Palm Jumeirah: Dubai's Iconic Island Paradise

Palm Jumeirah in 60 seconds

Palm Jumeirah is Dubai's trophy address: an island of 17 fronds and an 11 km crescent, with apartments on the trunk, villas on the fronds and resorts on the crescent. This page covers apartments, which is what the Dubai Land Department figures below measure. From Sep 2024 to Aug 2026, the DLD registered 2,644 apartment sales on the Palm at a median of AED 2,407 per sq ft. A median one-bedroom sold for AED 2,673,521 for 1,120 sq ft, which puts it above the AED 2 million line of the Golden Visa on its own. More than eight sales in ten were ready apartments. It is the district for buyers who want the beach, the view and the name. The trade-off: traffic on the trunk, no metro, and a wide gap between the older trunk buildings and the new branded towers.

Palm Jumeirah apartment prices in 2026: what actually sold

Every number below is a median of registered transactions, not an asking price. Source: Dubai Land Department via Dubai Pulse, Sep 2024 to Aug 2026.

Median price per sq ft, all apartments: AED 2,407. Share of off-plan sales: 16.3%.

Three things the table tells you:

1. The one-bedroom is a Golden Visa on its own. On the 24 September 2026 dataset the median Palm one-bedroom is above AED 2 million, so one unit covers the 10-year visa, with the family. 2. Palm apartments are large. The median one-bedroom of 1,120 sq ft and the median two-bedroom of 1,771 sq ft are among the largest in Dubai. Per sq ft, the Palm is close to Downtown; per unit, you get more space. 3. Two markets share one name. Older trunk buildings, such as the Shoreline Apartments completed in 2007, trade well below the median; new branded towers on the crescent and the trunk trade far above it. The 4+ bedroom median is a penthouse figure. Price the building, not the island.

Palm Jumeirah vs Emaar Beachfront, Dubai Marina, JBR, Downtown and Dubai Hills

Same source, same period, same method, apartments only.

How to read it, on the 24 September 2026 dataset:

- Emaar Beachfront, the newer beach district at Dubai Harbour, costs 49% more per sq ft, yet its one-bedroom is about 6% cheaper, because its units are much smaller. The Palm gives you more space per dirham on the sand. - Downtown costs 6% more per sq ft than the Palm, and its one-bedroom is 25% cheaper. Downtown is the city address in smaller units; the Palm is the beach address in larger ones. - Dubai Marina is 26% cheaper per sq ft and its one-bedroom 46% cheaper; JBR is 34% cheaper per sq ft. Both are the beachfront at a lower ticket, in older and busier districts. - Dubai Hills is 5% cheaper per sq ft, with a one-bedroom 38% cheaper and many more new apartments. The Palm is the resale trophy market; Dubai Hills is the family master plan.

Compare on the Emaar Beachfront, Dubai Marina, JBR, Downtown Dubai and Dubai Hills Estate pages.

Rental yields on Palm Jumeirah: gross and after service charges

Rents below are average asking rents for Palm Jumeirah apartments in the first half of 2026, published by the Bayut portal in its Dubai Rental Market Report H1 2026. Prices are the DLD medians above. The yield is the simple division, so it is a gross figure before service charges, vacancy and agency fees.

Yields computed on the 24 September 2026 figures. Bayut reports Palm apartment rents up 5.31% in H1 2026, with the Palm keeping its place as the preferred ultra-luxury rental destination.

Service charges on Palm apartments run at about AED 11 to 18 per sq ft a year in trunk buildings and AED 20 to 30 or more in branded residences, in 2026 guides; the exact figure for every building is public in the DLD Service Charge Index. On a median one-bedroom of 1,120 sq ft at AED 15 per sq ft, that is about AED 16,800 a year, which takes the one-bedroom from 6.3% gross to roughly 5.7% net of service charges. The master community fees of the Palm are now fixed for three years: in December 2025 the Dubai Land Department approved the first three-year fixed service fee budget, for the Palm Jumeirah master community.

The Palm is also a deep holiday-home market. Many owners let through a holiday-home permit from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism instead of an annual lease; that can lift the income and adds furnishing, management and vacancy costs. Run both numbers before you choose.

The tenant pays the 5% municipality housing fee on top of the rent, through the DEWA bill, so it does not come out of your yield.

Who buys and who rents on Palm Jumeirah

Tenants: senior professionals and families who want the beach and space; executives on relocation packages; and holiday guests all year round.

Buyers: end users buying a second home; investors buying the Golden Visa with one unit, since the median one-bedroom is above AED 2 million; and buyers of branded residences who pay for the name, the service and the finish.

What the Palm is not: it is not a metro district and it is not quick to leave at rush hour. Everyone uses the trunk, and the monorail links to the tram, not to the metro.

Handovers on Palm Jumeirah: 2026 to 2028

New supply on the Palm is small and almost all branded, on the crescent and the last plots of the trunk. These are the Palm projects in our Handover Tracker, with the dates the developers publish. Dates move; the tracker is updated monthly.

