Sobha City Al Bahyah Abu Dhabi

Sobha City is Sobha Realty's first project in Abu Dhabi: a 38 million sq ft master community in Al Bahyah, on the E10/E12 corridor between Zayed International Airport and Yas Island, with a stated value of AED 40 billion. It was announced on 11 April 2026. Phase 1 covers about 8 million sq ft and 470 homes: 270 waterfront apartments at River Cove Residences, 100 garden villas at The Terraces and 100 estate villas at The Orchard.

The launch price list reads AED 1.31 million (about Rs 3.37 crore) for a 1 BHK of 568 to 609 sq ft, AED 2.40 million for a 2 BHK, AED 4.96 million for a 3 BHK garden villa and AED 9.05 million for an estate villa, on a 60/40 payment plan with handover in December 2029. Phase 1 was reported sold out within weeks of launch, so these are launch prices and the next release has not yet been priced. All the UAE projects we track are on the Dubai section.

At a glance

Price and unit pricing

The source listing, the developer's launch material and every portal we checked print the same starting figures. The table is the Phase 1 launch list; the next release is unpriced.

The apartments are priced at about AED 2,000 to 2,300 per sq ft, above the AED 1,200 to 1,800 band reported for Yas Island resales, the nearest established market. You are paying a launch premium for a new master community and a Sobha specification, not a discount for being early. The villas come in at AED 1,400 to 1,900 per sq ft, the usual pattern on a 38 million sq ft site. And "from" means the smallest unit on the lowest floor: a 1 BHK with a promenade view will not be AED 1.31 million.

Payment plan and total cost

Sobha's plan is 60/40: 20% on booking, 40% during construction and 40% on completion. Two versions of the construction 40% are in circulation: 25% in 5% steps every three months then 15% in 5% steps every six months, or eight 5% instalments at months 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30 and 36. Same money by the same date; the sale and purchase agreement settles which you are on. Our guide to UAE payment plans covers the mechanics.

Abu Dhabi charges a 2% transfer and registration fee through ADREC, against the Dubai DLD's 4%: the biggest cost difference between the two emirates, worth AED 26,200 on the entry unit. Worked at the 1 BHK launch price:

Add 2% plus VAT in agency commission if you buy through a broker. Service charges are not yet published; one Abu Dhabi guide tells landlords to budget AED 25 to 45 per sq ft a year, and a community that waters 50,000 trees and runs a golf course and a marina will not sit at the bottom of that band. On a 568 sq ft apartment, AED 30 per sq ft is about AED 17,000 a year. Get the estimate in writing, because it decides your net yield.

Location and connectivity

Al Bahyah is a coastal district on the mainland north-east of Abu Dhabi island, on the road to Dubai: a quiet area of Emirati villas and low-rise housing until now, with Sobha City the first master community of this size in it. The site sits along the E10 and E12, which puts Zayed International Airport about 14 minutes away and Yas Mall about 13. Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld and Warner Bros. World are under 15 minutes, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Saadiyat about 25, the Corniche about 30, and Dubai roughly an hour along the E11. This is the Dubai side of Abu Dhabi, and Disney's announced Yas Island park is why the corridor is in the news.

Inside the plan the developer quotes a 2 km waterfront promenade with a marina, an 18 to 20 km wellness loop (the two figures come from different Sobha releases) and about 60% of the land as green or open space, which is why a 38 million sq ft site starts with only 470 homes. The other side of that is time: the promenade, the golf course and the retail are promises with nothing built yet, and the schools and shops around a new community here are further away than on Yas Island itself.

Amenities and specifications

The developer lists a par-3 golf course, multi-sport courts, jogging and cycling tracks, open-air fitness zones, community lounges, an amphitheatre, children's play areas, tai-chi lawns, meditation zones and forest trails, along with the promenade and the marina. That is more than a typical community in this price band gets, and more to maintain, which is why the service-charge estimate matters.

The homes come in three products: River Cove Residences, two low-rise apartment buildings on the promenade with 1 and 2 BHK units; The Terraces, garden villas over ground plus one or two floors with a majlis, in 3 and 4 BHK layouts; and The Orchard, standalone 4 to 6 bedroom estate villas with private pools on 4,500 sq ft plots. Unit finishes, appliances and parking counts are not itemised by any source we found. Sobha's Dubai buildings come with fitted kitchens and one bay per apartment as standard; the SPA will list what is included here.

About the developer

Sobha Realty is the UAE arm of the Sobha group, founded by PNC Menon in Oman in 1976 and better known to Indian buyers through Sobha Limited in Bengaluru, which builds the Sobha City township in Gurgaon. In Dubai it is the master developer of Sobha Hartland in Mohammed Bin Rashid City, where it has handed over Creek Vistas (January 2022), One Park Avenue (two months early), Creek Vistas Grande (November 2024, six months early) and Crest Grande, and is finishing Sobha One, Creek Vista Heights and the Hartland II villas through 2026. Its Dubai projects are listed on the Sobha Dubai page.

