Buying off-plan in JVC: the short answer
Before you buy off-plan in JVC, check the handover record of the project, the price gap to completed homes and the resale market.
An off-plan home is a home sold before the building is finished. Off-plan homes were 57% of sales in Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) in 2026. They were 68% in 2025. The median off-plan apartment sold at AED 1,578 per sq ft in the last 12 months, from 6,850 sales. This page is information, not advice.
The figures cover records to 10 October 2026, unless we give another date. For the wider case for and against JVC, see Is JVC a good investment in 2026?
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026
Do JVC off-plan projects finish on time
Of 34 JVC projects whose end date has passed, 7 are finished, which is 21%.
The Land Department project register lists 64 JVC projects with 16,228 homes. We looked at the projects with an end date before 11 October 2026.
| Measure | JVC | All Dubai |
|---|---|---|
| Projects with an end date before 11 October 2026 | 34 | 202 |
| Of those, finished | 7 | 61 |
| Share finished | 21% | 30% |
How late are JVC projects
- 27 JVC projects are past their end date and not finished.
- They hold 6,830 homes.
- They are a median 52% complete.
- They are a median 3.4 months past the end date.
Large projects against small projects
Of 7 projects with 500 or more homes, 3 are finished. Of 27 smaller projects, 4 are finished. See JVC handover record for each project.
There is a limit to these figures. The register shows today's end date, not the date first promised. If a developer moved the date, the delay against the first promise is longer. We could not measure that.
What news and research firms say about delays
- We found no news report that names a late or stalled JVC project.
- Cavendish Maxwell says only 41.3% of Dubai units scheduled for the first half of 2026 were completed.
- Property Monitor data, reported by the site Estaty about February 2025, counts 296 JVC projects. 159 were ready and 127 were under construction or newly announced. 8 were cancelled and 2 were suspended.
JVC has a history of delays
Delays in JVC are not new. In May 2010 The National reported that buyers of Nakheel villas had waited up to three years. A Gulf News report says Dubai Courts had ruled about 180 projects cancelled across Dubai. It says many were in JVC or Sports City. It names no JVC project.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026; Khaleej Times, 24,800 new homes in H1 2026 (30 July 2026); Cavendish Maxwell, Dubai residential report H1 2026 (read 11 October 2026); Estaty, 127 projects under development in JVC (read 11 October 2026); The National, Wait for a villa in Jumeirah Village (23 May 2010); Gulf News, Dubai's cancelled projects (read 11 October 2026)
The Dubai Land Department project register and per cent complete
The register lists each registered project with its number of homes, its end date and its per cent complete.
What per cent complete means
Per cent complete is the building progress that the register shows for a project. We could not confirm how the Land Department measures it. We could not confirm how often it updates the figure. Check with the Dubai Land Department.
The 27 late JVC projects are a median 52% complete. So the median late project has about half of its work left, on the register's own figure.
How to read an end date
The end date on the register is today's date for the project. It is not always the date the developer first gave. Ask the developer for the handover date in your sale contract. Ask whether the date has moved before.
How many JVC homes are still to be finished
12,620 homes are in registered JVC projects not yet finished. Developers made 8,206 first off-plan sales in the 12 months to 14 September 2026. They made 12,077 the year before. One analyst counts 15 JVC projects with a first off-plan sale in the first half of 2026. He counts 23 in the first half of 2025.
The name on the papers
Official records do not use the name JVC. The title deed, the Oqood and the official sale record use Al Barsha South Fourth. The community code is 681. It is the same place as JVC.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026; Dubai Land Department, old and new area names (read 11 October 2026); Fahad Al Kuwari, JVC market report 2026 (17 August 2026)
Off-plan prices in JVC against completed homes
In 2026 an off-plan home in JVC costs 1.28 times a completed home per sq ft in the same district.
The figure was 1.20 in 2025, so the gap has grown. Across Dubai the figure is 1.43, so the JVC gap is smaller than the city's.
| Measure | Off-plan | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Median price per sq ft, last 12 months | AED 1,578 | AED 1,296 |
| Sales, last 12 months | 6,850 | 4,158 |
| Price per sq ft, March to August 2026 | AED 1,592 | AED 1,267 |
| Change on the same months of 2025 | 5.0% higher | 1.3% higher |
| Share that are studios | 35% (2026) | 26% |
| Median size | 705 sq ft | 797 sq ft |
Off-plan against a new completed building
Part of the gap is the age of the building. Buildings finished by 2015 sell at AED 849 per sq ft. Buildings finished in 2025 and 2026 sell at AED 1,521. The off-plan median is AED 1,578. So an off-plan home costs a little more per sq ft than a home in a building just finished.
