DAMAC Islands Dubai: 5,915 Homes, Prices and Sources (2026)

DAMAC Islands Dubai is a master community in Dubailand that its developer, DAMAC Properties, presents on its project page as 30 million sq ft with 5,915 villas and townhouses, themed on tropical island destinations, with a starting price of AED 2,750,000 (about USD 748,809, at the pegged rate of 3.6725) and a handover marked Q4 / 2029.

This guide to DAMAC Islands Dubai reads three sources as they stood on 13 November 2026 or, for the launch announcement, on 20 November 2024: the DAMAC project page, the Property Finder project page and the DAMAC launch release of 20 November 2024.

They differ on the starting price (four figures between AED 2,250,000 and AED 3,930,000), on the handover (Q4 2029 against Q4 2028), on the payment plan (75/25 against 20/40/40) and on which home types exist, so every figure appears with its source and date and none is chosen over another.

The guide then sets those figures beside the rules that govern an off-plan purchase in Dubai, quoted from the Dubai Land Department and the UAE government portal, and closes with a list of what a buyer can ask for in writing before reserving a home.

Overview of DAMAC Islands Dubai

The developer’s project page for DAMAC Islands Dubai opens with a community rather than a building. It gives the master community as 30 million sq ft, the number of villas and townhouses as 5,915, and describes the project as inspired by six tropical island destinations.

A starting-price tile reads AED 2,750,000 with an asterisk that the page does not explain. The only unit card shows a 5-bedroom villa of up to 3,179 sq ft (about 295.3 m²) with the handover marked Q4 / 2029, and the price on that card reads “From Loading…” in the page text, so the card itself prints no figure.

The page’s FAQ widens the range: it says the project will offer 4 and 5-bedroom townhouses and 6 and 7-bedroom villas, and calls it an off-plan project in Dubailand. Seven amenities are listed: a central hub fountain, a water platform, paddling, lagoon waterfalls, a jungle river, an aqua park and jungle swings. The page prints no payment plan, no tenure, no plot or building count, no floor count, no service-charge estimate, no project number from the Dubai Land Department and no escrow bank.

Two other names invite confusion. DAMAC Islands 2 is a separate DAMAC community with its own guide (DAMAC Islands 2). Dubai Islands is a Nakheel development that Nakheel lists on its own site (Nakheel page); the NEXT Coral Dubai Islands listing on this site stands on that Nakheel island, not in Dubailand. Neither belongs to the project described here.

What each source prints: status, launch, handover, homes and tenure

The table sets the three sources side by side. A cell that says “Not stated” or “Not printed” means the source prints nothing on that item; that is a statement about the page, not about the project.

Status first. The developer page carries a status field that reads off-plan, a launch flag set to true and a sold-units field that reads 0. The page explains none of the three and prints no sales figure or construction percentage, so the guide reports the fields and draws no conclusion from the 0. Property Finder gives the start of construction as 12 September 2024 and expects completion on 1 December 2028, again with no progress percentage.

Launch dates next. The release says the community was unveiled at Coca-Cola Arena on 19 November 2024. The data behind the developer page holds a launch date of 10 December 2024, and Property Finder’s key information says sale starts on 14 March 2026. An unveiling, a registered launch and the opening of a sales phase are different events, and none of the sources says which one its date marks, so the three dates are shown as printed.

Buildings and place names also differ. Property Finder’s key information lists one building, while a separate community block on the same page says DAMAC Islands features 31 buildings, with 830 properties listed in a price range of AED 1.8 million to AED 20 million.

The developer prints no building count. In its FAQ Property Finder places the project in “Dubai, Deira, Dubai Islands”, while its own location line and the developer both say DAMAC Islands and Dubailand; the guide follows the developer for the place name.

Handover and completion figures

The two handover dates differ by about a year. A date on a developer’s page, a date in a portal’s key information and a date in a sale contract are three separate things, and only the contract binds the parties. A buyer therefore asks which event the contract date marks (completion certificate, notice to take possession or keys) and which community facilities, if any, the same date covers.

