A two-bedroom apartment in Dubai Hills Estate can be 730 sq ft or more than 1,700 sq ft. Both are listed as “2BR in Dubai Hills”, both share the same parks and the same mall. Yet one gives you almost two and a half times the living space of the other.
Brochures show the best layouts and portals mix sizes from different buildings. So we went to the registered unit sizes of more than 10,000 apartments across the community. Here is where the space really is.
THE COMMUNITY BENCHMARK
Across all apartment buildings in Dubai Hills Estate, the typical registered unit size is:
| Unit type | Median size |
|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | approx. 686 sq ft |
| 2 bedrooms | approx. 1,067 sq ft |
| 3 bedrooms | approx. 1,673 sq ft |
Anything well above these numbers is a spacious apartment by Dubai Hills standards. Anything well below is compact.
TOP BUILDINGS FOR SPACIOUS TWO-BEDROOM APARTMENTS
The two-bedroom is the most traded apartment type in Dubai Hills, and this is where the gap between buildings is widest.
| Building | Typical 2BR size |
|---|---|
| Gardenia Residence A | approx. 1,718 sq ft |
| Gardenia Residence B | approx. 1,585 sq ft |
| 399 Hills Park B | approx. 1,502 sq ft |
| Golf Residences by Fortimo | approx. 1,432 sq ft |
| Ellington House IV | approx. 1,370 sq ft |
| Ellington House III | approx. 1,366 sq ft |
| Ellington House II | approx. 1,365 sq ft |
| Ellington House | approx. 1,363 sq ft |
| Mulberry at Park Heights | approx. 1,359 sq ft |
| Acacia at Park Heights | approx. 1,322 sq ft |
A typical two-bedroom at the top of this list is 50 to 60 percent larger than the community median. In some of these buildings a two-bedroom is close to the size of a standard three-bedroom elsewhere in Dubai Hills.
THE LARGEST ONE-BEDROOMS
One-bedroom apartments are where buyers most often feel squeezed. Several buildings break that pattern, with one-bedrooms above 900 sq ft:
| Building | Typical 1BR size |
|---|---|
| 399 Hills Park B | approx. 950 sq ft |
| Golf Residences by Fortimo | approx. 936 sq ft |
| Gardenia Residence B | approx. 933 sq ft |
| Mulberry at Park Heights | approx. 915 sq ft |
| Acacia at Park Heights | approx. 904 sq ft |
That is about a third more space than the typical Dubai Hills one-bedroom.
For an end user this is the difference between a living room you put up with and a living room you actually use. For an investor it means a stronger rental listing at the same price per sq ft.
THE LARGEST THREE-BEDROOMS
| Building | Typical 3BR size |
|---|---|
| Golf Residences by Fortimo | approx. 2,421 sq ft |
| 399 Hills Park B | approx. 2,163 sq ft |
| Mulberry at Park Heights | approx. 1,953 sq ft |
| Ellington House III and IV | approx. 1,867 sq ft |
| Golf Grand | approx. 1,857 sq ft |
| Parkside Hills | approx. 1,853 sq ft |
A three-bedroom of 2,000 to 2,400 sq ft is townhouse territory in many Dubai communities. Here it comes with a lift, concierge and no garden to maintain.
THE PENTHOUSE LEVEL
At the very top, a handful of apartments in Dubai Hills are larger than many villas:
- Ellington House IV has a three-bedroom penthouse registered at approx. 5,825 sq ft.
- Acacia at Park Heights has four-bedroom units of approx. 5,470 to 5,540 sq ft in buildings B and C.
- Ellington House III has a four-bedroom of approx. 5,361 sq ft.
- Mulberry at Park Heights has four-bedroom apartments of approx. 3,700 to 3,900 sq ft.
These units rarely come to market. When they do, they compete with villas on space while offering apartment-style convenience.
WHERE THE APARTMENTS ARE COMPACT
At the other end of the scale are buildings designed around smaller, investor-friendly layouts.
Collective, Collective 2.0, Socio and Golfville have typical two-bedrooms of approx. 730 to 750 sq ft and one-bedrooms under 510 sq ft.
This is not a criticism. Compact units have lower entry tickets and lower service charges, and they rent quickly. But a buyer comparing price per sq ft between these buildings and those at the top of the ranking is not comparing the same product.
WHY SIZE MATTERS MORE THAN PRICE PER SQ FT
Buyers often focus on the price per sq ft and miss the total size. A spacious unit at a slightly higher price per sq ft often resells faster.
The pool of buyers looking for genuinely large apartments in an established community is deep, and the supply of such units is limited. Most new launches in Dubai are getting smaller, not larger.
The generous layouts of earlier Dubai Hills projects are unlikely to be repeated at the same scale.
Space also has a running cost. Apartment service charges in Dubai Hills Estate are generally AED 18 to 22 per sq ft per year, calculated on the built-up area.
A 1,700 sq ft two-bedroom therefore costs roughly AED 30,600 to 37,400 a year in service charges. A 1,067 sq ft unit costs roughly AED 19,200 to 23,500. Rates are approved annually through Mollak and should be verified for each building before any transaction.
A NOTE ON REGISTERED SIZES
The figures above are registered unit sizes. Depending on the building, these may include balconies and terraces.
Two units with the same registered size can have very different internal living areas if one has a large terrace.
Always check the floor plan and the split between internal area and outdoor space before comparing two apartments.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If space is your priority in Dubai Hills Estate, focus your search on Gardenia Residence, 399 Hills Park, Golf Residences by Fortimo, the Ellington House buildings, Mulberry and Acacia at Park Heights.
A two-bedroom there can give you the space of a three-bedroom elsewhere in the same community, often for far less than the price of an extra bedroom.
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