Off-plan homes in JVC are getting smaller
Studios were 35% of off-plan apartment sales in 2026. They were 26% in 2023.
A smaller home can cost less in total and more per sq ft. Here is an example with the medians. 705 sq ft at AED 1,578 is about AED 1.11 million. 797 sq ft at AED 1,296 is about AED 1.03 million. This is our arithmetic and an estimate. Compare the total price and the size, not only the price per sq ft.
Have completed prices fallen in JVC
Yes, by quarter. Completed homes reached AED 1,329 per sq ft in the fourth quarter of 2025. They sold at AED 1,188 in the third quarter of 2026, which is 10.6% lower. One sale of a whole block is left out. Off-plan prices were 5.0% higher in March to August 2026 than a year before.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026
Reselling an off-plan home in JVC
In July to September 2026, 41% of JVC off-plan resales were registered at the price the seller paid.
- The count is 117 off-plan resales in those three months.
- A year before, the share was 22%.
- The all-Dubai share is 44%.
- The median gain on an off-plan resale was 0%. It was 6.7% a year before.
- The median seller held the home for 23 months.
There is a limit to this figure. A resale can be registered at the original contract price. So the figure does not prove that the seller made no profit.
Resale after handover
The market for completed homes is also weaker. In July to September 2026, 26% of 259 resales of completed homes were below the price the seller paid. The share was 6% a year before. The all-Dubai share is 18%. We do not count fees of about 6%. We count only homes sold twice since 2020.
How many buyers are there
JVC had 2,572 off-plan sales in March to August 2026. That is 60% fewer than in the same months of 2025. Across Dubai, off-plan sales were 17% lower. The regional war began on 28 February 2026.
How many homes compete with yours
We counted 9,629 adverts for JVC homes against 11,421 sales in 12 months. That equals 10.1 months of stock. For completed homes only, the figure is 14.6 months. A home you buy off-plan today will be a completed home when you sell it after handover.
Asking price against sold price
Completed 1-beds are advertised at AED 1,380 per sq ft. They sold at AED 1,187 over the last 3 months, which is a gap of 16%.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026
Payment plans, escrow and Oqood for JVC off-plan homes
Payment terms differ by project, so read the plan in your sale contract and confirm the escrow and Oqood rules with the Dubai Land Department.
Payment plans
Developers sell off-plan homes with a payment plan. A plan splits the price into several payments. We did not collect the payment plans of JVC projects, so this page does not quote one. The sale contract has the full terms.
These points differ by project. Ask for each answer in writing.
- Which payments fall on a fixed date, and which fall on a building stage.
- How much is due at handover.
- Whether any payment is due after handover.
- What happens to your payments if handover is late.
- Whether you can resell before handover, and what share you must have paid first.
- Which fees you pay on top of the price.
Escrow rules
Our research for this page does not state the escrow rules for off-plan sales. Check with the Dubai Land Department. Ask the developer for the escrow account details of the project in writing.
Oqood rules
Our research does not state the Oqood rules or the Oqood fee. Check with the Dubai Land Department. Ask when your Oqood will be issued and who pays for it.
Fees
Our resale figures leave out fees of about 6%. We did not confirm each fee from an official page. Ask for the full list of fees before you pay a deposit.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026
Parking, cooling and service charges in a new JVC building
Ask how many parking spaces the home has and how the building is cooled, because both differ between JVC buildings.
How many parking spaces come with a JVC apartment
We read 25,600 adverts for homes in JVC buildings. 6,648 of them state a number of parking spaces.
| Home | Parking spaces in adverts |
|---|---|
| Studio or 1-bed | 1 space in almost every advert (99%) |
| 2-bed | 1 space; 11% say 2 |
| 3-bed apartment | 2 spaces in 65% |
| Villa or townhouse | 2 spaces |
A second car costs money in JVC. Street parking has been paid since 16 March 2026. It costs AED 4 an hour by day and AED 6 in the evening. A one-year membership costs AED 4,999. The parking site Parklynn says an extra space rents for AED 250 to 450 a month. See JVC parking.
How a new JVC building is cooled
JVC uses mixed cooling systems. Ask which one the building will use.
