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Dubai South — Emerging masterplan around the new airport

Render — not a photograph

Community · Emerging

Under construction

Dubai South

A city-sized plan around Al Maktoum airport and Expo City. A few streets of it exist; the rest is a timeline.

Stage
Under construction
Types
TownhousesVillasApartments
From
AED 599K
Handover
Q2 2029
Drive times
Al Maktoum airport — 10 minExpo City — 5 minDubai Marina — 30 min
What it is

A district you are buying on a drawing.

Dubai South is a government master plan of about 145 square kilometres around Al Maktoum International Airport, at the far south-western edge of the city. Inside it sit Expo City Dubai, the former Expo 2020 site now being converted into a mixed-use district, and Emaar South, Emaar's golf-course villa and townhouse community, which is where most of the housing for sale currently is.

Completion
Planned · 2030Residential phases through 2030; the airport programme into the 2030s and beyond

Price the plan, not the render. The drive to Downtown is thirty-five minutes today and will be thirty-five minutes in 2030.

What exists today

What is physically there in Dubai South.

In Emaar South, the first townhouse and villa rows are handed over and lived in, the 18-hole course and clubhouse are open, and there is a small community centre with a supermarket. That is the extent of the finished residential community.

Expo City Dubai operates as a public destination: Al Wasl Plaza, the Terra and Alif pavilions, offices and a set of restaurants are open, and Expo 2020 metro station on Route 2020 runs. Its residential districts are under construction, with the first buildings recently handing over.

No school operates inside Emaar South. South View School in the Dubai South Residential District, about ten minutes away, is the one school within the master plan.

Road access via Emirates Road and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road is complete. Al Maktoum airport handles a fraction of DXB's traffic; the announced expansion is a programme running into the 2030s, and most of it is not under construction.

Last verified

  1. Handed over · 2019–2023

    Emaar South — Golf Links, Urbana and Expo Golf Villas

    The first townhouse and villa rows around the golf course. Occupied, with a short resale history.

  2. Under construction · 2026–2029 (developer targets)

    Emaar South — Greenview, Fairway Villas, Greenridge and later launches

    The bulk of Emaar South's housing, handing over in clusters.

  3. Under construction · 2026–2030 (developer targets)

    Expo City residential districts

    Apartments and townhouses on the former Expo site, built by Expo City Dubai.

  4. Planned · 2030s (government programme)

    Airport expansion and the wider Dubai South districts

    The Al Maktoum passenger terminal expansion and the logistics, aviation and residential districts around it. Long-dated.

Off-plan investors
Entry prices well below Dubai Hills and Tilal Al Ghaf for a comparable new-build townhouse, on long payment plans.
Airport and free-zone workers
Anyone whose work is at Al Maktoum, Jebel Ali or Expo City, for whom this is a fifteen-minute commute.
Less suited to
Families who need a school and a clinic next year, anyone who commutes to DIFC, and anyone who wants a resale market with a history.

Planned — not built

Nothing in this list exists yet. Dates are the developer's own where any have been published — treat them as intent, not as a move-in plan.

  • Expo City residential and retail districtsPlanned · 2026–2030 (developer targets)
  • Emaar South town centre and schoolPlanned · No date published

Dubai South · approximate position
  • Al Maktoum airport10 min
  • Expo City5 min
  • Dubai Marina30 min
  • Downtown Dubai35 min
  • DXB airport45 min

Expo 2020 metro station on Route 2020 is open and serves Expo City; it is a ten-minute drive from Emaar South, not a walk. Emirates Road and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road give direct access; the Marina is thirty minutes off-peak, Downtown thirty-five, and both stretch at rush hour.

Ten minutes to Al Maktoum airport, thirty-five to Downtown. Buy here for the airport and the free zones, not for the city.

Existing — built and open

  • Expo 2020 metro station (Route 2020)Metro
  • Emaar South golf course and clubhouseGolf
  • Emirates Road and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road accessRoad
  • Al Maktoum International Airport (current terminal)Other
  • Expo City public realm and restaurantsRetail

Planned — not built

Target dates are the developer's or the authority's, and several have moved before. Treat them as upside, not as a commute plan.

