Sobha Sanctuary Dubailand Dubai

Sobha Sanctuary is the largest master development Sobha Realty has launched in Dubai: about 37.5 million sq ft in Al Yufrah 1, Dubailand, off Dubai-Al Ain Road and close to Sobha's own Elwood villas. Sobha unveiled it on 26 January 2026, in the Sobha Group's 50th year, with a stated value of AED 50 billion and a plan for about 20,000 homes - roughly 18,000 apartments and 2,000 villas - built in phases over four to eight years.

This page covers what is on sale now: the first release of about 250 villas and townhouses, four to six bedrooms of about 2,459 to 7,191 sq ft, in four clusters called Brooks, Greens, Grove and Willows. It is listed from AED 3.99M (about Rs 10.27 crore), the plan is 20/40/40, and first handovers are due from Q3 2029. It has nothing to do with Ellington Sanctuary in MBR City, a different developer's villa community.

At a glance

Price and unit pricing

We print AED 3.99M because the source listing gives it and Sobha's launch coverage in Gulf News, Arabian Business and Khaleej Times says the same: prices from Dh3.99 million. Broker pages put that start in the Brooks cluster. The other starts in the table come from broker pages for each cluster and have not been confirmed on a Sobha price sheet.

Two things do not line up. Some pages call the AED 3.99M home a four-bedroom townhouse, others a garden villa, and the same 2,459 sq ft is printed for both the Brooks entry and the Greens garden villa. It may be one layout used in two clusters. The count differs too: the launch coverage says about 250 homes in the first release, while one broker page says about 400 villas, 30% of them townhouses, perhaps counting the Willows cluster. Ask Sobha for the cluster, home type and plot size in writing.

Against Sobha's other Dubailand villas

Sobha Reserve in Wadi Al Safa 2 sells four-bedroom villas of about 4,991 sq ft from about AED 7.68 M, roughly AED 1,539 per sq ft. Sobha Elwood, nearby, launched near AED 1,600 per sq ft and now starts at AED 9.93 M, about AED 2,000 per sq ft, for 4,958 sq ft. Sanctuary's entry, at about AED 1,623 per sq ft, is priced at the same rate as Elwood's launch. What makes it cheaper is the size of the house: about half the floor area, for about half the money.

Payment plan and total cost

Most pages give 20/40/40: 20% on booking, 40% during construction and 40% on handover, with nothing after handover. One broker page prints a 10% booking on a 60/40 instead. The SPA fixes which plan and dates apply.

Worked example: the AED 3,990,000 entry home

A broker adds 2% plus VAT, about AED 83,790; buying direct from Sobha does not. The first cheque is the big one: the booking and the DLD fee together are about AED 961,840, roughly USD 262,000, due within weeks of signing.

The handover payment. AED 1,596,000, about USD 435,000, falls due in 2029. Many buyers fund it with a UAE mortgage taken at handover; non-residents are usually lent a smaller share of the value than residents, so ask a bank early and plan the rest in cash.

Service charge. Not published. A 2026 guide puts Dubailand master-community villa charges at AED 2.20 to 3.10 per sq ft of plot a year, or AED 2,200 to 3,100 for every 1,000 sq ft of plot. Sanctuary's plot sizes are not published, and a community with this much planned may run above that range.

Location and connectivity

Sobha Sanctuary is in Al Yufrah 1, on the Dubai-Al Ain Road (E66) side of Dubailand, close to Sobha Elwood; one broker page names Lahbab Road as its frontage. Sobha has not published drive times for Sanctuary. For Elwood nearby, the quoted times are about 10 minutes to Dragon Mart, 20 to Downtown Dubai, 25 to Dubai International Airport (DXB) and 30 to Al Maktoum International (DWC); a Bayut area guide puts Dubailand at 30 to 40 minutes from the main parts of the city, which is the more honest peak-hour figure. There is no metro.

This is the outer edge of Dubailand, and the community was only launched in January 2026, so almost all of it is still to be built. Sobha's plan is to bring the city to it: a hospital, two international schools, a community mall, a wellness centre and a large destination park at the centre, ringed by football grounds, running tracks, padel courts and a skate park. None of it exists yet.

