Hayat by Dubai South
From AED 3,400,000 (portal-listed)
Developers / Dubai South
Developer profile · Dubai
Dubai South: the 145 sq km masterplan, and the housing arm that fills it
A government-linked master developer building a city’s worth of infrastructure around Al Maktoum International Airport — and selling the homes inside it through Dubai South Properties. Its launches sell out in hours; its delivery record is smaller than its pipeline.
BasedDubai South, Dubai
TypeGovernment-linked master developer
Masterplan145 sq km · around Al Maktoum International
Residents25,000+ in The Residential District
DeliveredThe Pulse Beachfront (800 homes, 2025)
On this site2 projects, AED 600,000 to AED 4.4m (portal-listed)
PipelineHayat · South Square · Beachfront Gates · South Bay Mall
About Dubai South
Dubai South is a 145 square kilometre master development on Dubai’s southern corridor, built around Al Maktoum International Airport and organised into aviation, logistics, aerospace, commercial and residential districts. It is the largest single-urban development in the city, and the airport at its centre is intended to become the world’s largest by passenger capacity when the new terminal is complete. That is the whole investment case in one sentence: everything built here is a bet on an airport opening.
The commercial side already works. Dubai South ended 2025 with 653 new companies, more than 4,200 operational businesses and a 90% retention rate, and it raised 65% more new business licences than the year before. Its logistics district hosts Expeditors, DHL, UPS and a Ford parts distribution centre; EZDubai is the dedicated e-commerce zone; the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub is where the MRO and aviation-supply businesses sit. None of that depends on the housing market, and all of it feeds it.
Dubai South Properties is the residential arm — the part of the organisation that builds and sells homes inside its own masterplan. Its clearest delivery record is The Pulse Beachfront, where 800 units were handed over during 2025; a further 1,300 or so across South Bay and South Living Tower were scheduled for handover in 2026. Its recent launches have all sold out: South Living (209 apartments, November 2024), Beachfront Gates, South Square (first tower gone in three hours) and Hayat, where the first two phases sold out within hours for more than AED 1.2 billion.
Hayat is the project that matters now. A 10 million square foot community in the Golf District planned for around 2,500 homes, it moved from launch to contracted construction in nine months: in March 2026 the developer awarded Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al Kharafi & Sons an AED 2 billion contract covering several phases, with building starting in the second quarter of 2026 and the initial phases due in 2028. South Bay Mall — 200,000 sq ft of retail, dining and wellness — was announced in November 2025.
The district is becoming a city, not just a project. In May 2026 Dubai South signed an agreement with Majid Al Futtaim for a AED 62 billion, 22 million square foot mixed-use master community nearby, anchored by a shopping mall. In July 2026 it signed an agreement with Emirates NBD to facilitate off-plan home financing for buyers. Both are signals about intent; neither speeds up a handover.
The honest read. The sell-out record is real, but it is a record of demand, not of delivery: the completed housing stock is small relative to the pipeline, and the most recent apartment tower has been described with three different completion dates by its own developer — Q1 2027 at the contract award, “during 2026” in the January 2026 review, and Q3 2026 on the listing portal. The airport is both the reason to believe the long story and the reason a completion date can move. If the terminal’s opening slips, the population growth that makes these rents work slips with it — and Dubai South’s stated target of a million residents depends entirely on that.
One structural point worth knowing before you buy anywhere in this district: Dubai South is both the master developer and, through Dubai South Properties, one of several developers building inside it. Azizi, Samana, BT Properties, Ellington, Imtiaz and DAMAC all sell projects here too. Buying from the master developer means the roads, landscaping and district facilities around your building are on the same balance sheet as the building; it does not mean the escrow rules, the service charge or the sale contract are any different.
Dubai South projects on this site
Two of its residential projects are carried by the listing portal, so two have pages here: a sold-out apartment tower in The Residential District and the townhouse community in the Golf District that is now the main event.
South Living
From AED 600,000 (portal-listed)
For the area, see the Dubai South community guide, and for the neighbouring masterplans the Emaar South and Expo City guides. Both prices marked portal-listed are entry prices from the portal’s records, which have not been updated since September 2025; the project pages say which figures are current and which are history.
What distinguishes Dubai South
It sells the district, not the building
Most developers sell you an apartment and hope the area catches up. Dubai South sells the area itself: schools, a hypermarket, a bus route to the metro, a mall and 4,200 businesses are either there or on the same balance sheet. The catch is that the master developer also sets the community charges, and those sit on top of your building’s service charge.
The airport is the engine
A 145 sq km development organised around an airport that is not yet the world’s largest is a long position, not a quick trade. Logistics, aerospace and e-commerce tenants pay the bills while the residential districts fill up, which is a healthier base than a pure lifestyle pitch — and a slower one. Ask what has been built and leased, not what has been announced.
A sell-out record, with delivery still to prove
South Bay, South Living, Beachfront Gates, South Square and the first two phases of Hayat all sold out, several of them within hours. The completed stock, though, is The Pulse Beachfront – 800 units – and whatever South Bay has handed over so far. The gap between demand and delivery is the thing to watch: it is why the completion date on South Living has been given three different ways.
Two products, two completely different buyers
On this site its range runs from a 441 sq ft studio at AED 600,000 to a five-bedroom townhouse at AED 4.4 million. Those are not variations of the same purchase. The studio competes with every other apartment in southern Dubai on rent; the townhouse competes with Emaar South and Expo City on family amenity and school places. Judge each against its own market.
