Off-plan X-ray
Before paying a deposit on a home that doesn't exist yet, six questions need written answers. We answer what public records allow and mark the rest To be confirmed — we never fill a gap with a brochure claim.
The six checks
- Title. Freehold, leasehold or usufruct? Is the area open to your nationality, and under which registry (Dubai Land Department, Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department, Ajman's ARRA…)? Title decides resale, inheritance and visa eligibility.
- Escrow. Is the project registered, with a dedicated escrow account at a named bank? Payments should go to that account, not to the developer.
- Developer record. What has this developer delivered before, and how late against the promised dates?
- Payment plan against a fixed deposit. We model the plan's cash flows and compute the return under falling, moderate and strong price scenarios, then compare it with what the same money would earn in a bank deposit.
- All-in cost. Registration fees, service charges, vacancy, management, maintenance, furnishing and the cost of selling.
- Location and liquidity. Is there evidence of resale and rental demand, and what is next door?
Case study · snapshot of September 2026
Sharjah Waterfront City (marketed as Ajmal Makan)
A large waterfront development of islands and towers. We ran the six checks for a buyer comparing it with a 4.5% fixed deposit. Everything below comes from public sources available in September 2026; developer prices are not published, so the unit prices are illustrative figures within the ranges quoted to buyers at the time.
| Check | What we found | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Location & law | Often described as "Ajman"; the project is in Al Hamriyah, Sharjah, on the Ajman border. Sharjah law and the Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department (SRERD) apply. | Verified |
| Title | Marketed as freehold. Public sources describe the area as opened to non-Arab foreign buyers in 2014 on a 100-year usufruct basis. Sharjah Law No. 2 of 2022 allows freehold only in projects approved by the Executive Council; we found no published approval for this project. Freehold status matters for resale and for golden-visa eligibility. | To be confirmed |
| Escrow | Escrow is mandatory for off-plan sales in Sharjah under Resolution 37 of 2024. We could not confirm the escrow account for these phases. | To be confirmed |
| Developer record | Developer: Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Development, trading as Ajmal Makan. First launch at Cityscape 2015; one waterfront phase delivered in December 2025, others due between late 2027 and early 2028. We found no public record comparing promised and actual delivery dates. | To be confirmed |
| Registration fee | Sources quote between 2% and 4%. We modelled 4% plus AED 5,000. | To be confirmed |
| Market | Sharjah apartment asking prices around AED 1,010 per sq ft, down 8.2% year on year; villas up 5.4% (Savills, H1 2026). | Verified |
| Location & liquidity | Next to Hamriyah Free Zone (industrial). We found no independent evidence of occupancy levels. | To be confirmed |
Returns against a 4.5% fixed deposit
Internal rate of return over the holding period under three price paths: prices falling 3% a year, rising 2% a year, rising 5% a year. The last column is the yearly price growth needed just to match the deposit.
| Option | Price | Net rent yield | IRR −3%/yr | IRR +2%/yr | IRR +5%/yr | Breaks even with 4.5% at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ready studio in a delivered building | AED 380k | 5.9% | 0.9% | 5.4% | 8.1% | +1.0%/yr |
| Ready 1-bedroom in a delivered building | AED 920k | 4.2% | −0.5% | 4.1% | 6.9% | +2.4%/yr |
| Off-plan 1-bedroom, rented out for 5 years after handover | AED 850k | 4.4% | −1.0% | 4.3% | 7.5% | +2.2%/yr |
| Off-plan 1-bedroom, resold at handover | AED 850k | — | −19.9% | −6.5% | 1.5% | +6.1%/yr |
| Off-plan 4-bedroom townhouse, resold at handover | AED 2.45M | — | −28.6% | −8.6% | 3.2% | +5.3%/yr |
Assumptions: registration 4% + AED 5,000; selling cost 2%; service charges AED 5 per sq ft a year; 1.5 months of vacancy a year; 5% management; 0.3% a year maintenance; furnishing for rented units. With a 2% registration fee, ready units improve by about 0.4 percentage points.
What the numbers say
- In the moderate case (+2% a year), only the ready studio beat the 4.5% deposit (5.4%).
- Buying off-plan to resell at handover lost money unless prices rose more than about 5–6% a year — while apartment prices in Sharjah were falling.
- Holding an off-plan unit and renting it out roughly matched the deposit, with more risk and less liquidity.
- The two open questions — title and escrow — come before any return calculation. We would ask SRERD in writing to confirm the title type and check the escrow account before any deposit.
This case is a snapshot from public sources, for illustration. It is not a statement about the conduct of the developer or of any broker, and it is not investment advice. If you represent the developer and have documents that settle a To be confirmed item, write to hello@fairsqft.com and we will update this page with the date of the change.
Sources
- Cresco Real Estate, "Property ownership for foreigners in Sharjah", reviewed August 2026: crescorealestate.ae
- Savills research via Zawya, "Sharjah residential sales more than double in H1 2026": zawya.com
- Sharjah Law No. 2 of 2022 on real estate registration; Sharjah Executive Council Resolution No. 37 of 2024 on off-plan escrow.
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