Downtown Dubai

Downtown Dubai is the address at the foot of the tallest building in the world, and it was built to be exactly that. Emaar laid it out around the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Mall and the fountain lake, a district of apartment towers along a boulevard, with an opera house, a low-rise Arabian quarter and the hotels that carry the brand's name, and it is where the city puts its skyline on the postcard. It is also a place a few thousand people call home, and this page is about that.

The place

The district sits between Sheikh Zayed Road and Business Bay, with Financial Centre Road on one side and Al Khail Road beyond. The boulevard loops through it, lined with towers, cafes and the district's hotels; the lake and the fountain sit at the centre with the mall on one side and the tower on the other; the opera district fills the ground between the lake and the boulevard's far side. The Old Town quarter, low-rise and Arabian in style, sits beside the mall and has its own guide.

The district is busy at all hours and never more than on the evenings when the fountain plays and the city arrives to watch it.

What you get

Apartments only, from one-bedroom flats to some of the largest penthouses in the city, in towers that span the district's whole history: the early Emaar buildings around the lake and the Old Town, the boulevard towers of the district's middle years, and the newer towers of the opera district and the boulevard's far end, several of them carrying hotel operators' names. Service charges are among the highest in the city and finish, in the newer buildings, matches.

The Old Town quarter beside the mall is the district's exception: low-rise, Arabian in style, shaded and quiet, with courtyards and a souk of its own, and its flats trade as a market apart from the towers. It has its own guide.

Views are the currency here as nowhere else. A flat that looks at the tower and the fountain, and the same layout that looks at the road, are different markets, and the register records the gap building by building.

Getting around

The Metro's station at the mall connects to the district by a long air-conditioned walkway, and residents of the towers nearest it use it; for the rest it is a walk in the cooler months and a taxi in the warmer. By car, the boulevard's few exits onto Sheikh Zayed Road, Financial Centre Road and Al Khail Road congest at the peak, on fountain evenings and badly on the nights the city celebrates here; residents learn the hours and the back ways. DIFC and Business Bay are minutes away, the Marina is a long run and the airport a reasonable one. Parking is allocated by flat and paid for visitors.

Day to day

The Dubai Mall is the district's high street, with everything a city centre holds, and the boulevard's cafes and restaurants carry the everyday. The opera district carries the evenings for those who want them and the fountain carries them for everyone else. Supermarkets sit in the towers' podiums. There are no schools in the district; families use the schools of Jumeirah, Al Safa and Al Quoz a short drive away, and nurseries operate in several of the towers.

On the last night of the year the district is closed to cars, the tower is lit for the fireworks and the whole city comes; a resident here either hosts or leaves. The rest of the year's evenings are busy enough that the towers facing the lake are the ones that never sleep, and the towers on the boulevard's far side are the quieter choice.

Who it suits

People who want the address and will pay for it. Executives who work in DIFC or along Sheikh Zayed Road and want to walk to the desk. Buyers from abroad for whom the tower in the window is the point. Owners who intend to let, because the district's furnished and short-stay market is among the deepest in the city.

It suits families less well, and anyone who wants quiet, a garden, a school within walking distance or the most space for the money.

Buying and renting here

The district's towers span two decades and the register shows the spread: the tables on this page and the building pages beneath it list what each building's layouts actually fetched, and the gap between the early lake-side buildings, the boulevard towers and the new opera district is plain in those prices. Buyers should look at the service charge, which varies widely, at the cooling arrangements and, in the operated residences, at the operator's rules. Off-plan launches continue at the district's edges and are kept apart from resales here.

For tenants, the official index caps a renewal while a new lease follows the market, and the gap here is wide. Landlords weighing a furnished short-stay let should check the tower's rules first.

Buildings to know

The tower itself carries residences on its lower floors; the early Emaar buildings around the lake and the Old Town, the boulevard towers and the operated residences of the district's hotel brands are the settled stock; the opera district's towers are the newest premium end. The table below shows where the district's sales are actually happening, and every building has its own page with every recorded price.