Prices: four starting figures, per-type figures and payment plans

The developer’s price tile is in dirhams, so the table states each figure in AED as printed and its US dollar equivalent as arithmetic at the pegged rate of 3.6725 per USD (the Central Bank of the UAE exchange-rate sheet for September 2026 lists the US dollar at 3.6725 on 1 September 2026). The equivalents are calculated, not quoted by any source.

Four things need saying about these figures. The asterisk after AED 2,750,000 is not explained next to the tile. The unit card shows “From Loading…” instead of a number. The page’s interface text holds a general note that prices are available for a limited time and may change without prior notice; whether that note is what the asterisk refers to is not stated.

And the homepage strip prints 3,930,000 with a pound sign: the page data holds a whole-number minimum that, divided by 100, gives the same 3,930,000, and the data names the dirham as the currency, so this guide reads the figure as inferred AED 3,930,000 and flags the label. The page data also holds an upper figure for the same card; no upper price is printed, so none is given here.

No source prints a price per square foot or per square metre, and the guide calculates none. The next table lists the per-type figures that two sources do print.

The release gives launch prices as of November 2024; Property Finder gives “from” prices on a page read in November 2026. They are different dates and, for the same type, different numbers. The guide does not say which is current, and the developer’s page does not print per-type prices. A reservation form or price list for a named unit is the only document that fixes a price.

Payment plans by source

A plan announced at a launch in 2024 and a plan shown by a portal in 2026 are not necessarily the plan attached to a particular unit. The contract states the schedule, and Dubai rules tie what a developer may draw from the escrow account to construction stages, as section 7 explains.

The lagoon community: themes, amenities and who runs shared water features

What sets DAMAC Islands Dubai apart from most Dubai projects is that the shared facilities are water: lagoons, waterfalls, a river and an aqua park. Much of what the sources say is therefore about amenities, and the questions a buyer should ask concern who builds, runs and pays for them. This section sets out the lists, the themes and the legal frame.

Amenities by source

The release uses the future tense for the community’s facilities, and the developer page describes experiences rather than delivery dates. None of the three sources says when each facility opens, whether it is part of the first handover, whether residents use it free of charge or whether it is open to the public. These are contract questions, not details a brochure settles.

The six island themes

The release says the community “will feature six clusters” inspired by these places. Property Finder lists five of the six as sub-listings with their own “from” figures and does not list Hawaii. The developer page speaks of six island destinations and names only the Maldives and Seychelles in its introduction. Which cluster a given plot belongs to, and what the cluster name means for the finish or the position of the home, is not stated by any source.

What the community figures imply

Thirty million sq ft is about 2.79 km² (calculated at 1 sq ft = 0.092903 m²). Divided by 5,915 homes, it gives an average gross area of about 5,072 sq ft, or 471 m², per home. That is arithmetic on two printed numbers. The page does not say whether the 30 million sq ft counts water bodies, roads and amenity land, so the average is not a plot size and no source prints plot sizes.

Who runs shared water features: the Dubai rule

The Dubai Land Department publishes a compendium of Dubai real estate legislation. The English text it prints is dated 2014, and the department’s own FAQ refers to a later Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property, so a buyer checks the current text of any article before relying on it.

Law No. 27 of 2007, as printed in the compendium, provides that where the jointly owned property is land rather than a building, the common areas include, unless the site plan says otherwise, lakes, ponds, canals, parks, fountains and other water features with their equipment (Article 7). An owners association manages and maintains common areas (Article 21), and each owner pays a share of the annual service fees calculated by the unit’s area against the total (Article 22).

The department’s FAQ describes the current practice. A service charge is an annual charge approved by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) to cover management, operation, maintenance and repair of the jointly owned property.

A usage charge covers common facilities in the main real estate project, and the list of charges includes “master development community charges (usage charges)” and reserve charges. Management companies may not claim service charges until RERA approves them, and an owner can look up the approved charge per unit area in the department’s service charge index.

