"According to our internal inspection conducted on 14 September 2026, the project's progress stands at 72.50%. As per the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the progress reported is 63.61%, based on their inspection conducted on 9 July 2026."
That line sits at the bottom of the construction update on the Meraas page for Bulgari Lighthouse, under the progress bars. Different inspectors produced the two figures, roughly nine weeks apart. Neither one is wrong. For anyone weighing a Lighthouse apartment against a finished unit in the neighboring Bulgari Resort & Residences, though, they answer different questions. The second figure is the regulator's, and Dubai's rules release buyer money only against independently verified progress.
The real choice on Jumeirah Bay right now is about timing and verification. A buyer looking for an off-plan discount or premium in the 2026 sale records won't find one. The records are too thin to show it.
Why verified progress is the figure money follows
Dubai built its off-plan system so that buyer payments follow verified construction. Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 requires payments from off-plan buyers and their financiers to go into an escrow account in the project's name. That account can be used only for that project, and the escrow agent must issue regular statements of income and spending.
The Dubai Land Department's FAQ describes how money comes out of that account. The escrow agreement sets construction milestones. Once a milestone is reported, an engineer acting for the escrow trustee visits the site and confirms the stage before anything is paid out. Where a buyer's installments are linked to construction progress, the specified progress has to be confirmed. Buyers can track completion through DLD, and a RERA technical auditor can issue a completion report.
Read with those rules in mind, the 72.50% figure reports the developer's own view of the site in mid-September. The 63.61% figure is the most recent regulator inspection published on that page, and by early November it is close to four months old. The gap is a matter of timing. An installment linked to progress falls due against the milestone written into the buyer's own payment schedule, confirmed through the verification process, so a high internal figure alone does not settle when the next payment is due.
What the September update shows on the ground
The Meraas update is specific. The exterior is finished to the 27th floor, internal walls have reached the same level, and marble and tiling have been laid up to the 22nd floor. Bespoke joinery is underway, the service lift is running, and the first of the two tower cranes has come down. Power and cooling connections with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority are still in progress. For the coming quarter, Meraas lists finishes continuing upward, landscaping starting, and building systems being energized and tested.
Its breakdown lists overall progress at 72%, substructure and superstructure at 100%, and building works and infrastructure at 71% each. The work left is mostly fit-out, systems and utility connections. That work decides when a building can be lived in, and it is hard to judge from the outside. Construction began in February 2023, and the estimated handover is Q2 2027. That date remains an estimate.
A few hundred meters away on the same island, Bulgari Ocean Mansions shows how far apart "sold" and "built" can be. Meraas describes the project as seven five-bedroom waterfront homes and lists it as sold out. Its own progress update shows the marine works complete, main construction and foundations still to start, and overall progress at 1%. On Jumeirah Bay, a sold-out label says nothing about how far construction has gone.
Why 2026 records can't price the off-plan premium
The usual way to price an off-plan premium is to set recent off-plan trades beside recent ready trades of similar homes. On Jumeirah Bay in 2026, that comparison can't be made. Here is what Dubai Land Department records show for the two Bulgari projects this year:
| Date (2026) | Project | Unit | Record type | Value (AED) | Size (sq ft) | AED per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jan | Bulgari Lighthouse | 4-bed, off-plan | Sale | 80,000,000 | 6,439 | 12,424 |
| 12 Jun | BV Residences | 3-bed, ready | Grant | 8,461,513 | 2,698 | 3,136 |
| 5 Aug | BV Residences | 2-bed, ready | Mortgage | 14,850,000 | 2,088 | 7,111 |
| 24 Aug | BV Residences | 1-bed, 3-bed, 4-bed, ready | Three grants | 4.7m to 36.0m | 1,572 to 12,114 | about 2,976 to 2,994 |
| 31 Aug | BV Residences | 1-bed, ready, floor 4 | Sale | 14,925,000 | 1,619 | 9,219 |
| 8 Oct | BV Residences | 2-bed, ready | Mortgage | 10,000,000 | 1,938 | 5,161 |
Only two of these rows are sales. One is a four-bedroom off-plan penthouse sold in January. The other is a one-bedroom ready apartment sold in August. The Lighthouse trade is about 35% higher per square foot, but the two homes differ in size, bedroom count, building and status. That figure shows two different products, and it can't be read as a market premium.