The flip side of a 20,000-home plan built over four to eight years is that early buyers live on a building site for much of the 2030s. For comparison across the city, see all Dubai projects we track, Sobha's projects in Dubai or the full projects list.

Amenities and specifications

Sobha's pages describe the villa clusters. The Grove is a limited collection of four, five and six-bedroom estate villas on large plots with private gardens; broker pages add that its signature villas have private pools. The Greens offers four and five-bedroom villas with private gardens. The Willows sits among the wellness amenities - forest jogging and cycling loops, and yoga and pilates pavilions. The Brooks, on broker pages, carries the entry homes: four-bedroom garden villas or townhouses and five-bedroom courtyard villas of up to about 4,107 sq ft.

Across the release, built-up areas run from about 2,459 sq ft for a four-bedroom to about 7,191 sq ft for a six-bedroom. Sobha builds in-house, but no finish schedule or appliance list is published for Sanctuary yet.

The sources checked do not publish plot sizes, parking, the finish schedule, appliance brands or the service charge. The "forest" theme in the marketing is a design intent, not a quantity; ask how many trees and how much open space your cluster actually gets. Final specification as per the SPA.

About the developer

Sobha Realty is the Dubai arm of the Sobha Group, which PNC Menon founded in Oman in 1976; Indian buyers know the group through Sobha Limited in Bengaluru. It has built in Dubai since 2003, and its distinguishing feature is that it designs, engineers and builds in-house rather than handing the work to contractors. Its best-known project is Sobha Hartland in MBR City, and Sanctuary follows Sobha Reserve and Sobha Elwood as its villa communities on this side of Dubailand.

The delivery numbers are large and recent. For 2026 Sobha announced 6,819 handovers across Sobha Hartland, Hartland II, Sobha Reserve, Sobha One and Verde, worth about AED 21.6 billion and more than all its earlier deliveries combined, and it reported about 3,000 units completed ahead of schedule in FY2025. The record is good rather than perfect: an independent review found the first Hartland buildings delivered 6 to 14 months later than first promised. Sobha Reserve, due in Q4 2026, is the nearest test of how its Dubailand villas are delivered.

For Indian buyers

Ownership. Dubailand is freehold for foreign buyers. During construction your purchase is an Oqood record at the DLD; at handover the DLD issues the title deed in your name. There is no annual property tax and no VAT on a residential sale; the government cost is the 4% DLD transfer fee, AED 159,600 on the entry home. Our guide to buying Dubai property from India covers the paperwork.

Remittance. Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme each person can send USD 250,000 per financial year, a couple USD 500,000. The booking and DLD fee alone are about USD 262,000, just over one person's allowance, so two family members should remit, or use funds already outside India. The whole home with fees is about USD 1.13 million over roughly four years, within a couple's allowance if the handover payment is planned early. The 20% TCS on remittances above Rs 10 lakh a year is adjusted against your income tax.

Golden Visa. The property route needs AED 2 million. Every home in Sanctuary is priced above it, so one purchase carries a ten-year residence visa on the title deed value.

Rent and tax. Nothing here can be let before 2029. One 2026 guide puts a large, established Dubailand villa community at 5.6 to 6.4% gross on a median resale of AED 4.2 million; a new home in a community still being built should be underwritten below that. The UAE levies no tax on the rent; an Indian tax resident declares it in India, with the 30% standard deduction, and reports the house as a foreign asset.

Pros

• Entry at AED 3.99M, about half the ticket of Sobha Reserve or Sobha Elwood
• Every home is above the AED 2 M Golden Visa threshold
• A developer that builds in-house and is handing over 6,819 homes in 2026
• A hospital, two schools, a mall and a central park are in the master plan
• 40% at handover keeps most of the money with you until the house exists

Cons

• First handovers only from Q3 2029, three years away
• A 20,000-home master plan built over four to eight years means years of building work around you
• The entry home is about 2,459 sq ft - half the size of Sobha's other Dubailand villas
• Plot sizes, unit count per cluster, DLD project number and service charge not published
• The AED 3.99M home is a townhouse on some pages and a garden villa on others

Who this is for

• Families who want a Sobha-built four-bedroom house in Dubai for about AED 4 M
• Golden Visa buyers who want a house rather than an apartment
• Buyers who can wait until late 2029 and fund 40% at handover