Nothing in the sources says whether the plots of the community are registered as jointly owned property, which entity manages the master community, or what the usage charge for lagoon operation will be. The developer page prints no estimate. Section 9 turns these gaps into questions for the sale documents.

Home types and sizes in square feet and square metres

Sizes appear in square feet on the sources; the table adds square metres as arithmetic. The developer card prints one size, and Property Finder prints one size per type.

The developer card and Property Finder name different 5-bedroom products. The card calls its 5-bedroom home a villa of up to 3,179 sq ft; Property Finder lists a 5-bedroom townhouse of 3,388 sq ft. They may be two products or one product named two ways, and neither source says which. The developer card also lists the views as “Classic” and “Park” in its data.

Size ratios, calculated from the Property Finder figures, show how steeply the range climbs. The 5-bedroom townhouse is about 1.5 times the 4-bedroom townhouse (3,388 against 2,282 sq ft). The 6-bedroom villa is about 4.8 times, and the 7-bedroom villa about 7.7 times the same base.

Bedrooms rise from 4 to 7, a factor of 1.75, while area rises by a factor of about 7.7, so the type names say little about what a buyer would actually occupy. Only the floor plan attached to a named unit settles internal area, terrace area and plot size.

Property Finder prints a bathroom count for three types (3, 6 and 6), and a count of 6 for a 5-bedroom townhouse is unusual enough to be worth confirming on the unit’s plan. The developer prints no bathroom counts, no finish list and no furnishing status, so none is given.

Location of DAMAC Islands Dubai: Dubailand, Emirates Road and the distances

The developer places DAMAC Islands Dubai in Dubailand and its page data carries a pin at 25.023074, 55.296122. Property Finder describes the community as close to Emirates Road and gives drive times of 15 minutes to the Expo 2020 venue, 20 minutes to Al Maktoum International Airport and 28 minutes to Dubai International Airport.

The developer’s FAQ names The Village Community Mall as the closest shopping mall at 10 minutes and says residents can use The Ranches Souk. It does not say whether the times are by road or what hour they assume.

To give those times a reference, the guide measured straight-line distances from the developer’s pin to points taken from OpenStreetMap, using the haversine formula. A straight line is shorter than any road, so the numbers are a floor, not a journey time.

The drive times in the sources are for a route and an hour that the sources do not state. The developer’s pin is a map marker on the project page and may mark the community centre or a sales point rather than any plot, so a buyer measures from the plot named in the contract, at the hour of the journey that matters to them.

Dubailand is an area name shared by several DAMAC communities, so it says little by itself. The developer’s communities menu lists DAMAC Hills, DAMAC Hills 2, DAMAC Lagoons, DAMAC Sun City and DAMAC Islands 2 beside DAMAC Islands, and the data collected for this site places each of them in Dubailand. Section 10 lists the DAMAC communities that have guides on this site. The page prints no information about schools, clinics or public transport at the community, and the guide gives none.

Buying off-plan in Dubai: registration, escrow and the order of events

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) keeps the property registers of the emirate. Its FAQ says that all real estate transactions not registered in its registers are considered invalid, and that foreign ownership is open in freehold areas. For an off-plan home the register in question is the interim one, which DLD’s service pages call the provisional register, accessed through the developer portal known as Oqood.

The compendium’s Law No. 13 of 2008 states the rule in four parts. A sale or other disposition of an off-plan unit is void unless entered in the Interim Property Register (Article 3). A developer may not start a project or sell off-plan before it holds the land and the approvals of the competent entities (Article 4).

A private sale contract in a project not approved by those entities is null and void (Article 10). And when the completion certificate is issued, the developer enters the completed project and the sold units, in the names of buyers who have met their obligations, in the Property Register (Article 8).

DLD’s registration-of-a-project page adds the current conditions. The land must lie in freehold or long-term lease areas, the ownership deed must exist (preliminary sales certificates are not accepted), the developer must be registered in the Trakheesi system, and a 30% security must be supplied as completed construction, a bank-issued instrument or a cash deposit. The same page lists a consultant’s letter and a bank-issued instrument among the required documents and ends with a project approval certificate.

