction, not a private agreement. What the law requires in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the developer’s consent fits, and which fees are actually published.
Muhammad Khalid · 11 min readFinancing
Financing an off-plan purchase
What a lender is required to test, where your deposit may come from, how a loan reaches a unit that does not exist yet, and what registering it costs — mechanism and eligibility, with no rate and no loan-to-value figure.
Qasim Saeed · 12 min readOwnership
BUA, GFA, suite and balcony area explained
Four words, four different numbers, and only one of them reaches a register. What each term is defined to mean, which area the law binds a developer to deliver, and what happens when the finished unit misses it.
Joshua Ayush Verghese · 11 min readBuying off-plan
Oqood: registering an off-plan purchase in Dubai
The interim register is what makes an off-plan purchase legally real in Dubai. What the register does, who files it and by when, how to check yours exists, and what you can do with a unit that has no title deed yet.
Shahzeb Zaidi · 9 min readMoving in
Connecting utilities: DEWA and ADDC
What it costs to switch the power and water on in Dubai and Abu Dhabi — DEWA’s published deposits and activation charges, the Ejari and Tawtheeq registrations that trigger the account, the 5% housing fee that rides on the bill, and an honest note on the Abu Dhabi deposit nobody publishes.
Mark Merlin · 10 min readAlways current
Updated daily
New launches — the 48 newest projects and pre-sales.
Updated daily
Ready projects — 145 completed and still selling.
Area intelligence
Dubai off-plan — every district, price floors and handover pipeline.
Area intelligence
Abu Dhabi off-plan — Yas, Saadiyat, Al Reem and beyond.
Developer profiles
Who builds what — track record and live inventory by developer.
Handover tracker
Handing over in 2026 — 184 projects on schedule.
In production
Guides being written now.
Researched and reviewed before they publish — each one appears here the day it's ready.
- →Saadiyat Island buyer’s guide
- →Al Reem Island buyer’s guide