Published estimates of the Dubai branded-residence premium run from the 30 to 35% global average Knight Frank cites to 56% (Morgan’s International Realty, H1 2026) and 64% (CBRE, December 2025), because they measure different things. On an unbranded comparable at AED 2,000,000, that is AED 600,000 to 700,000 extra against AED 1,120,000 to 1,280,000 (our arithmetic).
Key figures
- 30 to 35%
Global average premium over unbranded buildings, according to Louis Harding of Knight Frank
reported 5 October 2026
AGBI, 5 October 2026 - 56%
Dubai premium: AED 3,662 against AED 2,354 per sq ft; 82% of branded volume was off-plan
H1 2026
Morgan's International Realty via Khaleej Times, 7 September 2026 - 64%
Dubai premium over non-branded units; the source states no period, sample or comparison set
2025 (published 14 December 2025)
CBRE, 14 December 2025 - Just under 4%
Average rise in price per sq ft across branded projects (nine of 12 rose), against 6.5% across the city
August 2026
AGBI's analysis of Dubai Land Department data, 5 October 2026
- Global average: 30 to 35% over unbranded buildings, according to Louis Harding, head of residential for the UAE at Knight Frank (AGBI, 5 October 2026). Savills gave 30% unweighted, and 24% for global cities, in October 2022.
- Dubai, H1 2026: AED 3,662 against AED 2,354 per sq ft ($997 and $641), a 56% premium; 82% of branded volume was off-plan (Morgan’s International Realty via Khaleej Times, 7 September 2026).
- Dubai, 2025: a 64% premium over non-branded units (CBRE, 14 December 2025); the page states no period, sample or comparison set.
- Schemes: 64 completed and 87 in the pipeline (Savills, 3 February 2026); 175, of which 68 live and 107 in the pipeline (Knight Frank via Khaleej Times, 28 September 2026).
- August 2026: price per sq ft rose in nine of 12 branded projects, by just under 4% on average against 6.5% across the city (AGBI’s analysis of Dubai Land Department data, 5 October 2026).
Why do the premium estimates disagree?
Because “premium” hides four choices: what the branded unit is compared with, whether the prices are launch or resale prices, which period, and whether the figure is for Dubai or the world. The table lines up the named estimates on those choices.
| Source and date | Figure | What it measures, and what the source does not say |
|---|---|---|
| Knight Frank (Louis Harding) via AGBI, 5 Oct 2026 | 30 to 35% | A global average over unbranded buildings. AGBI adds that Dubai premiums had been “significantly higher”; no Dubai figure, sample or method. |
| Savills, 20 Oct 2022 | 30% global; 24% cities; 32% resorts; 54% emerging markets | Unweighted averages over comparable non-branded product. No Dubai figure; method not stated on the page. |
| Cushman & Wakefield, 2024 | 25 to 30% | Against non-branded homes of similar build quality; given as what branded homes “typically” command, not a Dubai measurement. |
| Betterhomes via Gulf News, 25 Aug 2025 | 40% | Dubai average per sq ft over non-branded homes nearby. The same report quotes one development almost 200% above its area’s standard developments: outliers are not averages. |
| Morgan’s International Realty via Khaleej Times, 7 Sep 2026 | 56% | Dubai transactions in H1 2026 against “comparable non-branded properties”, which the article does not define. Mostly off-plan (82% of volume); no sample size for the premium. |
| CBRE, 14 Dec 2025 | 64% | Dubai, “over non-branded units”. No period, sample or comparison set on the page. |
| Morgan’s International Realty via Khaleej Times, 4 Aug 2024 | 69% | Per sq ft against non-branded homes in the same locations. The article puts the premium below 10% in villa communities and highest on the beachfront. |
Two things follow (our reading). Global averages and Dubai figures answer different questions, so 30 to 35% and 56 to 64% do not contradict each other. And a citywide average blends very different products, so it describes few individual units.
What does each premium mean in dirhams?
Take one unbranded comparable at AED 2,000,000: illustrative, not a listing or a specific scheme. Each published premium implies a different price paid. The last two columns ask a separate question: if the premium at resale were 10 points smaller, with the comparable unchanged, what would the branded unit fetch?
| Published premium (source) | Price of the branded unit | Extra paid over the unbranded comparable | Resale price if the premium were 10 points smaller | Share of the extra paid that 10 points is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24% — Savills, global cities (2022) | 2,480,000 | 480,000 | 2,280,000 | 42% |
| 25% — Cushman & Wakefield, low end of 25–30% (2024) | 2,500,000 | 500,000 | 2,300,000 | 40% |
| 30% — Savills global (2022); top of the Cushman & Wakefield range; low end of Knight Frank via AGBI | 2,600,000 | 600,000 | 2,400,000 | 33% |
| 35% — Knight Frank via AGBI, top of 30–35% (2026) | 2,700,000 | 700,000 | 2,500,000 | 29% |
| 40% — Betterhomes via Gulf News (2025) | 2,800,000 | 800,000 | 2,600,000 | 25% |
| 56% — Morgan’s International Realty, H1 2026 | 3,120,000 | 1,120,000 | 2,920,000 | 18% |
| 64% — CBRE (Dec 2025) | 3,280,000 | 1,280,000 | 3,080,000 | 16% |
| 69% — Morgan’s International Realty, reported August 2024 | 3,380,000 | 1,380,000 | 3,180,000 | 14% |
Our arithmetic. Ten points is AED 200,000 on this unit whatever the starting premium (five points, AED 100,000; twenty, AED 400,000). The starting premium changes how much of the extra paid that eats: 42% at a 24% premium, 18% at 56%, 14% at 69%. It is a scenario, not a forecast, and it leaves out fees, financing and any move in the comparable.
