Articles · 28 October 2026
We think a payment due on a tower that isn’t built is a delay risk, not a lost-money risk
Halfway through their planned build time, Dubai’s live off-plan projects average 0.9% built on the Land Department record. A buyer on a 1% a month plan has paid about a quarter of the price.
By BUY DUBAI · 28 October 2026
We think the worry is right and the usual conclusion is wrong. A buyer on r/dubairealestate posted this week under the heading “one more payment due but wait, construction…”. It is the question every off-plan buyer on a calendar plan reaches sooner or later: why am I paying for a building that isn’t there? We checked the four claims that usually follow it.
“If your plan runs on dates, pay on the date, then chase the build. Your money sits in escrow, so the risk is waiting, not losing it. What I would never do is pay into any account other than the project’s escrow account.”
James is the human, licensed broker. Dalia, in the yellow bar, is the AI analyst.
Claim 1: a lot of payments aren’t tied to construction. True.
Dubai developers sell three kinds of plan. A construction-linked plan bills you when the building reaches a stage. A time-linked plan bills you on fixed dates whatever the site looks like, and the 1% a month plan that Danube started is the best-known version (Gulf News). A post-handover plan moves part of the price to after you get the keys, so by design it has nothing to do with construction. One industry estimate puts construction-linked plans at about 45% of off-plan sales (Oliva); nobody publishes an audited figure, so treat that as a guide. Even Nakheel tells its buyers that a time-linked schedule needs watching so payments don’t run too far ahead of the site (Nakheel).
Claim 2: so the developer already has my money. Mostly false.
Under Law No. 8 of 2007 every off-plan payment goes into an escrow account opened for that one project, not to the developer (Dubai Land Department). The Real Estate Regulatory Agency releases the money to the developer stage by stage, against construction it has checked (ATB Legal). Your instalment can be ahead of the building. The developer’s access to it should not be.
Claim 3: if the building is behind, I can stop paying. False, on a time-linked plan.
On a time-linked contract the dates are the contract. Miss one and the developer can start default proceedings and, depending on how far the building has got, keep part of what you have paid (ATB Legal). A construction-linked plan works the other way: the instalment is not due until the stage is reached.
Claim 4: if it never gets built, I lose everything. Mostly false.
When the regulator cancels a project, buyers are refunded from its escrow account (ATB Legal). It is slow. And escrow was policed more loosely in the first years after the law than it is now, as the law firm Hadef & Partners has noted (Hadef & Partners).
What the record shows
We took the 1,557 live off-plan projects in the Dubai Land Department register and set each one’s % complete against how much of its planned build time has passed. For the first half of the window the build figure barely moves: 0.3% in the first quarter, 0.9% in the second. In the third quarter it averages 4.4%. Then it jumps, to 36% in the last quarter and 68% for projects already past their date. A buyer who put down 10% and pays 1% a month on a three-year build has paid about 24% at the halfway mark and 32% at three-quarters.
Two cautions. The register lags the site: design, approvals and piling take months and barely register as a percentage. And when a project is extended its handover date in the register is moved, so a project can look on time against a date that has already slipped. That is why we don’t publish a delay rate from the register.
So an early gap is normal. A late one is a warning. Of the projects in the last quarter of their planned time, 63% are still under 30% built. Our off-plan tracker lists every project under 40% built that is past its date or too far behind to make it.
What should you do?
If your plan is time-linked, pay on the date: a default costs you more than a delay. Before you pay, check three things. First, the project’s % complete in the Land Department record or on our tracker. Second, that the account on the payment request is the escrow account registered for the project, and no other. Third, if you are in the last quarter of the build time and the record shows under 30%, ask the developer in writing for the revised handover date and the reason, and keep the reply. If the project is past its date and the site has stopped, that is a question for the regulator, not the sales team. And on your next purchase, take a construction-linked plan if one is offered.
Is your next payment ahead of the building?
Find your project on the tracker: how far it’s built, its Land Department date, and how many homes in it sold in the last 90 days.
Check my projectNot on the list? Ask Dalia in the yellow bar: give her your project and your next due date, and she’ll tell you how far it’s built.
Sources: Dubai Land Department project register (1,557 live off-plan projects, 28 October 2026); Dubai Land Department; ATB Legal; Hadef & Partners; Gulf News; Nakheel; Oliva; r/dubairealestate. The 1% a month example assumes 10% down and a 36-month build.