Who should look elsewhere

• Anyone who needs to move in or earn rent before 2030
• Yield-first investors: large Dubailand villa communities return about 5.6 to 6.4% gross at best
• Buyers who want a finished neighbourhood - this one will be building for years
• Anyone who cannot plan around USD 435,000 due at handover

Our verdict

Sobha Sanctuary is Sobha's cheapest way into one of its villa communities: a four-bedroom of about 2,459 sq ft for AED 3.99M, where its Reserve and Elwood villas start near AED 7.7 M and AED 9.9 M. Per foot, at about AED 1,623, it is priced close to where Elwood launched, so the saving is in the size of the house, not the rate. The developer is the strongest part of the case: it builds in-house and is handing over more homes in 2026 than in all earlier years combined. The weak parts are time and scale - keys from late 2029 at the earliest, in a master plan that will be building around you for years after.

A sound buy for a family or Golden Visa buyer who wants a Sobha-built house near AED 4 M and can wait until 2030 to live in it. Confirm the cluster, whether your home is a townhouse or a villa, the plot size and the SPA date before you book. If you need a house sooner, look at Sobha Reserve, which is due in Q4 2026, or at ready villas elsewhere in Dubailand.

Talk to Realty Hunting for the current price list, the developer's latest payment plan and a site-visit plan.

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 Sobha Sanctuary?

From AED 3.99M (about Rs 10.27 crore) for a four-bedroom of about 2,459 sq ft, on the source listing and in Sobha's launch coverage. Greens garden villas start at AED 4.05 M, Willows villas at AED 4.0 M and Grove signature villas with private pools at AED 9.32 M.

What is the payment plan?

20/40/40: 20% on booking, 40% during construction and 40% on handover. On AED 3.99M that is AED 798,000, AED 1,596,000 and AED 1,596,000, plus the 4% DLD fee of AED 159,600. One broker page prints a 10% booking instead.

When is handover?

First handovers from Q3 2029, on Sobha's launch coverage. The master plan runs in phases over four to eight years, so confirm your cluster's date in the SPA.

Is this page about the whole Sobha Sanctuary community?

It covers the first release - about 250 villas and townhouses in four clusters - within a master plan of about 20,000 homes. The 18,000 apartments planned for later phases will come as their own launches with their own prices.

How is it different from Sobha Elwood and Sobha Reserve?

Elwood and Reserve are 4 to 6 bedroom villa communities whose four-bedrooms run about 5,000 sq ft, from about AED 9.93 M and AED 7.68 M, due Q4 2027 and Q4 2026. Sanctuary starts smaller and cheaper, at about 2,459 sq ft for AED 3.99M, and hands over later, from Q3 2029.

Is it the same as Ellington's Sanctuary?

No. Ellington's Sanctuary is a separate villa community in District 11 of MBR City by a different developer. Sobha Sanctuary is in Al Yufrah, Dubailand.

Does it qualify for the Golden Visa?

Yes. Every home is priced above the AED 2 million property threshold, so one purchase covers it on the title deed value.

Can an Indian buyer own a villa here?

Yes. Dubailand is freehold for foreign buyers. The money leaves India under the LRS, up to USD 250,000 per person per financial year; the booking plus fees is about USD 262,000, so plan it with two remitters.

Compare with other Dubai projects

Also in Dubailand: Binghatti Tilal Dunes Villas (from AED 4.2 M, handover 2029), Tilal Binghatti (from AED 4.2 M, handover 2028), Acres by Meraas (from AED 5.09 M, handover 2028) and Cassia Villas at the Wilds (from AED 5.1 M, handover 2029).

More by Sobha: Sobha Seahaven (from AED 4.5 M, off-plan), Sobha Skyscape (from AED 1.9M, handover 2028) and Waves Grande (from AED 1.73 M, ready).

A similar budget elsewhere in Dubai: Jouri Hills Villas (from AED 3.9 M, handover 2026), DAMAC Hills - Trump Estates (from AED 3,800,000, ready) and Nad Al Sheba Gardens (from AED 4.18 M, handover 2029).

Read next: Off-Plan Property in Dubai: How It Works · Dubai Property Payment Plans: 1% Monthly, Post-Handover and More · Villas and Townhouses for Sale in Dubai: Prices and Returns. Every Dubai project we track is listed on the Dubai section.