Nakheel Dragon Towers International City Dubai

Nakheel Dragon Towers is a pair of 37-storey towers at Dragon City, connected to the Dragon Mart retail and trading complex and beside International City. They hold one- and two-bedroom apartments of about 624 to 937 sq ft, with ground and first-floor retail, four parking levels and a sixth-floor podium clubhouse. The price on record is AED 449,000 (about Rs 1.16 crore, roughly USD 122,000) — near AED 719 per sq ft.

That is the attractive half. The other half is that the public record here is unusually thin: the original completion target was Q4 2021, some listing pages now call the project ready and others still call it under construction, the unit count is printed three ways, and no source publishes a current asking price. This page sets out what each source says and which checks close the gaps.

At a glance

Price and unit pricing

At roughly AED 719 per sq ft the recorded price sits just above the AED 550 to 700 band quoted for International City, and well below the AED 1,220 per sq ft Dubai Land Department data shows for a studio at the newer Lawnz by Danube nearby — good value, on the face of it, for a tower with a clubhouse and structured parking.

The caution is that AED 449,000 is a launch figure carried forward by the portals, not a live asking price, and nothing we read publishes a price split between the one- and two-bedroom types. Use it to judge whether the project is worth investigating; get the real number from an agent with access to the Dubai Land Department transaction record.

The completion question

Settle this before anything else. Nakheel awarded the main contract to Ali Mousa and Sons Contracting on a deal reported at about USD 150 million, in a project valued near USD 194 million, and broke ground with a completion target of Q4 2021. Since then the record splits: several listing pages describe the towers as ready or completed, one carrying a ready date in late 2021, while others still list the project as under construction.

What none of them prints is a Building Completion Certificate date or a handover month, which makes the status unconfirmed rather than merely disputed. The check is free: open the Dubai REST app, look up the project, and read the Dubai Land Department's own status and construction-progress figure. If it shows completed, you are shopping for a resale from an individual owner. If it shows a percentage, you are looking at an off-plan purchase, and every question on this page changes.

Payment and total cost

No payment plan specific to Dragon Towers is published by the sources we checked. Nakheel's general template is 80/20 — 20% at booking, 60% across construction, 20% at handover — with newer launches on 70/30. There is no post-handover component on either, and neither is confirmed for this project.

If the towers are complete, the plan question disappears and a resale settles at transfer:

There is no annual property tax in Dubai and no VAT on a residential sale, so those charges are the whole government cost. The service charge is not published, and a 37-storey tower with a podium clubhouse and four parking levels will not sit at the cheap end of International City's AED 6 to 10 per sq ft range. Get the statement before you make an offer.

Location and connectivity

The towers sit at Dragon City, attached to Dragon Mart — the wholesale and retail complex that anchors this corner of Dubai and supplies much of its rental demand. International City Phase 1 is next door, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road (E311) and Emirates Road (E611) are the highways out, and Dubai Silicon Oasis and Academic City are the neighbouring districts.

The change worth watching is the Dubai Metro Blue Line, planned to bring three stations to International City including an interchange. Rail arriving in a district that has always been a car address is the strongest single argument for buying here. The counterweight is character: this is a dense, working part of Dubai built around a wholesale market, not a lifestyle address. See all Dubai projects we track, or our projects page.

Amenities and specifications

For the price point the amenity list is unusually complete: ground and first-floor retail, four levels of parking and a sixth-floor podium clubhouse with a pool, a restaurant and a gym. Structured parking alone puts the towers ahead of most International City stock.

What is missing is the detail: no fit-out schedule, no appliance list and no service-charge rate appears in any source we read. If the buildings are complete, view the actual apartment and read the owners association statement. If they are not, take the SPA's specification annexure as the binding list.