Sobha builds through its own contracting and manufacturing companies rather than subcontracting the shell, which is why its recent handovers have landed on or ahead of date. The record is not spotless: an independent review found the original Hartland buildings delivered six to fourteen months later than first promised, against a Dubai market average of eighteen to twenty-four months at the time. Sobha City is its first project in Abu Dhabi and its first under ADREC rather than the Dubai DLD; it has also gone beyond Dubai with Sobha Siniya Island in Umm Al Quwain. A strong builder in a new regulatory setting is still a strong builder, but it is one more thing to verify rather than assume.

For Indian buyers

Sobha City is sold as freehold to all nationalities, with the title registered on ADREC's DARI platform rather than the Dubai DLD. The UAE has no annual property tax; the recurring cost is the service charge. Our guide to buying UAE property from India applies here with the regulator's name changed.

Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme each person can send USD 250,000 a financial year. The 1 BHK at AED 1.31 million is about USD 357,000 in total, which exceeds one person's allowance, but the 60/40 plan does the splitting for you: the 20% booking is about USD 71,000, the construction instalments about USD 143,000 spread over three years, and the 40% handover payment about USD 143,000 in 2029. One person's allowance covers each year comfortably. A 2 BHK at AED 2.40 million, about USD 654,000, is better bought jointly with a spouse so the handover payment fits inside two allowances. TCS applies on remittances above the threshold and is set off against your Indian tax.

On residency, a 2 BHK or any villa clears the AED 2 million Golden Visa threshold on a single purchase; a 1 BHK does not on its own. Abu Dhabi tests the equity you hold outside any mortgage, and off-plan purchases from approved developers are accepted, so keep the registered value and your receipts together. On tax at home, rent from the UAE is taxable in India for a resident as income from house property with the standard 30% deduction, and a sale is a capital gain in India as well; the UAE charges neither.

Pros

• A master developer with its own construction arm and a recent record of early Dubai handovers, backed by a stated AED 40 billion commitment to this one site
• Entry at AED 1.31 million for a 1 BHK on a 2 km waterfront promenade, 14 minutes from the airport and 13 from Yas Mall
• Abu Dhabi's 2% transfer fee is half of Dubai's 4%, and Yas Island apartments run 6 to 8% gross on long lets, the nearest comparable rental market
• 60/40 plan with only 20% down and 5% instalments, so the outlay before handover is spread over three years
• Phase 1 sold out fast, which supports resale demand for the next release and for assignments of Phase 1 contracts
• A 2 BHK at AED 2.40 million and every villa clears the AED 2 million Golden Visa line on one purchase
• 60% open space, 50,000 trees, a golf course and a marina are a real specification, not a rendering

Cons

• Phase 1 is sold out and the next release is unpriced: AED 1.31 million is a launch price you may no longer be able to buy at
• Al Bahyah has no rental record for a community like this, so every yield quoted is Yas Island's, not Sobha City's
• Handover is December 2029, over three years away, for a first phase on a site with nothing built yet
• Sobha's first Abu Dhabi project and its first under ADREC; the escrow bank and the project number are not yet in the public sources
• Service charges are not published, and a community with a golf course, a marina and 50,000 trees will not be cheap to run
• Two different instalment schedules are circulating for the same 60/40 plan; only the SPA settles which applies
• The 1 BHK at 568 sq ft is compact for the money; the same sum buys about 800 sq ft at Yas Island's resale rate

Who this is for

• Buyers who want an airport-side Abu Dhabi home from a developer with its own construction arm, and can wait until 2029
• Investors who missed Sobha Hartland's launch pricing in Dubai and want the same developer's first phase in a new city
• Families looking at a 3 or 4 BHK garden villa near Yas Island's schools and attractions at AED 4.96 to 8.07 million
• Golden Visa buyers who want a single 2 BHK or villa purchase to clear the AED 2 million line

Who should look elsewhere

• Anyone who needs a rent cheque before 2030, or a title deed they can mortgage this year
• Investors who underwrite on Yas Island yields without allowing for a community that has no rental record of its own
• Buyers who assume Dubai's rules apply: the regulator, the fee, the escrow platform and the visa equity test are all Abu Dhabi's
• Anyone who will not read the SPA to find out which of the two instalment schedules they are signing

Our verdict

Sobha City is a developer we rate putting AED 40 billion behind a site in the one part of Abu Dhabi that has been short of new master communities. The product is sound and the corridor is right. The pricing is full rather than cheap: about AED 2,150 to 2,300 per sq ft for an apartment is above Yas Island's resale band, and the yields everyone quotes belong to a different island. Phase 1 selling out in weeks tells you the demand is there; it also tells you the launch price is gone. Register for the next release, verify the ADREC project number and the escrow account on DARI before you pay a dirham, get the exact instalment schedule and a service-charge estimate in writing, and hold to 2029 and beyond rather than counting on a flip. What the same money buys in Dubai is on the projects page, and our note on buying off-plan in the UAE is the checklist for the sales office.