It competes with the developers it hosts
Azizi, Samana, BT Properties, Ellington, Imtiaz and DAMAC all build inside this masterplan. That means you can compare the master developer’s own product with third-party projects on the same roads, at the same community charges — an unusually direct test of whether the master developer’s pricing is fair.
Financing is being arranged, not given
The 2026 agreement with Emirates NBD is designed to make off-plan purchase easier for buyers, and it is worth asking the sales office exactly what it covers: which banks, what loan-to-value, and whether the developer guarantees anything. An agreement to facilitate financing is not a mortgage offer.
Buying a Dubai South home: what to check
Most of what goes wrong in a masterplan purchase is documentation rather than design. These are the documents and facts worth having before you reserve.
Which legal entity is the developer on your sale contract, and who is the master developer of the district.
The escrow account and project registration number for the specific building or phase.
Which phase you are buying, what is in it, and what is being built next to your plot.
The service-charge estimate per square foot, plus the separate master community and district charges.
Who maintains gardens, façades and boundary walls in a townhouse, and at whose cost.
The handover date in the sale and purchase agreement, the delay provisions, and the penalty if any.
The payment plan in writing, and whether launch terms still apply to the phase you are being offered.
The plot size as well as the built-up area, and whether the garage and terrace are included in it.
Registered resale prices in the earlier phases of the same community.
What is actually open and trading around the plot today, as opposed to what is in the masterplan.
Dubai South frequently asked questions
Who is Dubai South?
Dubai South is the master developer of the 145 square kilometre district of the same name on Dubai’s southern corridor, built around Al Maktoum International Airport and organised into aviation, logistics, aerospace, commercial and residential districts. It is government-linked, and its chairman also chairs Dubai Aviation City Corporation.
What is Dubai South Properties?
The residential arm of Dubai South – the part of the organisation that develops, sells and hands over homes inside its own masterplan. Its clearest delivery is The Pulse Beachfront, where 800 units were handed over in 2025; around 1,300 more units across South Bay and South Living Tower were scheduled for handover in 2026.
What has it built?
The Pulse Beachfront, where 800 units were handed over during 2025, is its clearest completed scheme; around 1,300 units across South Bay and South Living Tower were scheduled for handover in 2026 according to its January 2026 review. South Bay’s final phase sold out in four hours in June 2024.
What is for sale on this site?
Two projects. Hayat by Dubai South in the Golf District, with three, four and five-bedroom townhouses from AED 3,400,000 (portal-listed) and a first phase due in 2028. And South Living in The Residential District, 209 apartments portal-listed from AED 600,000 for a studio – though it sold out in November 2024, so what is available now is a resale.
Is Dubai South a good place to buy?
The case is a government-linked master developer with a working commercial base, an airport expansion behind it, a consistent record of selling out launches, and entry prices from AED 600,000. The risks are delivery dates that move, a district whose facilities are still largely to come, service charges plus master community fees, and a long, airport-dependent timeline.
How does buying from a master developer differ?
The roads, parks and district facilities around your home belong to the same organisation that sold you the home, which removes one layer of counterparty risk. It does not change escrow rules, DLD registration, the sale contract or the service charge. You still buy from a company, and the contract is still what you own.
What are the community charges?
Dubai South is a master community, so buyers pay district and community charges on top of their building’s service charge. The rates are not published on the developer’s site; ask for them in writing, itemised, alongside the service-charge estimate for the specific building.
When is the airport opening?
The new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport was announced in April 2024 and the airport is intended to become the world’s largest on completion. Dubai South does not publish an opening date on its site, and its own target of a million residents is explicitly tied to the airport being complete. Treat any date you are given for it as a plan, not a schedule.
Does it offer payment plans?
Yes. Hayat launched with a five-year plan from a 5% down payment and quarterly instalments, according to the developer’s own release, and South Living was launched with a post-handover plan whose terms were never published. The details are set per phase, so ask for the schedule in writing for the unit you are offered.
Who else builds in Dubai South?
Third-party developers including Azizi, Samana, BT Properties, Ellington, Imtiaz and DAMAC all sell projects inside the masterplan. That gives you direct comparables on the same infrastructure and the same community charges – see our Dubai South community guide for the current list.
How do I buy through you?
Send us the phase, unit type and budget. We will check the developer entity and DLD registration, compare the price per square foot with registered trades in the same community, ask for the payment schedule, service charge and community fees in writing, and give you our honest read – including the case against.
Considering a Dubai South home?
Tell us the project, phase and budget. We will check the developer entity and DLD registration, compare the price per square foot with what has traded in the same community, ask for the payment schedule, service charge and community fees in writing — then give you our honest read, including the case against.
Sources and verification. The masterplan size, district mix, airport context, business and delivery figures and every project date come from Dubai South’s own newsroom — the South Living launch of 5 June 2024, the AED 150 million construction award of 10 September 2024, the sell-out of 28 November 2024, the Hayat launch of 30 June 2025, the AED 1.2 billion sell-out of 9 July 2025, the South Bay Mall announcement of 25 November 2025, the 2025 annual review of 5 January 2026, the AED 2 billion Hayat construction award of 30 March 2026, the Majid Al Futtaim partnership of 19 May 2026 and the Emirates NBD financing agreement of 22 July 2026 — with prices, unit sizes, handover dates and payment plans from the listing portal’s records, which date from September 2025. Committed to publication: the developer has given different completion dates for South Living Tower in different releases, and the portal carries a third; the airport expansion that underpins the whole plan has no published opening date; the completed residential stock — The Pulse Beachfront and whatever South Bay has delivered so far — is small relative to the pipeline; and community charges for the district are not published, so they are flagged here rather than estimated. Nothing on this page is a valuation or a promise of return.