For scale only: AGBI’s August figures, just under 4% against 6.5%, are a gap of about 2.5 points. Applied once to this unit that is about AED 50,000 (our arithmetic). It is one month and 12 projects, not a trend.
Is the supply surge squeezing the premium?
The number of schemes depends on who counts. Savills counts 64 completed and 87 in the pipeline; Knight Frank counts 175; Morgan’s counts 183 developments and 64,744 units at 30 June 2026, up from 59,560 units at the end of 2025. The definitions differ, so do not add them.
The direction is clearer than the size. Harding tells AGBI that branded homes historically carried scarcity, that the segment tripled globally in a decade and is set to double again within five or six years, and that this will shape how long the premium lasts. Knight Frank counts 354 schemes worldwide in 2015, 903 at the end of 2025 and about 1,088 by the end of 2026.
Morgan’s asks whether premiums will endure once construction-period payment plans end. We found no study that follows the same units’ premium through to resale.
AGBI reports that Harding is “super bullish” on the top end, hotel-backed products with less price-sensitive buyers, and more nervous about the lower end, particularly fashion-brand projects. Knight Frank puts hotel brands at about 70% of operational schemes, with the non-hotel share rising from about 30% in 2025 to almost 40% by 2028.
What should you check before paying a brand premium?
This is Jalili Real Estate’s advisory view. It is our reasoning from the sources and the arithmetic above, not a record of branded deals we have handled.
Ask what the number is compared with. A headline premium is an average. For a unit you are weighing, ask for recorded sale prices per sq ft of unbranded units of similar size in the same building or district, not asking prices. For the district, start with Business Bay, Palm Jumeirah or all areas; what draws demand to a central district is in Business Bay in 2026.
A launch premium is not a resale premium. Most branded volume in the Morgan’s data is off-plan, so the 56% is largely what buyers agreed to pay at launch. What you can recover is what a resale buyer pays later, and that is the figure no source gives us. How a payment plan changes the cash you commit before handover is set out in Dubai off-plan payment plans. On the table, every point lost is AED 20,000 on this unit (our arithmetic).
Read the running costs separately. Gulf News, reporting Betterhomes’ study, notes that amenities may add to service charges. Ask for the building’s budget and what it covers. Fees that are a percentage of the price also rise with it; the cost-of-buying calculator shows them. To see what the extra price does to income, put the unit through the yield calculator.
Ask what kind of brand it is, and what happens if the brand leaves. Trowers & Hamlins (1 July 2025) lists the expiry of the agreements, the end of a hotel management agreement and disputes as reasons a brand may withdraw, and notes that sale contracts may describe a unit as “merely associated” with the brand. Read what yours says.
The trade-off is plain. A larger premium is more to give back at resale, and possibly more real quality behind it; a headline number cannot separate the two.
Nothing here says branded is worth it or not. It says which figures to put on the page before you decide. Our projects page shows what is currently offered.
Figures carry the dates of their sources; the AED table is arithmetic on a made-up unit, not a forecast or a promise of return.
Ask us what the brand adds, and what resale will give back, on the residence you are weighing: a short call, in English or Farsi.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice; check every figure with your adviser before you act.
How many branded residence schemes does Dubai have?
It depends on who counts. Savills (3 February 2026) counts 64 completed and 87 in the pipeline; Knight Frank's Residence Report 2026-27, via Khaleej Times (28 September 2026), counts 175, of which 68 live and 107 in the pipeline. The definitions differ, so the figures should not be added. Sources: Savills, Khaleej Times.
How much more does a branded residence cost than an unbranded one in Dubai?
Named estimates differ because they measure different things. 30 to 35% is a global average (Knight Frank via AGBI, 5 October 2026); Dubai figures are 40% (Betterhomes via Gulf News, August 2025), 56% (Morgan's International Realty, H1 2026) and 64% (CBRE, December 2025). On AED 2,000,000, 30% is AED 600,000 and 64% is AED 1,280,000 (our arithmetic).
Is the branded-residence premium shrinking in Dubai?
We found no study that follows the premium over time. AGBI, analysing Dubai Land Department data, reports that in August 2026 price per sq ft rose in nine of 12 branded projects, by just under 4% on average against 6.5% citywide: one month and 12 projects, not a trend (AGBI, 5 October 2026).
Sources
