Project overview
Marsa Al Saadiyat
Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi
Aldar Properties
Everything published about this quarter so far, in one document: the figures with the release they came from, the drive times we measured ourselves, the five formats announced — and, in plain words, what does not exist yet.
Figures checked on
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com1
The record so far
What is known today
Two documents describe this quarter: the government release of the launch and the developer's own project page. Everything below comes from one of the two, and no figure has been rounded up.
Published and sourced
- 6.4M m²of district, on the south-eastern shore of the island
- 8 kmof waterfront
- 5.6 kmof beaches
- up to 350berths in the largest marina in the emirate
- AED 100bnmasterplan value, of which Aldar builds AED 60bn
- 46 kmof cycle loop, with every home within reach of it
- about 140 kmof walking routes through the quarter
- 1 kmof retail and dining promenade along the water
- 22.5 mabove the shoreline, the height of the hillside community
Not published yet
Three things do not exist anywhere yet — not with us, not on a portal, not with another broker. A page that quotes them today invented them.
- PricesAldar sets them for the first release and publishes them on the day sales open. Today no home in this quarter carries a price.
- Floor plans and sizesThe release names five formats and not one dimension of any of them. Layouts, orientation and the unit mix arrive together with the launch.
- Handover dateAldar publishes the construction schedule with the launch. What is known is that enabling works begin in the third quarter of 2026.
Every figure on these pages names the document it came from; the list is on the last page.
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com2
The island around it
Culture, coast and schools on Saadiyat
Museums along one shore, beaches and dunes along the other, international schools between them.
The Cultural District
Louvre Abu Dhabi is on this island. Zayed National Museum opened in 2025, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opens on 11.12.2026.
Coast and beaches
Open sea, pale sand and dunes instead of a trunk road. The shoreline runs the whole length of the quarter.
Schools and universities
NYU and Berklee Abu Dhabi are minutes away; Cranleigh and Harrow teach on the island itself.
- 73,800 m²central park
- over 6,000 seatsin the Dar al Funoon theatre by Frank Gehry, opening 2030
- 3schools planned inside the quarter itself
- 6nurseries planned inside the quarter itself
- over 58,000residents, the capacity the launch release names
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com3
Where it stands
Drive times from the quarter
We measured these distances ourselves on the road network rather than copying a brochure. An estimate outside the rush hour, not a promise.
- Saadiyat Public Beachabout 15 min
- Louvre Abu Dhabiabout 20 min
- Zayed National Museumabout 20 min
- NYU Abu Dhabiabout 15 min
- Al Maryah Island, ADGMabout 20 min
- Abu Dhabi Cornicheabout 25 min
- Zayed International Airportabout 35 min
- Yas Islandabout 30 min
2.3 kmin a straight line to the Cultural District, which today's road network turns into the drive above
Computed on today's road network from open map data, September 2026 (OSRM). The district's own roads are not built yet, so these times may change once they open.
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com4
Five formats announced
Mansions to branded residences
Aldar names five formats at launch, with no sizes and no prices. The one you choose sets everything else.
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Mansions
Land of your own by the water, and the most private way of living in the quarter.
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Villas
A house with a garden inside the walkable quarter: the beach and the promenade are on foot.
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Hillside villas
Detached houses on the community raised above the shoreline — the bay is visible over the neighbouring roofs.
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Waterfront apartments
Apartments on the water, within the same walk as the marina, the promenade and the beach.
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Branded residences
Hotel service in a home of your own. Aldar names the operator separately.
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com5
How payment works
Model the purchase before the launch
An off-plan home in Abu Dhabi is paid in stages into an escrow account. Three illustrative structures show how a budget divides.
Three illustrative structures
| Payment structure | On booking | During construction | On handover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 % on booking | 10 % | 50 % | 40 % |
| 20 % on booking | 20 % | 40 % | 40 % |
| 5 % on booking | 5 % | 45 % | 50 % |
These are not prices for this project — Aldar has published none. An illustrative structure over a budget you set, to show the shape of a schedule; the official one comes on the day it is published.
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Escrow
Off-plan payments go into the project's escrow account under Law 3/2015 and are released as construction progresses. Law 2/2025 bars land and broker fees from it.
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Registration fee
2%
Registration of the purchase costs this share of the price and is split equally between buyer and seller, under ADREC Administrative Decision 247/2015. The half that falls to the buyer is the sum to budget for.
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Residence visa
AED 2M
A purchase at or above this threshold lets an owner apply for a residence visa, off-plan and mortgaged homes included. The terms are the authority's on the day you apply.
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Who is buying
116
nationalities among the buyers of Abu Dhabi, first half of 2026
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com6
Why Abu Dhabi
The market around Marsa Al Saadiyat
One of Abu Dhabi's investment zones, where a buyer from outside the Gulf owns outright. Every figure below names its source.
- about AED 43,100/m²average per square metre, Saadiyat apartments
- 21%year-on-year, same source
- about AED 26,500/m²average per square metre, Saadiyat villas — the most expensive villa market in the emirate
These are averages for Saadiyat Island as a whole, taken from transactions in buildings that are already standing. They are neither prices for this project nor a forecast: no price for Marsa Al Saadiyat exists yet. They are here because they are the best-documented evidence anybody has about this address.
Knight Frank, first half of 2026 · ADREC, July 2026 · Abu Dhabi Media Office · PwC Tax Summaries
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com7
How we work
Three steps to the launch
The brief
One call or one chat: budget, format, purpose. That is enough to know what to watch for on launch day.
The shortlist, on launch day
The same day: the homes that match the brief, with the official payment plan and the prices as published.
Booking and signing
Booking can be done remotely, and payments go into the project's escrow account. We send the current order of steps.
How to reach us
One call or one message is enough to start. Tell us the budget, the format and what the home is for, and we come back with what fits — and with the launch documents on the day Aldar publishes them.
Sources
- D1 · MEDIAOFFICEAbu Dhabi Media Office, the launch release for Marsa Al Saadiyat, 22.07.2026. A government source, not a broker's retelling.
- D2Aldar Properties: the project page, the press release of 22.07.2026 and the half-year results of 29.07.2026.
- ADRECAbu Dhabi Real Estate Centre: the half-year release of 17.07.2026, escrow under Law 3/2015 as amended by Law 2/2025, registration under Administrative Decision 247/2015, and the ownership threshold set by the Abu Dhabi Residents Office.
- KNIGHTFRANKKnight Frank, Abu Dhabi Residential and Office Market Review, first half of 2026.
- COMPUTED · OSRMOur own calculation: drive times on the road network as it stands, routed with OSRM over open map data, rounded to five minutes.
- COMPUTED · HAVERSINEOur own calculation: straight-line distance between two coordinates.
The government release appears under two labels in our own registry, and both stand on the first line above: a figure carrying each of them is one confirmation, not two.
Imagery: Aldar Properties (masterplan aerial); motion generated with Sora 2 (Developer marketing asset, cropped, downscaled, AI-animated); Florian Kriechbaumer (CC BY-SA 4.0, downscaled); Tashmetova808 (CC BY-SA 4.0, downscaled); Tms2007 (CC BY-SA 4.0, downscaled); Aldar Properties (Developer marketing asset, downscaled); gpt-image-2 (generated); marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com (Own work, downscaled).
marsaalsaadiyat-abudhabi.com8