- District cooling. Empower has one plant in Jumeirah Village of 49,000 refrigeration tons (RT). It served about 114 buildings in August 2024.
- Second plant. Empower started building a second JVC plant of about 37,000 RT in October 2025. No completion date is given.
- Estimated bill. One guide estimates about AED 412 to 507 a month for a 1-bed on the reported Empower tariff.
- Other systems. Other buildings use a building chiller or units billed through DEWA. We could not confirm the share.
Service charges in a new building
Owners in the JVC buildings we found pay roughly AED 12 to 17 per sq ft a year. We could not confirm how the first service charge of a new building is set. Ask the developer for the estimated charge in writing. See JVC service charges and running costs.
Build quality and the developer
Many different developers build in JVC, and reports of quality differ. All points below are reports, not findings of fact.
- Propsearch says quality "ranges from well finished larger developments to shoddy, smaller ones".
- Resident posts (July 2026) name Ellington buildings for good maintenance.
- Opinions on Binghatti conflict. One owner calls it good value (a resident post, February 2025). Another post says to avoid it (a resident post, January 2026).
- Binghatti buildings took 15% of JVC sales in 2026 and 22% in 2025. The ten largest developers took 40%.
See JVC developers for each developer's sales and projects.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026; Gulf News, Paid parking in JVC from 16 March (13 March 2026); Parkonic, JVC zone P105 (read 11 October 2026); Parklynn, JVC parking (read 11 October 2026); Dubai Media Office, Empower second JVC plant (29 August 2024); Dubai Media Office, Empower begins construction (22 October 2025); Real Estate Club Dubai, chiller-free and chiller-paid buildings (14 June 2026); Excel Properties, service charges in Dubai (12 February 2026); Engel & Völkers, RERA service charge index (7 September 2026); Propsearch, Jumeirah Village Circle (read 11 October 2026)
What to ask the developer before you buy off-plan in JVC
Ask for every promise in writing: the handover date, the payment plan, the parking, the cooling system and the service charge.
- The project on the register. Find it on the Land Department project register. Read its end date and its per cent complete.
- The first handover date. Ask what date the developer first gave, and how often it has moved.
- The developer's earlier projects. Ask which JVC projects it has finished, and when against the first date.
- Late handover. Ask what the contract gives you if the home is late.
- The payment plan. Ask for every payment, its date or stage, and the amount due at handover.
- Escrow and Oqood. Ask for the escrow account details and the Oqood date. Confirm the rules with the Dubai Land Department.
- All fees. Ask for the full list in writing.
- Parking. Ask how many spaces the contract gives, and where they are.
- Cooling. Ask which system the building uses and who sends the bill.
- Service charge. Ask for the estimated charge per sq ft a year.
- The site. Visit it. Compare what you see with the per cent complete on the register.
This page is information, not advice. It does not say whether you should buy off-plan in JVC.
Sources: Dubai Land Department sale records and project register, as built into BUY DUBAI on 11 October 2026
Questions about buying off-plan in JVC
These short answers repeat the main figures from the sections above.
Do off-plan projects in JVC finish on time?
Most projects past their date are not finished. Of 34 JVC projects with an end date before 11 October 2026, 7 are finished. That is 21%, against 30% across Dubai.
How late are JVC projects?
The 27 late projects are a median 3.4 months past the end date and a median 52% complete. The register shows today's end date, not the date first promised.
Is off-plan cheaper than a completed home in JVC?
No. Off-plan costs 1.28 times completed per sq ft in the same district in 2026. The median is AED 1,578 off-plan and AED 1,296 completed.
Can I make a profit by reselling off-plan in JVC?
We give no forecast. In July to September 2026, 41% of 117 off-plan resales were registered at the price the seller paid. The median gain was 0%.
What is the payment plan for off-plan homes in JVC?
It differs by project. We did not collect JVC payment plans, so we do not quote one. Read the plan in the sale contract.
Is my money protected in escrow?
Our research does not state the escrow rules. Check with the Dubai Land Department, and ask the developer for the escrow account details in writing.
What is Oqood?
Our research does not state the Oqood rules. It confirms only that the Oqood uses the name Al Barsha South Fourth for JVC. Check with the Dubai Land Department.
How many parking spaces come with a JVC apartment?
A studio or 1-bed comes with 1 space in almost every advert (99%). A 2-bed comes with 1 space, and 11% of adverts say 2.