What the pipeline means for you: a few hundred branded units at the top of the market do not compete with the resale trunk apartments most buyers look at. They raise the ceiling of what a Palm address is worth.

Living on Palm Jumeirah: what it is like day to day

The Palm has three parts. The trunk holds the apartments, the hotels, the marinas and the malls, with the Shoreline Apartments (20 buildings with private beaches) and the Golden Mile buildings above the Golden Mile Galleria. The fronds are private gated villa streets. The crescent, reached by a 1.4 km undersea tunnel, holds the resorts, Atlantis among them. Nakheel is the master developer; about 25,000 people live on the island.

The Palm Monorail stops at four stations: Palm Gateway, linked by a footbridge to the Dubai Tram; Al Ittihad Park, for the Golden Mile Galleria and Palm West Beach; Palm Jumeirah Mall, the former Nakheel Mall, renamed in September 2025; and Atlantis Aquaventure. There is no metro station on the island. Downtown is about 20 minutes by car outside peak time, DXB about 30 minutes and Al Maktoum airport about 30 minutes.

The honest downsides: traffic on the trunk at peak hours (in March 2025 the Roads and Transport Authority and Dubai Holding signed an AED 6 billion agreement for new lanes and pedestrian bridges to cut travel times within the Palm by 40%); older trunk buildings that need a look at their maintenance; and service charges that climb fast in branded towers.

What it costs to buy on Palm Jumeirah

Palm Jumeirah is a freehold area: foreigners can buy in their own name, with the title registered at the Dubai Land Department. On top of the price, budget for:

- 4% DLD transfer fee, plus a small admin fee; - Registration trustee fee, around AED 4,000 plus VAT for properties above AED 500,000; - 2% agency commission plus 5% VAT on the commission, on a ready unit; on an off-plan unit bought from the developer the commission is paid by the developer; - 0.25% mortgage registration fee if you finance; - Off-plan: the Oqood registration fee and the escrow payment schedule set by the developer.

Total for a ready unit: about 6.5% to 7% of the price. Fees: Dubai Land Department.

Palm Jumeirah: 6 questions buyers ask

Is a Palm Jumeirah apartment a good investment in 2026?

For a combination of income, residency and a scarce address, yes: around 6.2% to 6.3% gross on H1 2026 average rents against DLD median prices, about 5.7% net of service charges on a one-bedroom, and a one-bedroom that qualifies for the Golden Visa on its own. The risk to manage is the building: older trunk towers and new branded towers are different investments.

What is the median price of a one-bedroom on Palm Jumeirah in 2026?

AED 2,673,521 for a median 1,120 sq ft unit, based on 2,644 DLD-registered apartment sales from Sep 2024 to Aug 2026. The median price per sq ft across all apartments is AED 2,407.

How much rent does a Palm Jumeirah apartment get?

About AED 169,000 a year for a one-bedroom, AED 249,000 for a two-bedroom and AED 382,000 for a three-bedroom in the first half of 2026, average asking rents in the Bayut Dubai Rental Market Report H1 2026. Sea views and branded towers rent for more.

Does a Palm Jumeirah apartment qualify for the Golden Visa?

Yes, from the one-bedroom up, on median prices: the 10-year Golden Visa requires property worth at least AED 2 million, and the median Palm one-bedroom is above that line. Mortgaged property is accepted with a no-objection letter from the bank.

How do you get around on the Palm without a car?

The Palm Monorail runs from Palm Gateway, where a footbridge connects to the Dubai Tram, to Al Ittihad Park, Palm Jumeirah Mall and Atlantis Aquaventure. The tram connects to the Red Line metro at DMCC and Sobha Realty.

Which projects hand over on Palm Jumeirah?

AVA at Palm Jumeirah by Omniyat (2026), ORLA by Omniyat (completion certificate expected early 2027), ORLA Infinity by Omniyat (2027) and Armani Beach Residences by Arada (end of 2027), according to the developers' published dates in our Handover Tracker.

Talk to an agent who works on Palm Jumeirah

NAHY sells and rents on the Palm every week, from Shoreline apartments to branded residences on the crescent. Send us the building, the unit type and the budget, and we reply with the last registered prices in that building, not an asking price.

Sources: Dubai Land Department transactions via Dubai Pulse, Sep 2024 to Aug 2026, published as dld-area-prices.csv; Bayut, Dubai Rental Market Report H1 2026; DLD Service Charge Index; DLD on the Palm Jumeirah three-year fixed service fees; Nakheel; Palm Monorail stations; Dubai Media Office on the RTA and Dubai Holding agreement; Omniyat and Arada for handover dates; Dubai Land Department fees; GDRFA Dubai for the Golden Visa; the NAHY Handover Tracker.

Projects in this area

• Armani Beach Residences
• AVA at Palm Jumeirah
• ORLA by Omniyat
• ORLA Infinity by Omniyat
• Palm Flower
• Serenia Living
• Seven Palm
• The Alba Residences by Omniyat