The escrow rules matter most to a buyer who pays in instalments. Law No. 8 of 2007 requires an escrow account in the name of the project, dedicated solely to its construction, and says no attachment may be imposed on the deposited payments for the benefit of the developer’s creditors (Article 9).

It also requires the escrow agent to retain five percent of the account’s value once the completion certificate is issued, releasing it one year after the units are registered in the buyers’ names (Article 14). A developer may not advertise or exhibit off-plan units without DLD’s written authorisation (Article 5).

DLD’s FAQ adds that payments from the account go to contractors, consultants and marketing, that only five percent of total sales may go to marketing, and that releases follow the construction stages set in the agreement with the account trustee, after an engineer’s site check. The developer page for this project names no escrow bank, no DLD project number and no RERA number, which is why step 1 above is the first thing to do before any payment.

On tenure, the developer page prints none for DAMAC Islands Dubai. Property Finder prints freehold. DLD’s project-registration page states that registered land lies in freehold or long-term lease areas, so the sale documents show which applies, and the freehold and leasehold guide explains the difference. The off-plan buyers guide and the guide on whether foreigners can buy in Dubai cover the wider picture; their older figures are not used here.

Fees, service charges, tax and residence rules

Costs fall into three groups: the registration fee at purchase, the service and usage charges after handover, and the taxes the UAE does or does not levy. None of the three is priced on the developer page, so the table states only what an official source prints.

The second table is arithmetic only: 4% of three printed figures, each of which belongs to no named unit. The two DLD pages describe the same 4% in two ways (2% each side on the service page, 4% paid per the parties’ agreement in the news item), so the contract states who pays. DLD’s service page also lists two fixed fees of AED 10 and, for the developer, a self-registration fee, and the contract states whether the buyer bears any of them.

Service charges are annual charges collected from owners, so they sit outside the purchase price. In the department’s description, a community with shared facilities has a licensed management company, a budget approved by RERA and a charge worked out per unit of area. The developer prints no estimate and no per-area figure, and no portal does either, so the number can only come from the sale documents or the department’s service charge index for the registered project.

On tax, the u.ae taxation page says the UAE does not levy income tax on individuals and levies 5% value added tax on goods and services, excise tax on specific goods and corporate tax on corporations and businesses; the u.ae page on other taxes repeats the point on income tax.

Neither page mentions a recurring tax on owning a home. The guide on property tax in Dubai covers recurring charges in more detail, and a buyer’s own tax position in the country of residence is a separate question.

On residence, the u.ae Golden visa page (updated on 28 July 2026) lists the real estate category of the Golden visa with a residence of 5 years and a minimum capital of AED 2 million, and says the visa lets a holder live in the UAE without a sponsor.

The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) handles the application. This guide makes no claim that any home at DAMAC Islands Dubai qualifies: the rule is stated, the authority decides, and the Golden visa guide describes the route in more detail.

What to ask for in writing before reserving

Buyers of off-plan homes in Dubai normally collect a set of documents before paying a reservation fee. For this project the developer page prints almost none of them, so each item below is a request, and the answer belongs on paper.