About the developer

Nakheel is the government-linked developer that reshaped Dubai's coastline and built much of its middle market. Palm Jumeirah is its flagship, delivered in phases from 2007 and home to more than 20,000 residents; it also created International City itself, plus Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Village Circle and Triangle, Al Furjan, Warsan Village and Ibn Battuta Mall. Its own figures claim over 300 km of added waterfront and communities housing around 700,000 people.

Nakheel recorded AED 12.6 billion of sales in 2025 at an average of AED 6.26 million per unit — the highest of any Dubai developer after Meraas — and it is now part of Dubai Holding Real Estate. As a counterparty it is as solid as Dubai offers. That has never stopped an individual project going quiet, which is what the record on Dragon Towers describes.

For Indian buyers

Any nationality. The Dragon City and International City area is designated freehold: no local partner, no residence visa needed in order to buy, and the Dubai Land Department issues the title deed in your own name. On AED 449,000 the 4% DLD transfer fee is AED 17,960 (about USD 4,900), and the all-in transaction cost lands near 7% of the price once trustee, title and agency charges are counted.

AED 449,000 is about USD 122,000, well inside one person's Liberalised Remittance Scheme allowance of USD 250,000 per financial year, so a single buyer can fund the purchase and every fee in one year. UAE banks lend non-residents 50% to 60% on ready property, but at this ticket size a mortgage rarely repays the paperwork.

There is no annual property tax in Dubai, no UAE tax on the rent and no VAT on a residential sale; an Indian tax resident still declares the rent and any gain in India. At AED 449,000 the purchase sits far below the AED 2 million Golden Visa threshold, so if a visa is the point this is the wrong building.

On yield: International City rents run about AED 28,000 to AED 55,000 a year across types, with 2026 guides quoting 7% to 9% gross for the district and one putting net yields at 8.8% to 10.4% on near-zero vacancy. A one-bedroom bought near the recorded price and renting at AED 38,000 would gross around 8%. That is arithmetic on a figure we cannot confirm is current — price the deal off a real asking price and a signed tenancy contract.

Pros

• One of the lowest entry prices in Dubai on record at AED 449,000, roughly USD 122,000
• About AED 719 per sq ft is close to the AED 550 to 700 band quoted for International City
• A government-linked developer that built Palm Jumeirah, International City, JVC and JVT
• Directly connected to Dragon Mart, which gives the towers a retail anchor and a captive tenant pool
• Real amenity for the price: a podium clubhouse with a pool, restaurant and gym, plus four parking levels

Cons

• The original completion target was Q4 2021 and no source prints a confirmed completion date
• Sources contradict each other on whether the project is ready or still under construction
• The unit count is printed three different ways — 571, 1,142 and 1,140
• AED 449,000 is a launch figure; no source publishes a current asking price or a price list
• No payment plan is published for this project; the plans quoted are Nakheel's general templates
• At AED 449,000 the purchase is far below the AED 2 M Golden Visa threshold

Who this is for

• Yield investors who want the lowest entry into Dubai freehold and will do the verification themselves
• Buyers who want a retail-anchored tower rather than a standalone block in a residential cluster
• Investors positioning ahead of the Blue Line metro stations planned for International City
• Anyone comfortable with a government-linked developer on a project whose public record is thin

Who should look elsewhere

• Anyone who needs certainty on a completion date — the public record does not provide one
• Golden Visa buyers, since AED 449,000 is far below the AED 2 million threshold
• End users who want a quiet residential address rather than a tower attached to a wholesale market

Our verdict

Potentially the cheapest way into a Nakheel building, in the district with Dubai's deepest rental demand and metro stations on the way. But the public record on completion, unit count and current pricing is too thin to act on from a web page. Check the Dubai REST app for the DLD status, get a current asking price and a signed tenancy contract from an agent, and view the apartment first.

Talk to Realty Hunting for the current asking range and a viewing at Dragon Towers.

Run this project's numbers yourself. The calculator opens on the price and unit size above; change the currency, the rent or the mortgage and it recalculates the fees, the cash you need on day one and the net rent.

