Al Reem Island: what the register says, and the footnote nobody quotes

What do apartments on Al Reem Island cost? The Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre records an average of AED 18,000 per square metre and a maximum of AED 38,000. Villas average AED 14,000 and reach AED 16,000. Those are recorded transactions from the first half of 2026.

The footnote ADREC wrote, and almost nobody repeats

Under the villa figures for this district, the report carries a note of its own. It says the Al Reem villa and townhouse numbers rest on 29 transactions, and that the range reflects a mix of two different products: Reem Hills at roughly AED 9,000 to 12,000 per square metre, and premium canal-front product at around AED 16,000.

Three things follow, and the regulator is telling you all three itself.

The villa average is thin. Twenty-nine transactions in six months is not a market you can average with confidence. A single unusual sale moves it.

It is not one product. The figure blends a plot-led community and waterfront villas. Neither is described by the number in between them.

The apartment figures are the sturdier half of this page. They rest on the volume that makes Al Reem the district it is, and the 2.1× spread between average and maximum is normal for the emirate rather than exceptional.

We are repeating a caveat that the source itself published. That it rarely appears elsewhere says more about how the report is read than about the report.

Why this island reads as a property search and Yas does not

Al Reem is residential. There is no theme park, no resort strip, no Formula One circuit. That sounds like a lifestyle observation and it has a measurable consequence.

Checked on 2 September 2026: search for “al reem island” and the first page carries Wikipedia, then Bayut, then Property Finder, then Aldar. Search for “yas island” the same day and you get the destination site, Instagram, a waterpark and TripAdvisor. Google had worked out that one query is about living somewhere and the other is about visiting. Results move, so treat the date as part of the claim.

For a buyer this matters in a practical way: on Al Reem you are comparing against people who also intend to live there, and the market you are quoted is a residential market rather than a resort market with residential attached.

Where Al Reem sits in the emirate

Al Reem is the cheapest of the island districts with published apartment figures, at 43 per cent of Saadiyat’s average. The spread of 2.1× is mid-range: wide enough that the average alone will not price your specific apartment, narrow enough that it is a usable starting point.

The full table for all fifteen districts, including which ones we can confirm are open to foreign freehold, is in our prices guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy on Al Reem Island?

Yes. Reem is named on the federal government’s list of designated areas where non-UAE and non-GCC nationals may own property. Confirm the freehold status of the specific unit in the title documents.

Is Al Reem cheaper than Saadiyat?

On the registered figures, considerably. Al Reem apartments average AED 18,000 per square metre against AED 42,000 on Saadiyat, so 43 per cent. The two islands are different products, and the price difference is the market pricing that difference rather than a discount.

How reliable are the villa figures?

Less than the apartment figures, and ADREC says so: 29 transactions, spanning two distinct products. Treat them as an indication of the range rather than as a benchmark.

What yield can I expect on Al Reem?

We do not publish an Abu Dhabi yield. The rent side of the ADREC report exists only as a graphic without a usable text layer, so any yield we printed would have an estimated denominator. If you are quoted one to a decimal place, ask which rent figure produced it.

Who developed Al Reem Island?

Aldar Properties describes itself as the master developer for Al Reem Island, and its Shams district contains several of the island’s best-known towers. Reem Hills, which ADREC names in its villa footnote, is a separate development on the same island. We are not going to explain the price range by the development history, because we cannot source that connection: the range is in the register, the cause is not.