1. The sale and purchase agreement with the unit or plot number, cluster name and floor plan attached. The sources name six themes and several home types but no unit, so the cluster, plot area and built area appear in the agreement.
2. The handover date in the contract, and the event it marks. The page says Q4 / 2029 and Property Finder says Q4 2028. The contract states one date, and whether it means completion certificate, notice or keys.
3. The payment schedule and the plan it follows. The release says 75/25 and Property Finder says 20/40/40. The schedule lists each instalment, its trigger and its amount in AED.
4. The escrow account name and bank, and the DLD project number. Both are searchable through the Project Status Enquiry, which also shows the management company and the units registered.
5. The Oqood registration: the date of the provisional registration certificate, which DLD says follows within 90 days of signing.
6. The price list in force for the named unit and the meaning of the asterisk after AED 2,750,000 on the developer page.
7. The service and usage charge estimate per unit of area, the name of the master community management company, and whether the plots are registered as jointly owned property.
8. The amenity schedule: which lagoon facilities and clubhouses are covered by the agreement, when each opens, who operates it, and whether any use is charged.
9. What the home includes: finish, kitchen, appliances, air conditioning, landscaping and any furniture. The developer prints no finish list.
10. Who signs. The full legal name, trade licence and registered address of the selling entity, and the name of the person authorised to sign for it.
11. The default and refund terms. The compendium’s Law No. 13 of 2008, Article 11, lets a developer, after a 30-day notice, revoke a contract for buyer default and refund after deducting up to 30% of payments made; the buyer checks the current text and the contract wording.
12. Any statement about residence in writing. A visa depends on the buyer’s application to the authority, so a sales statement does not replace it.

A buyer who receives these in writing can compare them with the three sources in sections 2 and 3, and any difference is a question to put to the seller before a reservation fee is paid, not after.

How DAMAC Islands Dubai sits among other DAMAC communities and Dubai listings

The table lists the DAMAC communities and projects that have, or will have, guides on this site, together with the existing DAMAC listing and other Dubai listings in Dubailand, Dubai South and Expo Living. The data comes from each project’s own page as read on 13 November 2026; the table makes no claim that one is better than another. The developer’s profile is on the DAMAC Properties page and the Dubai developer directory.

Each guide quotes its own sources, so the handover wording and the price presentation differ from page to page. A reader comparing communities compares the same items in each guide: the handover as printed with its date, the price as printed with its source, and the payment plan with its source.

For the wider market, the Dubai real estate market guide and the mortgage guide for foreigners cover context that the developer page does not, and the UAE and Dubai archives list every UAE listing on the site.

DAMAC Properties (developer)

DAMAC Properties is a Dubai developer. In its releases it says that, since its founding in 2002, it has launched more than 75 towers, and it names Hussain Sajwani as founder and chairman. The DAMAC launch release of 20 November 2024 puts its delivered homes at more than 47,000, with over 40,000 more in planning and development, and calls DAMAC Islands the sixth master community in its portfolio.

A later release, dated 4 September 2026, says more than 50,000 homes have been handed over and that 55,000-plus units and more than 100 million sq ft are in planning and development. It reports more than USD 2.72 billion in construction contracts awarded in the first half of 2026 and a target of 8,800-plus residential units delivered in 2026 across DAMAC Lagoons, DAMAC Hills, DAMAC Hills 2, Chic Tower and Elegance Tower (DAMAC release).

The 2024 release lists the company’s markets as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the Maldives, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, and names branded partnerships with Versace, Roberto Cavalli and de GRISOGONO. Its master communities include DAMAC Hills, DAMAC Hills 2, DAMAC Lagoons, DAMAC Sun City, DAMAC Riverside, DAMAC Islands and DAMAC Islands 2.

These are the company’s own statements, not verified independently. The 4 September 2026 release does not name DAMAC Islands, so its figures describe the portfolio, not this project.

Frequently asked questions

What is DAMAC Islands Dubai?

It is a master community in Dubailand by DAMAC Properties. The developer page gives it as 30 million sq ft with 5,915 villas and townhouses and lists lagoon-themed amenities. Property Finder, read on the same day, calls it off-plan with townhouses and villas. The community has six island themes according to DAMAC’s 2024 launch release, and the developer page shows one unit card, a 5-bedroom villa.

What starting price does the developer print for DAMAC Islands Dubai?

The developer’s price tile reads “Starting price AED 2,750,000*”, which is about USD 748,809 at the pegged rate of 3.6725. The asterisk is not explained, and the unit card reads “From Loading…”. Property Finder prints AED 2,490,000 and a launch price of 2.5M AED; the 2024 release printed AED 2,250,000 for a 4-bedroom townhouse. The guide does not pick one.

When is the handover?