  • Al Maktoum International passenger terminal expansionPlanned · First phase early-to-mid 2030s (government announcement; dates have moved before)
  • Etihad Rail passenger station, Dubai SouthPlanned · Announced; no date we would rely on

Schools — operating

  • South View School (Dubai South Residential District, about ten minutes from Emaar South)

Healthcare — operating

  • Clinics in the Residential District and at Expo City; NMC Royal Hospital in Dubai Investments Park is about twenty minutes.

Planned — not open

A site on a masterplan is not a school. Nothing below has an operator or an opening date we would plan a move around.

  • A school site in Emaar South appears in the master plan; no operator or opening date has been announced.Planned · date TBC
  • Expo City has announced a school within its residential districts; no opening date we would rely on.Planned · date TBC

Projects in this community

When the supply lands.

2 projects we cover in Dubai South, grouped by the year they are due to hand over — so you can see where completions cluster before you pick one.

2029

Handover 2029 · 1 project
  • Render of SAMANA South Haven in Dubai South at dusk, lit curved balconies along the building above a landscaped gardenNew launchSAMANA Developers
    Dubai South

    SAMANA South Haven

    From AED 599K

    Handover
    Q2 2029
    Payment plan
    25/75

    Studios – 2 bed · Apartments

Handover to be confirmed

1 project
  • Render of two Windsor House apartment buildings by Ellington in Dubai South at dusk, balconied facades above a palm-lined street with shops at ground levelNew launchEllington Properties
    Dubai South

    Windsor House II

    Price on application

    Studios – 3 bed · Apartments

All Dubai South developments

Next step

Availability in Dubai South comes from a person.

Most of Dubai South is still a plan, so what is genuinely open to buy is a short list that changes launch by launch. Tell us the budget and the handover year you can live with and we will send what is open now, at today's prices, with the phases we would avoid.

Use Availability in the bar below — an advisor checks it before sending and replies within one business day.

Book a consultation

Developers active here

OAC18 Perspective

Dubai South is a long-dated bet on an airport. Size the position accordingly.

Raza Mujtaba, Co-Founder & Head of Advisory

Raza Mujtaba

Co-Founder & Head of Advisory · Client advisory & team development

Book with Raza
Where it is strong
The lowest entry price for a new-build townhouse within thirty minutes of the Marina, a metro station and a working Expo City already in place, and Emaar delivering the residential phases.
Where it falls short
Almost nothing exists yet, the airport programme runs into the 2030s, there is no school or clinic inside Emaar South, and there is no resale record to price against.
Supply and handover

This is the largest land bank in the city, and supply here is constrained only by how fast developers choose to launch. Emaar South alone has several thousand townhouses in the pipeline, and Expo City adds apartments on top; the current launches complete within a similar window, so handover clustering from 2027 to 2029 is close to certain.

There is no rental market to speak of and no realised yield to quote. Any yield figure attached to a Dubai South listing is a projection, and we would treat it as such.

We recommend it as a small, long-dated position for an investor who can hold through the build-out and does not need income soon. We do not recommend it for a family who needs to live somewhere finished in the next three years.

Compare with nearby communities

Where else the same money goes.

  • The Valley — Emaar villas on the Al Ain Road, mostly still to come
    First phases handed over

    The Valley

    Emaar's other far-out villa community, on the Al Ain Road side of the city, at a similar stage and price.

  • Tilal Al Ghaf — Lagoon living, new build
    First phases handed over

    Tilal Al Ghaf

    New-build villas twenty minutes closer in, with a lagoon, a school and a resale record — at a premium.

  • Jumeirah Village Circle — Mid-rise, affordable, yield-led
    Partially established

    Jumeirah Village Circle

    The established volume market for a yield-led buyer: built, let and cheaper to run than a townhouse.

Compare side by side
Raza Mujtaba, Co-Founder & Head of Advisory
Raza MujtabaCo-Founder & Head of Advisory

Ask what we would avoid in Dubai South.

Twenty minutes on Dubai South specifically — which phases, which developers, and where the handover and resale risk actually sits.

Book a consultation

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