The other rows can mislead anyone who sorts by AED per square foot. A grant transfers ownership, often within a family or corporate structure, at a value that isn't set by negotiation. That is why four ready units appear at roughly AED 3,000 per square foot, about a third of the August sale. A mortgage registration records the amount borrowed against a home, which says little about its price. The same holds at land level. On October 5, the island's records show a grant of AED 228,970,080 against a 25,441 sq ft plot. The two largest September land entries, registered on September 17 at AED 300 million and AED 319,572,728, are mortgages.
Owners on this island transfer property inside families, borrow against it, and seldom sell it. The one off-plan resale in Lighthouse this year came in January, and no other off-plan resale appears through the end of October.
The resale clause that shapes the off-plan decision
Low trading has a practical effect for an off-plan buyer, and it sits in the resale terms. DLD's FAQ says that reselling or assigning an off-plan unit requires a No Objection Certificate from the developer. Meraas's own FAQ says resale "can be initiated at any time once the Oqood or Pre-TD has been issued, however threshold amount has to be met in order to request for the NOC." The FAQ does not publish that threshold amount, and neither Dubai's escrow law nor the DLD guidance sets a single minimum percentage paid.
For a family office modeling an exit before handover, that unknown matters more than any price-per-square-foot comparison. Whether a unit can be passed on before Q2 2027 depends on how much has been paid, which depends on verified progress, and on the developer's threshold for that contract. A ready Bulgari Residences unit does not depend on construction milestones. The August sale and the mortgage registrations show finished units being sold and financed this year.
These rules are reported here for context. This is general information and not legal or financial advice. Anyone holding or considering an off-plan contract should confirm their payment schedule, escrow position and NOC terms with their own lawyer and the developer.
The citywide backdrop and the trades that set the island's tone
The wider prime market softened over the summer. In research released October 21, Knight Frank reported that prices across Dubai's ten prime neighborhoods fell 5% between Q2 and Q3 2026, the first decline since 2020. Dubai recorded 86 sales above US$10 million in Q3 2026, 34% fewer than the 131 in Q2. That research does not publish a separate index for Jumeirah Bay.
The island's headline trade this year was a finished home. Alta announced in June 2026 that it had sold Villa Gaia, a 21,883 sq ft home, for AED 280 million. That works out to about AED 12,795 per square foot of interior space, for a home that was ready to occupy. The island has 128 villa plots in total, so finished stock of that kind stays scarce. Buyers with the means have paid the most for homes they could move into.
Common questions
Is Bulgari Lighthouse behind schedule? The estimated handover is Q2 2027. The September update reports the exterior finished to the 27th floor, with finishes, landscaping and system testing scheduled for the coming quarter.
Why is the RERA figure lower than Meraas's? It comes from an earlier inspection by a different party: July 9 for RERA, September 14 for Meraas. The next RERA inspection is the figure to watch.
Can a Lighthouse unit be resold before handover? Meraas says resale can begin once the Oqood or Pre-TD is issued, but a threshold amount must be paid before the NOC can be requested. The amount depends on the contract and is confirmed with the developer.
What do Bulgari Residences units sell for in 2026? The only ready sale recorded this year, on August 31, was a one-bedroom on the fourth floor at AED 14.925 million, or AED 9,219 per square foot. Grants and mortgage registrations in the same project don't reflect sale prices.
For a confidential review of a specific unit, its payment schedule or a plan to exit before handover, Leigh Williamson can take you through the details. Let's Connect.