The developer’s unit card says Q4 / 2029 and its page data holds 31 December 2029. Property Finder says Q4 2028, December 2028 and an expected completion of 1 December 2028. A gap of about a year separates the two, and neither source says what its date marks. The sale contract states the date that applies, and a buyer asks which event it marks.

Which payment plan applies?

The developer page prints none. The 2024 release announced 75% during construction and 25% on completion, and Property Finder shows 20% down, 40% during construction and 40% on handover. The reservation form and contract schedule decide, because a plan announced at launch is not necessarily the plan of a given unit.

Is the community freehold, and can foreigners buy?

Property Finder prints freehold; the developer page prints no tenure. DLD says foreign ownership is open in freehold areas, and its project-registration page says registered land lies in freehold or long-term lease areas. Property Finder also lists a 4% government fee. The sale documents and the project record show which tenure applies to the plot.

What fee does Dubai charge on an off-plan purchase?

DLD describes a registration fee of 4% of the property’s value, paid according to the agreement between seller and buyer, and its service page lists 2% for each side plus two AED 10 fees. On a figure of AED 2,750,000 the arithmetic is AED 110,000. No unit price is printed, so this is an illustration only.

How are payments protected?

Law No. 8 of 2007 requires an escrow account in the name of the project, dedicated to its construction, and releases follow construction stages under DLD rules. The buyer finds the escrow bank and project number through DLD’s Project Status Enquiry. The developer page for the project prints neither. DLD also provides that the escrow agent retains five percent of the account for a year after the units are registered in buyers’ names.

Does buying at DAMAC Islands Dubai give a Golden visa?

No source says so for this project. The u.ae portal lists the real estate category with a minimum capital of AED 2 million and a five-year residence, updated on 28 July 2026. Eligibility is decided by ICP on the buyer’s application, and this guide makes no claim for any unit.

How does it differ from DAMAC Islands 2 and Dubai Islands?

DAMAC Islands 2 is a separate DAMAC community in Dubailand, with unit cards marked Q4 / 2030 on the developer page. Dubai Islands is a Nakheel waterfront development listed on Nakheel’s site. Names overlap, but the developers, locations and projects differ, and a contract names the project precisely. The NEXT Coral listing on this site covers the Nakheel island.

What should a buyer ask for in writing?

The agreement with unit and cluster, handover date and the event it marks, payment schedule, escrow account and bank, DLD project number, the Oqood certificate date, service and usage charge estimates, what the finish includes and the signing entity’s details. Section 9 gives the full list and where to verify each item.

Sources and last check

Last checked: 13 November 2026. Sources:

• DAMAC: DAMAC Islands project page, read 13 November 2026
• Property Finder: DAMAC Islands project page, read 13 November 2026
• PR Newswire: DAMAC Properties unveils DAMAC Islands, 20 November 2024
• PR Newswire: DAMAC achieves handover of 50,000 homes, 4 September 2026
• Dubai Land Department: Project Status Enquiry
• Dubai Land Department: register project service page
• Dubai Land Department: request to register the initial sale
• Dubai Land Department: escrow account activation
• Dubai Land Department: frequently asked questions
• Dubai Land Department: news item of 31 May 2021 on registration fees
• Dubai Land Department: Dubai real estate legislation, English compendium (2014 print)
• UAE government portal: Golden visa, updated 28 July 2026
• UAE government portal: taxation
• UAE government portal: other taxes, updated 28 October 2026
• Central Bank of the UAE: exchange rates, September 2026 (USD 3.6725 on 1 September 2026)
• Nakheel: Dubai Islands
• OpenStreetMap: Emirates Road, way 62265023 (nearest E611 point 25.02738, 55.28697)
• OpenStreetMap: Expo City Dubai station, node 8882647591
• OpenStreetMap: Al Maktoum International Airport, way 214188740
• OpenStreetMap: Dubai International Airport, way 1429712446

Straight-line distances, size conversions, price conversions at the AED peg, payment-plan arithmetic and the 4% fee illustrations are calculated from the figures named in the text and are not published prices. This is not legal, tax or financial advice.