Off-Plan Projects in Dubai Marina

Emaar developed the district itself, which dates from 2003. Its first phase was six freehold apartment towers, and later phases added a cluster of high-rises, most between 250 and 300 metres tall. Today's off-plan projects fill the remaining plots, and they are sold by different developers, each with its own record.

On this page you will find Marina Cove by Emaar, Six Senses Residences by Select Group, Habtoor Grand Residences by Al Habtoor Group, Kempinski Dubai Marina Residences by ABA Group, LIV LUX by LIV Developers and Franck Muller Vanguard by London Gate. Because so many developers are active here, checking each one matters more than in a single-developer community.

Dubai Marina covers about 4.9 square kilometres around an artificial canal along a 3 km stretch of the Gulf shoreline. Two Red Line metro stations serve it: Sobha Realty, called Dubai Marina until it was renamed in August 2021, and DMCC, formerly Jumeirah Lakes Towers. The Dubai Tram runs 14.5 km along Al Sufouh Road, linking the Marina with the Mall of the Emirates and Burj Al Arab.

Dubai Marina Mall, with about 140 shops, opened in December 2008, and The Walk at JBR is a 1.7 km strip of shops and restaurants on the sea side. The beachfront towers of Emaar Beachfront are next door if you want a newer island setting.

Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, a developer who wants to sell homes off-plan must apply to the Dubai Land Department to open an escrow account for the project, buyers' payments are deposited into that account, and the money is reserved for building that project alone. Law No. 13 of 2008 set up the Interim Property Register, and a sale of an off-plan unit is void unless it is entered in it. The Dubai Land Department runs this register through its Oqood system. In practice:

1. Pay only into the escrow account. The account details belong in your sale contract. Do not send money to any other account.
2. Get the sale registered. Ask for proof that your contract has been entered in the Interim Property Register before you treat the purchase as done.
3. Check the developer. Look at what each developer has already completed and handed over, not only the brochure. Our guide on how to check a developer before buying off-plan lists the questions to ask.
4. Look up the service charges. The Dubai Land Department Service Charge Index shows the approved service fees for a project by year, on its website and the Dubai REST app. A new tower may have no approved figure yet, so ask the developer for its estimate in writing. Older Marina towers can have very different charges from new ones, so compare like with like. Our guide on checking service charges before you buy walks through it.

One more protection is worth knowing: once the completion certificate is issued, the law requires the escrow agent to hold back 5% of the account, and that sum is only released to the developer one year after the homes are registered in the buyers' names.

Dubai Marina has a deep stock of finished apartments, so the choice is real here. Off-plan gets you a new tower and stage payments, but you wait for handover. A finished apartment lets you see the exact view, check the building's service charge history and move in or let it straight away.

Compare both with our Dubai Marina area guide and the homes for sale in Dubai Marina.