Off-Plan Projects in Emaar Beachfront

Emaar's plan for the community is 27 residential towers with about 10,000 homes, a 1.5 km beach and a 13,000 square metre retail mall. Emaar releases the towers one at a time, so a new launch such as Bayview or Beachgate by Address sits next to towers that are already finished and lived in.

Emaar was founded in 1997, is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and is the developer behind Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall. It also built Dubai Marina, next door.

If you were hoping for an off-plan villa by the sea, Emaar presents Emaar Beachfront as a community of residential towers. For off-plan villas elsewhere, see off-plan villas in Dubai.

Emaar places Emaar Beachfront at Dubai Harbour, close to Sheikh Zayed Road, and lists Dubai Marina Walk, Dubai Marina Mall, JBR and Marina Beach among the attractions nearby. Residents' parking is inside the buildings, and Emaar notes that public parking spaces can fill up quickly.

Emaar's page names no metro link. Dubai Marina, next door, is served by the Red Line at Sobha Realty and DMCC stations and by the Dubai Tram, which runs 14.5 km along Al Sufouh Road. Check the exact route from your tower on the RTA journey planner before you rely on it. The wider district is covered on our Dubai Harbour off-plan page and the next-door Dubai Marina off-plan page.

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. With Emaar towers already handed over in the community, you can visit a finished building to see the standard of finish and how it is managed. For Dubai Harbour Residences, look at H&H Development's completed work too. Our guide on how to check a developer before buying off-plan explains what 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. 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.

Off-plan gives you a new tower and stage payments during the build, but you wait for the handover date in your contract. A finished apartment lets you see the exact view and floor, check the building's service charge history and move in or let it straight away.

Our Emaar Beachfront area guide covers the finished towers and life in the community, so you can compare both routes before you decide.