South Living

About South Living

South Living is Dubai South Properties’ own apartment building: 209 homes in The Residential District of Dubai South, launched on 5 June 2024 and sold out on 28 November 2024. The mix runs from studios to three-bedroom apartments plus a set of special terraced units with outdoor space. Al Turath Al Aseel Contracting was appointed on a AED 150 million construction contract in September 2024; at the time, completion was guided to Q1 2027.

Why it went so fast. The ticket size. A 441 sq ft studio at AED 600,000 is about AED 1,361 per square foot, and it is a fraction of the AED 3.4 million entry price on the same developer’s Hayat townhouses. For a first purchase or a rental hold in a district that already has 25,000 residents and a bus link to the Expo Metro, that was the entry point. Note what the portal actually priced: only the studio. The one, two and three-bedroom layouts are listed as “Ask For Price”, so “from AED 600,000” is a single data point, not a range.

The district is the argument. The Residential District is the part of Dubai South that exists rather than the part being promised: more than 25,000 residents, public parks, sports courts, retail, a 50,000 sq ft hypermarket, a mosque, a petrol station and a public bus route to the Expo Metro station. GEMS Founders School Dubai South opened in August 2024, subject to KHDA approval, and South Bay Mall — 200,000 sq ft of retail, dining and wellness announced in November 2025 — is being added to the same district. You can drive the streets before you buy.

The honest state of play. South Living is sold out at the developer: no price list, no launch allocation, no payment plan on offer from the company. If you want one now you are buying a resale or an assignment, and the questions change with it — the statement of account, the developer’s no-objection certificate and transfer fee, the balance still owed under the original plan, and whether the post-handover terms advertised at launch travel with the unit. A building that is finishing is a building where some owners are facing a final payment; that is where the negotiating room usually is.

What to weigh. Price. A reseller will ask above the launch figure, and on 441 sq ft every AED 10,000 is another AED 23 per square foot. Compare any ask with what has actually traded in the building rather than with the 2024 brochure.

Timing. Completion has been stated as Q3 2026, Q1 2027 and “in 2026”. On an assignment the sale and purchase agreement is what binds, and the final payment follows the same document — read the date in it, not the one on this page.

Running costs. A pool deck, gym, sauna, yoga deck and front desk across 209 units is a cost base per household that is higher than buyers expect in a district where rents are still moderate. Ask for the current service-charge estimate, and ask separately about the master community and district charges that sit on top of it.

One structural point in its favour. The building and the district around it have the same owner. When a tower sits inside somebody else’s masterplan, roads, landscaping and community facilities are somebody else’s commitment; here they are the same balance sheet. That guarantees nothing, but it means there is one party to ask.

Compiled November 2026 from Dubai South’s own newsroom — the project launch of 5 June 2024, the AED 150 million construction award of 10 September 2024, the sell-out announcement of 28 November 2024 and the 2025 review of 5 January 2026 — together with the listing portal’s record for price, size, floor plans, amenities and handover. Where the two sources disagree on completion, the disagreement is printed rather than resolved.

Homes, sizes and price

The portal lists five configurations and has priced exactly one of them. That is the whole of the public price information for this building.

A studio at 441 sq ft is compact, and studios in Dubai tend to be valued off rent rather than aspiration. Check what a comparable studio in the district actually lets for, then subtract the service charge and the district charges, before you accept a yield quoted by a seller. The terraced units are the most interesting homes in the building — outdoor space in a tower — and the hardest to price, because there is no published benchmark at all. Ask what the terrace is worth against the same apartment without one, and be prepared to hear a number nobody can evidence.

For the larger apartments there is no public list, which means the resale market is the only price discovery. That cuts both ways: less transparency, but also fewer sellers anchored to a published “from” figure.

Price and payment plan

The portal records no payment plan for South Living. The developer said at launch, and again at the contract award, that the project came with “an attractive post-handover payment plan” but has not published the schedule. What is public is the price and the arithmetic that comes with any Dubai purchase.

