Property guide · Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Dubai South property: prices and the airport
Freehold flats around Al Maktoum Airport, mostly bought off-plan: prices paid per square metre, drive times to both airports, an airport expansion still ahead.
- Dubai South, all registered flat salesAED 13,280/m²DLD
- Dubai International Airport (DXB)about 58 minroad graph
- Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC)about 22 minroad graph
- Checked2026-09-12
Getting around
Next to Al Maktoum airport, far from Downtown
Al Maktoum International is about 22 minroad graph by car, Downtown about 38 minroad graph and DXB about 58 minroad graph; the nearest metro, at Expo City Dubai, is about 25 minroad graph away.
- Dubai International Airport (DXB)about 58 minroad graph
37.6 kmstraight line in a straight line.
- Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC)about 22 minroad graph
5.6 kmstraight line in a straight line.
- Downtown Dubai (Burj Khalifa)about 38 minroad graph
28.8 kmstraight line in a straight line.
- Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)about 39 minroad graph
30.7 kmstraight line in a straight line.
- Dubai Marinaabout 36 minroad graph
16.8 kmstraight line in a straight line.
- Metro: Expo City Dubaiabout 25 minroad graph
7.0 kmstraight line in a straight line.
Living here
An airport district, mostly still a plan
A government master development around Al Maktoum International Airport, run by Dubai Aviation City Corporation, with residential, logistics, aviation and business districts; it was called Dubai World Central until a renaming the press reported in 2015.
The approved airport is the reason most buyers look here, and it is not built. The Dubai Media Office release of 15 June 2026 puts the project at piling, earthworks and base infrastructure, with AED 13bnDubai Media Office of contracts under way and operations targeted for 2032; the target itself has moved from within ten years in 2024 to the early 2030s in 2025 and then to 2032. The terminal that operates today handled over 1,100,000Dubai Airports passengers in 2024.
What does run is Route 2020, the Red Line extension to Expo City whose stations there opened on 1 June 2021; from the residential district the nearest station is about 25 minroad graph away by car. Neither the enlarged airport nor a metro or rail station exists here today.
- Master development145M m²Dubai South
The operator's own figure, repeated on four of its pages. A developer selling inside it states a smaller one; the operator's is used.
- Residents, plannedup to 1,000,000Dubai South
A plan in the operator's words, not a population. No count of people living here today is published.
- Jobs, plannedup to 500,000Dubai South
The same plan, the same caution.
- OwnershipFreehold
Every sale the Land Department registered under Dubai South between 1 January and 17 September 2026 is recorded as freehold.
- Al Maktoum International todayover 1,100,000Dubai Airports
Passengers in 2024, by Dubai Airports, through a terminal it rates at 26,000,000Dubai Airports a year. This is the airport beside the district now.
- Al Maktoum International, approved260,000,000Dubai Media Office
Passengers a year at full build-out, at a cost of AED 128bnDubai Media Office, by the Dubai Media Office release of 28 April 2024. It does not exist yet: see the paragraph beside this list.
Prices
What buyers paid, under two area names
Sales are filed under two names: Dubai South, where finished and off-plan flats both change hands, and Madinat Al Mataar, where every flat registered in 2026 was off-plan.
A median per square metre is a level, not a price for a flat: it mixes studios with three-bedroom units and new towers with older ones. Name a building and a format and we send the sales registered against that project, and what is asked for it today.
- Dubai South, all registered flat salesAED 13,280/m²DLD
The median of 1,238DLD flat sales the Land Department recorded under the area name Dubai South between 1 January and 17 September 2026 — prices actually paid, not asked; our computation.
- Of which off-planAED 14,930/m²DLD
The median of 722DLD of those sales registered before completion.
- Of which readyAED 11,600/m²DLD
The median of 516DLD sales of finished flats. Different buildings, different ages: the gap to off-plan is not a growth rate.
- Madinat Al Mataar, off-planAED 18,333/m²DLD
The median of 11,069DLD flat sales in the cadastral zone around Al Maktoum International, where the Land Department files Azizi Venice and other large launches; every one of them was off-plan. It is a separate area name in the data, not a subset of the line above.
- Starting priceset building by building
There is no price for a district this size, and a developer's starting price is a building's, not the district's.
New launches
Many projects, registered one by one
Between 1 January and 17 September 2026 flat sales were registered against 51DLD named projects under Dubai South, led by Enre Residence by Imtiaz, Marquis Horizon, Mag 5 Boulevard, Celestia, Divine Elements and Oasis Residences, and in Madinat Al Mataar by the phases of Azizi Venice, Terra Woods and Windsor House.
- Other projectsAsk about a project
A project not listed here
Each of those is a separately registered project with its own project number and escrow account. Name the building and we send its register entry today.
Sources
Dubai South's site, airport releases, land data
The district's size and plan are the operator's own, the airport's approval and progress come from the Dubai Media Office, today's traffic from Dubai Airports, and every price from the Land Department.
- Operator
Dubai South, the operator's site, read 12 September 2026
The size, the plan in residents and jobs, the districts and who runs them, with attribution.
- Government
Dubai Media Office, 28 April 2024 and 15 June 2026
The approval of the new Al Maktoum International terminal, and the state of its works two years later.
- Airport
Dubai Airports, Dubai World Central history and factsheet
What the airport handles today and the capacity of its terminal.
- Register
Dubai Land Department open data, 12 September 2026
The sales registered in 2026 under Dubai South and Madinat Al Mataar, and the projects they were registered against.
- DocumentsGet the documents
The source documents
Ask and we send the pages, the releases and the register extracts themselves, dated the day you ask, with the relevant lines marked.
Questions
Ask about Dubai South
Name the project or the format and we reply with the sales registered against it this year, its Land Department entry, and the price asked today.