FAQs

What is the price of Nakheel Dragon Towers?

The figure on record across the portals is AED 449,000, which is about Rs 1.16 crore at AED 1 = Rs 25.75, or roughly USD 122,000. That is a launch price. No source we checked publishes a current asking price or a price split between the one- and two-bedroom types, so treat AED 449,000 as a historical marker and ask an agent for today's number.

Is Dragon Towers ready or still under construction?

The sources contradict each other. The original completion target was Q4 2021; several listing pages now describe the project as ready or completed, while others still carry it as under construction. None prints a Building Completion Certificate date or a handover month. Check the Dubai REST app for the Dubai Land Department's own record before you do anything else.

How many apartments are there?

The counts disagree: 571 in total on one reading, 571 in each of the two towers (1,142 altogether) on another, and 1,140 on a third. The towers themselves are consistently described as two buildings of 37 storeys each.

How big are the apartments?

About 624 to 937 sq ft, with one source giving a one-bedroom at 624 sq ft and a two-bedroom at 839 sq ft, and another printing a one-bedroom from 594 sq ft. At AED 449,000 over 624 sq ft the implied rate is about AED 719 per sq ft.

What is the payment plan?

None is published for this project. Nakheel's standard off-plan template is 80/20 — 20% at booking, 60% during construction, 20% at handover — with newer launches on 70/30, and it does not offer post-handover plans on that template. If the towers are complete, a resale is settled in full at transfer.

What will I pay on top of the price?

On a ready unit: the 4% DLD transfer fee (about AED 17,960 on AED 449,000), a DLD admin fee of about AED 580, a registration trustee charge of roughly AED 4,000 to AED 4,200 plus 5% VAT, and title deed and map fees near AED 500. Agency commission, where used, is 2% plus 5% VAT. There is no annual property tax in Dubai and no VAT on a residential sale.

What yield can I expect?

International City rents run about AED 28,000 to AED 55,000 a year across types, and 2026 guides quote the district at 7% to 9% gross with one putting net yields at 8.8% to 10.4%. A one-bedroom bought near the record price and renting at AED 38,000 would gross around 8%. That is arithmetic on a figure whose currency we cannot confirm, so price the deal off a real asking price and a real signed tenancy contract.

Does it qualify for the Golden Visa?

No. The threshold is AED 2 million of property value and the figure on record here is AED 449,000. You would need several properties to reach it.

Can an Indian buyer own it, and how does the money leave India?

Yes — the Dragon City and International City area is freehold and open to any nationality, with the title deed issued in your own name and no local partner needed. AED 449,000 is about USD 122,000, well inside one person's Reserve Bank of India Liberalised Remittance Scheme allowance of USD 250,000 per financial year. The rent is untaxed in the UAE, but an Indian tax resident declares it in India.

Who is Nakheel?

The government-linked developer behind Palm Jumeirah, International City, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Village Circle, Jumeirah Village Triangle, Al Furjan and Ibn Battuta Mall, now part of Dubai Holding Real Estate. It recorded AED 12.6 billion of sales in 2025 at an average AED 6.26 million per unit, the highest average of any Dubai developer after Meraas.

Compare with other Dubai projects

Also in International City: Lawnz by Danube (from AED 485,000, ready).

More by Nakheel: Palm Beach Towers (from AED 2 M, handover 2026) and Jebel Ali Village Villas (from AED 6.1 M, ready).

A similar budget elsewhere in Dubai: MAG 5 Boulevard (from AED 449,000, ready), Petalz By Danube (from AED 450,000, handover 2026) and Vista by Prestige One (from AED 440,000, ready).

Read next: Dubai Rental Yields by Area, Gross and Net · Resale Property in Dubai: Costs, Checks and When It Beats Off-Plan · Property in Dubai Under AED 1 Million: What It Buys. Every Dubai project we track is listed on the Dubai section.