On a sold-out building a payment plan is history rather than offer: it is what the first buyer signed, and what you inherit or renegotiate if you take an assignment. The number that actually matters in a resale is how much of that plan has already been paid, because it sets both the seller’s floor and your exposure. A studio bought in 2024 on a post-handover schedule may carry very little equity and a large balance still to come.

Ask for three things before you discuss price: the statement of account, the original payment schedule, and the developer’s written position on transferring the post-handover terms to you. If the answer to the third is no, the deal is a different deal.

Amenities

The building’s own list, in the developer’s words: a swimming pool and deck, a gymnasium, a sauna, a multi-purpose room, a kids’ library, a yoga deck, a BBQ area, gazebo seating and landscaped elevated gardens. For 209 apartments that is a sensible, affordable set — nothing on it needs a hotel payroll to run.

The portal lists sixteen amenities, including a health care centre, dining outlets, retail outlets, an infinity pool and 24-hour concierge. Most of those belong to The Residential District rather than to the tower: no 209-unit building contains a hospital, and a concierge here means a front desk. Read that list as what is around the building, not what is inside it, and if a specific item matters, ask where it physically is.

Two things the lists leave out and daily life does not: parking, which the portal never quantifies, and how busy the pool deck gets. Ask about the allocation per unit and whether visitors’ parking is inside the building or in the district.

Where it is

The Residential District is the oldest and most complete part of Dubai South, approached by Expo Road with Expo City Dubai a short drive east. The developer’s own account of what is already there: public parks, sports courts, retail shops, a 50,000 sq ft hypermarket, a mosque, a petrol station and a public bus route connecting the district to the Expo Metro station. GEMS Founders School Dubai South opened in August 2024, subject to KHDA approval.

Al Maktoum International Airport is both the reason the district exists and the reason to look at it now. The new passenger terminal was announced in April 2024, and Dubai South says plainly that its plan assumes the airport’s completion bringing the population towards one million residents. That is a long argument, not a 2026 one: buy the district you can drive around today, not the one in the render.

Practically, the district is more walkable than most new Dubai communities — retail and a hypermarket sit inside it and there is a bus to the metro — but the airport, Expo City and the northern city all assume a car. Check the bus timetable before you rely on it, and drive the route to your office at 8am before you decide the location works.

For prices and what else is being built around it, see our Dubai South community guide, the Expo City guide and the Emaar South guide.

At a glance

• 209 apartments by Dubai South Properties in The Residential District, Dubai South.
• Studios, one, two and three-bedroom homes plus special terraced units with outdoor space.
• Launched 5 June 2024; sold out 28 November 2024.
• Portal-listed at AED 600,000 for a 441 sq ft studio — about AED 1,361 per square foot.
• Only the studio was ever priced; the larger layouts are listed as “Ask For Price”.
• Completion given as Q3 2026 on the portal, Q1 2027 by the developer in 2024, and “2026” in its January 2026 review.
• Pool and deck, gym, sauna, multi-purpose room, kids’ library, yoga deck, BBQ and gazebo, elevated gardens.
• District amenities include a 50,000 sq ft hypermarket, parks, sports courts and a bus link to the Expo Metro.
• GEMS Founders School Dubai South opened in August 2024, subject to KHDA approval.

What we verify before you reserve

• Whether the unit is a resale or an assignment of contract, and the developer’s NOC fee and process.
• The statement of account: what has been paid, and what remains due and when.
• The completion date in the sale and purchase agreement, and the delay provisions.
• Whether the original post-handover payment plan transfers to you, in writing.
• The current service-charge estimate, itemised, plus the master community and district charges.
• Recent registered sale prices in the building, by floor and view.
• Parking allocation, storage rights and what the terraced units actually include.
• The escrow account and project registration for South Living Tower.
• Snagging and defects process, and whether the unit has been handed over already.
• The rental position: what a comparable studio in The Residential District lets for today.