How to Read DLD Data: A Guide to Actual Transaction Prices

Archive · data as of 2 June 2026. Figures in this article are a historical snapshot, not current analytics.

Dubai Land Department (DLD) is the principal open-data resource for Dubai real estate. Every registered transaction enters a public database with its price, area, location, date and transaction type. This transparency is one reason Dubai is regarded as one of the world's most open property markets.

It is also a source of widespread investor error. DLD figures are easy to misinterpret. An “average Marina price of AED 1,950 per sqft” can become a dangerous basis for an AED 3M decision.

This guide explains how to read the data correctly.

Data sources

The official sources include:

• Dubai Pulse (dubaipulse.gov.ae), the main portal offering filterable transaction CSV files.
• DLD REST Self Transactions, used for specific checks.
• Dubai REST app, the mobile application used to verify a Title Deed by ID.

All ECOSYSTEM bots, including Analitik_price_bot, use these public sources. There are no supposed “inside figures”, only open records.

Mistake #1: the average price is not your price

The most common error is to see an average Marina price of AED 1,950/sqft and conclude that any apartment at AED 1,900/sqft is good value.

An area-wide average blends:

• Off-plan and secondary. Off-plan may trade at a discount, while completed stock can command a premium. Combining them produces a misleading midpoint.
• Different subareas. Marina Walk and Tail of Marina can differ by more than 30%.
• Different building tiers. Marina Promenade and Botanica do not trade at the same price per sqft.
• Older low-floor apartments and new towers. Height premiums can reach 15–25%.

The correct approach: filter DLD data by the specific tower, transaction type (secondary only) and construction year, then use the median for the past 6–12 months rather than the average.

Mistake #2: villa and apartment prices per sqft are not comparable

DLD stores villas and apartments in the same table. A “Dubai Hills, all property types” filter can include villas at AED 2,200/sqft and apartments at AED 1,750/sqft. The resulting AED 1,950/sqft average represents neither a real apartment price nor a real villa price.

The correct approach: filter Apartment, Villa and Townhouse separately. Never combine them.

Mistake #3: a registered price is not always a market price

A DLD price is the amount registered on the Title Deed. This creates several exceptions:

• Off-plan assignments may retain the developer's original price rather than the amount paid by the new buyer, creating an artificially low record.
• Family transfers, including gifts and inheritance, may appear at a nominal AED 100 or AED 0.
• Barter transactions, swaps and exchanges may be recorded inconsistently.

The correct approach: exclude apartment records below AED 200,000 and villa records below AED 500,000. This removes family transfers and many anomalous entries.

Mistake #4: YoY growth from a small sample

If a building recorded four sales last year and six this year, a reported 12% increase may simply be sampling noise. One better-view apartment can distort the full YoY figure.

The correct approach:

• Require at least 20 transactions for a reliable YoY comparison.
• Compare medians, not averages.
• Use price per sqft, not absolute prices, because unit sizes vary.
• Apply a three-month moving average for a cleaner signal.

The transaction checklist

When a property is submitted, Analitik_price_bot and Dubai Pulse are used to perform:

1. A building query: every DLD transaction in that building over the past 12 months.
2. Filtering: secondary only, no family transfers, minimum AED 200K.
3. Median price per sqft for the filtered set.
4. Comparison with the asking price. A normal range is -5% to +5% around the median.
5. A 24-month trend: rising, falling or flat.
6. Comparison with neighbouring buildings in the same class.

The process takes 10–15 minutes and can prevent an AED 100–400K overpayment. The platform performs it before any transaction without charge.

A real example

In February 2026, a client presented a 2BR in Marina Promenade at AED 3.2M and 1,320 sqft.

• Property price per sqft: AED 2,425.
• 12-month DLD median for Marina Promenade, filtered to 2BR secondary sales with family transfers removed: AED 2,080/sqft.
• Trend: +6% YoY.

The unit was approximately 17% above the DLD median. The buyer negotiated and completed at AED 2.85M, or AED 2,159/sqft, 4% above the median and within a normal range. The saving was AED 350K. This pattern appears in three or four out of every ten transactions reviewed.

Conclusion

• DLD data is open, but it requires disciplined filtering.
• Do not rely on an “area average”; it is a marketing abstraction.
• A 12-month building median for secondary transactions, excluding family transfers, is a practical benchmark.
• Analitik_price_bot can apply these filters automatically.

To review a specific property before a transaction, contact us on Telegram. We will apply the DLD filters and present the evidence within 15 minutes.