Property guide · Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi's island of museums and beaches: the Louvre, NYU Abu Dhabi, schools, nurseries, freehold for foreign buyers, flat and villa prices per square metre.
- Apartmentsabout AED 43,100/m²Knight Frank
- Louvre Abu Dhabiabout 20 minroad graph
- Zayed National Museumabout 20 minroad graph
- Checked2026-09-08
Getting around
Drive times to the museums and the airport
The museums and NYU Abu Dhabi are the short trips, the Corniche and the airport the longer ones, and every time is for a clear road.
- Louvre Abu Dhabiabout 20 minroad graph
2.3 kmstraight line in a straight line; from the island's south-eastern quarter.
- Zayed National Museumabout 20 minroad graph
- NYU Abu Dhabiabout 15 minroad graph
- Cornicheabout 25 minroad graph
- Airportabout 35 minroad graph
Living here
Museums, beaches, schools and freehold
The island has its own schools, nurseries, beaches, museums and a university, and a foreign buyer holds freehold here.
Saadiyat is one of Abu Dhabi's designated investment zones, so a foreign buyer holds freehold here rather than a long lease. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum and NYU Abu Dhabi are the island's, and every address on it borrows them.
- Schools3Aldar
- Nurseries6Aldar
- OwnershipFreehold for a foreign buyer
Designated investment zone; leasehold applies outside such zones.
Prices
Apartment and villa levels, per square metre
Knight Frank puts apartments and villas at separate levels per square metre, apartments up on the year — a guide to the market, not the price of any one home.
The levels are Knight Frank's own and not audited, and an area multiplied by a rate is an estimate rather than a price. Name a building and a format and we send what is asked for it today.
- Apartmentsabout AED 43,100/m²Knight Frank
Up 21%Knight Frank year on year, on the same report.
- Villasabout AED 26,500/m²Knight Frank
- SourceKnight Frank's own figures
Carried as the firm's claim, not audited.
New launches
What is being built on Saadiyat
Each project on the island has its own page: what its developer has announced and what is not yet published.
- Aldar Properties
Aldar's new waterfront district on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi: a marina, beaches and a cycle loop, freehold for foreign buyers, beside the island's museums.
- Other projectsAsk about a project
A project not listed here
Name it and we send what is registered and what the developer has published, with the date.
Sources
Abu Dhabi Media Office, Aldar and Knight Frank
A government release, Aldar's project page with attribution, Knight Frank's report as its own, and drive times measured on the road network.
- Release
Abu Dhabi Media Office, 22 July 2026
Shoreline, beaches and the cycle loop of the new waterfront district.
- Developer
Aldar's project page
School and nursery counts, with attribution.
- Market
Knight Frank, first half of 2026
The price level, as theirs.
- Computed
Our own measurements
Drive times on the OpenStreetMap road graph; the plan above is drawn from the same data.
- DocumentsGet the documents
The source documents
We send the release, the report and the regulator's pages, current on the day you ask, with the lines used here marked.
Questions
Ask about Saadiyat Island
Tell us what matters — a school run, a beach, a commute to the mainland — and we send the drive times from the address you are looking at, with the date.