FAQs

What is the starting price at Sobha City Abu Dhabi?

Phase 1 launched 1 BHK apartments from AED 1.31 million (about Rs 3.37 crore), 2 BHK from AED 2.40 million, 3 BHK garden villas from AED 4.96 million, 4 BHK garden villas from AED 8.07 million and estate villas from AED 9.05 million. Phase 1 is reported sold out, so treat these as launch prices: the next release is not yet priced and a developer rarely prices a second phase below the first.

What is the payment plan?

60/40: 20% on booking, 40% during construction in 5% instalments, and 40% on handover in December 2029. Two schedules for the construction 40% are quoted by different sources, one over three-month and six-month intervals, the other at months 6 to 36. The SPA settles it. On a 1 BHK at AED 1.31 million the booking is AED 262,000, about Rs 67.5 lakh.

When is handover?

December 2029 on the launch material, three and a half years after the April 2026 launch. Nothing is above ground yet, so this is a plan rather than a milestone. Sobha's recent Dubai buildings have handed over early, but its first Hartland phase ran six to fourteen months late, so budget for a delay you can live with.

Is Sobha City regulated by the Dubai DLD?

No. It is in Abu Dhabi, so the regulator is the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre, ADREC, and the registration platform is DARI. Abu Dhabi law requires an off-plan project's buyer payments to sit in a project escrow account that the developer draws against construction milestones. The project number and the escrow bank are not published by the sources we checked; ask for both and verify them on DARI before paying.

What are the buying fees in Abu Dhabi?

The transfer and registration fee is 2% of the price, half of Dubai's 4%, plus about AED 400 in administrative fees and VAT. On the 1 BHK launch price that is AED 26,200. Agency commission of 2% plus VAT applies only if you buy through a broker rather than direct from the developer.

Does it qualify for a Golden Visa?

A 2 BHK at AED 2.40 million and every villa clears the AED 2 million property threshold on a single purchase; a 1 BHK at AED 1.31 million does not on its own. Abu Dhabi tests the equity you hold outside any mortgage, and off-plan purchases from approved developers are accepted, so keep the registered value and your payment receipts together for the application.

What rent and yield can I expect?

There is no rental record for Sobha City yet; it hands over in 2029. The nearest comparable market is Yas Island, where apartments are reported at 6 to 8% gross on long-term lets and at AED 1,200 to 1,800 per sq ft on resale. Sobha City's entry unit is priced above that band, so underwrite at the low end and take 1.5 to 2 points off for service charges and management.

What are the service charges?

Not published. One Abu Dhabi guide puts the market band at AED 25 to 45 per sq ft a year, and a community that has to water 50,000 trees and run a golf course and a marina will not sit at the bottom of it. On a 568 sq ft 1 BHK, AED 30 per sq ft is about AED 17,000 a year. Ask for the estimate in writing before you sign.

Can an Indian citizen buy at Sobha City?

Yes. It is sold as freehold to all nationalities, with the title registered on ADREC's DARI. Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme each person can send USD 250,000 a financial year. The 1 BHK at AED 1.31 million is about USD 357,000 in total, but the 60/40 plan spreads it: the 20% booking is about USD 71,000 and the construction instalments about USD 143,000 over three years, so one person's allowance covers each year until the 40% handover payment, which a couple can split. TCS applies on remittances above the threshold and is set off against your Indian tax.

Is this the same Sobha City as the one in Gurgaon or in Dubai?

No. Sobha City in Sector 108, Gurgaon is Sobha Limited's Indian township, and Sobha's Dubai communities are Sobha Hartland in Mohammed Bin Rashid City and the newer launches on Sheikh Zayed Road and in Motor City. This page is Sobha Realty's Abu Dhabi master community in Al Bahyah, launched in April 2026, the group's first project in the capital.

For the current price list for the next release, the exact instalment schedule and a site-visit plan, talk to Realty Hunting.

Compare with other Dubai projects

More by Sobha: Sobha Creek Vistas (from AED 1,316,623, ready), Sobha Solis (from AED 1.01 M, handover 2027) and Sobha Central The Horizon (from AED 1.68 M, handover 2029).

A similar budget elsewhere in Dubai: Avenue Residence 8 (from AED 1,315,060, handover 2026), Lacina Residences (from AED 1.3 M, handover 2028) and Orra The Embankment (from AED 1.33 M, ready).

Read next: Off-Plan Property in Dubai: How It Works · Dubai Property Payment Plans: 1% Monthly, Post-Handover and More · The Cost of Buying Property in Dubai. Every Dubai project we track is listed on the Dubai section.