Off-Plan Projects in Emaar South

Emaar is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and built Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall. It says it has delivered more than 130,900 homes in Dubai and other markets since 2002, and it names Emaar South among its flagship communities alongside Downtown Dubai, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Creek Harbour and Emaar Beachfront. Because one company plans the whole community, you compare clusters rather than developers. Our Emaar developer page lists its off-plan projects across Dubai.

Emaar describes Emaar South as a residential community in Dubai South, near Al Maktoum International Airport and close to Expo City Dubai. The main access is Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, with links via Expo Road. Emaar's own drive time estimates are:

• Al Maktoum International Airport: about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Downtown Dubai and The Dubai Mall: about 25 to 30 minutes.
• Dubai International Airport: about 44 minutes.

These are car or taxi times, and traffic changes them a lot, so test your commute on the RTA journey planner at the hour you would travel. Emaar lists an 18-hole championship golf course with a clubhouse, pro shop and practice facilities, and 25 neighbourhood parks across the community.

The clusters on this page fall into three groups.

• Apartments. Golf Edge, Golf Point and Golf Verge are apartment projects. Golf Dale has one to three bedroom apartments, and Emaar says it sits among the fairways of the Emaar South golf course.
• Townhouses. Greenridge offers three and four bedroom townhouses with a community hub, outdoor fitness area, community garden, play areas and a basketball court. Greenway 2 is a townhouse project, while Greenway, Golf Meadow and Golf Acres mix townhouses with apartments. At Golf Dale, three bedroom townhouses run along the podium with direct views of the golf course.
• Villas. Golf Lane is the villa option, with four bedroom semi-detached villas and five bedroom standalone villas, which Emaar places in the heart of Emaar South.

If a townhouse is what you want, see all off-plan townhouses in Emaar South on one 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. Compare clusters, not just the developer. With one developer building everything, the real differences are the plot, the view, the distance to the golf course and parks, and the handover date in each contract. Walk any finished Emaar clusters to judge the build quality and the streets.
4. Look up the service charges. The Dubai Land Department Service Charge Index shows approved service fees for a project by year, on its website and the Dubai REST app. A new cluster may have no approved figure yet, so ask Emaar for its estimate in writing. Apartments and townhouses carry different charges. Our guide on checking service charges before you buy walks through it.

Once the completion certificate is issued, the law also requires the escrow agent to hold back 5% of the account, released to the developer one year after the homes are registered in the buyers' names.

Off-plan gives you a new home in the newest clusters with stage payments during construction, and a wait until handover. A ready home lets you see the exact street, the view over the course and the running costs before you commit. Our Emaar South area guide covers the community and daily life there.