Emaar vs DAMAC: What the Public Records Show in 2026

The short answer

The public record does not support a blanket claim that one developer delivers and the other does not. On the list of projects due in 2026, read from the register on 27 October 2026, Emaar had 11 (7 already complete) and DAMAC 1, and none of them was past its filed completion date. DAMAC having only one project due this year means that comparison says little about DAMAC.

Three differences do show in the data. Scale per launch: DAMAC's 2026 sales are concentrated in a few very large launches, Emaar's are spread across more projects (see the table below; sales read 26 October 2026). Ownership: Emaar is a listed company, DAMAC is private. And the cost of owning their branded buildings, which is close between the two and far above everything else. Judge each project on its own escrow, construction progress and filed completion date, all of which are public.

What the DLD register shows

The table below reads the latest copy of each Dubai Land Department dataset we hold each time the page loads; each row says when that dataset was read. Sales cover the projects on this site for each developer; registrations are projects filed with the DLD this year. Each developer trades under several legal companies (Emaar Development PJSC, Emaar Dubai South DWC, DAMAC Prime Development and others), and all of them are counted.

Sales are read weekly and new registrations daily, so those rows are the current ones. The rupee table further down uses the same sales data, converted at today's exchange rate.

Who owns each company

Emaar Properties PJSC is listed on the Dubai Financial Market. Its largest shareholder is Dubai Holding, which raised its stake to 29.73% on 12 May 2026 after taking over the 22.27% previously held by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (Dubai Media Office). That is a large state-linked shareholding, not a majority one.

DAMAC Properties was listed on the Dubai Financial Market from 2015 until its founder, Hussain Sajwani, took it private; the delisting was completed in 2022. It no longer reports results as a listed company.

Ownership does not change the rules for an off-plan purchase: payments to both go into the project's escrow account, and the account's status is on the DLD register. Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, buyers' payments for an off-plan unit go into the project's escrow account, and the developer can draw on it only as construction progresses. That limits how buyers' money can be used; it is not a guarantee. It does not protect against delay, and if a project is cancelled, refunds follow the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's procedures rather than happening automatically.

Delivery: what the register shows

On the list of projects due to complete in 2026, read from the DLD register on 27 October 2026, Emaar had 11 projects (7 complete) and DAMAC 1, and none was past its filed completion date. That is a snapshot, not a delivery record: DAMAC's single project due this year says little either way, and dates can be revised. The register's cancelled-projects list, read on 1 August 2026, shows 14 cancelled registrations under Emaar companies and 32 under DAMAC companies across all years; those counts are not adjusted for how many projects each has filed.

Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, buyers' payments for an off-plan unit go into the project's escrow account, and the developer can draw on it only as construction progresses. That limits how buyers' money can be used; it is not a guarantee. It does not protect against delay, and if a project is cancelled, refunds follow the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's procedures rather than happening automatically. Before you pay, check the specific project's construction percentage and filed completion date on its page here, or on the DLD register.

Payment plans

Both developers sell with staged payment plans, and some launches from each include a portion due after handover. A post-handover plan does not remove market risk: if prices soften before the plan ends, the remaining balance is still owed in full.

The payment-plan comparison linked below lists each project's plan next to its filed handover date and how much is built.

Emaar vs DAMAC branded residences: what the brand costs to own

Both developers sell branded residences, and the brochures compete on the name. The register lets you compare what the name costs to own, every year, after you have bought — which is the part no brochure prints.

Read from the Dubai Land Department owners-association register on 3 October 2026, across 15 Emaar-operated branded buildings (Address, Vida, Armani) and 8 DAMAC-operated branded buildings (Paramount, Prive, Versace, Trump Estates):

Emaar branded — median AED 31.44 per sqft, about AED 28,296 a year on a 900 sqft unit.
DAMAC branded — median AED 29.70 per sqft, about AED 26,726 a year.
Everything else on the register — median AED 16.97 per sqft, about AED 15,273 a year.

Two things follow, and the second is the one that matters.

First, the two are close. Emaar branded runs 5.9% above DAMAC branded — AED 1,571 a year apart on the same 900 sqft unit. If you are choosing between a branded Emaar tower and a branded DAMAC tower, the annual service charge is not the deciding factor.

Second, branded against unbranded is not close at all. Emaar branded costs 85% more per square foot than the unbranded market median and DAMAC branded 75% more. On a 900 sqft unit that is roughly AED 13,023 a year extra for Emaar branded, AED 11,453 for DAMAC branded — every year you own it, let or empty. Over a ten-year hold the Emaar branded premium alone comes to about AED 130,230.

The range inside each is wide and worth checking by building rather than by brand. On the Emaar side the register runs from AED 28.54 at Address Residences Sky View up to AED 66.16 at Burj Khalifa - Armani Residences. On the DAMAC side, from AED 22.96 at Paramount Tower Hotel And Residences up to AED 35.01 at Palazzo Versace.

None of this says branded is a poor buy. A hotel-managed building staffs a concierge, a gym and a pool to a standard an ordinary tower does not, and some owners want exactly that and let the unit at a premium to match. It says the premium is a recurring cost of ownership, it is roughly 75% to 85% on the service charge, and it should be in your yield calculation before you sign — not discovered in the first annual bill after handover.

DAMAC vs Emaar prices in rupees

For a buyer in India, at AED 1 = ₹25.76 (5 November 2026), from Dubai Land Department sales in Jan–Nov 2026: DAMAC's most-bought project, DAMAC Islands 2, sold at a median ₹7.28 crore, more than one person can send from India in a year; Emaar's most-bought project, Creek Bay, sold at a median ₹8.53 crore, more than one person can send from India in a year.

Averaging each project's median by its number of sales, DAMAC sold at about ₹48,513 per sq ft and Emaar at about ₹60,049 per sq ft. One person in India can send up to ₹2.37 crore a year under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme; a payment plan spreads a larger price across financial years. Sales are summed across a project's register phases; its price is the median of its most-sold phase.

Sources Buying from India: fees, LRS and prices in rupees