Dubai property, explained › Living here
Makani numbers
Dubai’s ten-digit address: one number for every building entrance in the city, what it is for, how to find yours, and the three other numbers it gets confused with.
Written September 2026 · 3 min read
Makani is Arabic for "my location", and a Makani number is Dubai's address. Every building entrance in the emirate carries one: ten digits, issued by Dubai Municipality, on a green plate by the door. Give the number to a courier, a taxi, a friend or an ambulance and they arrive at the door, not the district. In a city that named its streets late and numbers its buildings by plot, it is the one address that always works.
What the digits are
The number is a position, not a label. The ten digits are two coordinates on a metre grid laid over the emirate, the first five running east and the last five north, so each number describes a spot a metre square and no two entrances share one. That is why a building with three entrances has three Makani numbers, why a villa's is its gate, and why the number cannot go out of date: it is not looked up in a register somebody has to maintain, it is the place itself. Type it into the Makani app, or into a map that understands it, and the pin lands on the door.
Where to find yours
- On the plate. A green sign at the entrance of the building, the ten digits under the word Makani. Most towers carry it beside the main door; villas on the gate post
- In the Makani app, or on its website. Search the building name, or drop a pin, and it returns the number for that entrance
- In the Dubai Now app, which carries it for any address you have on file
- On a DEWA bill, alongside the premise number, which is the number Makani is most often confused with
The four numbers a Dubai home has
| Number | Issued by | What it identifies | Who asks for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Makani number | Dubai Municipality | An entrance, to a metre | Couriers, drivers, emergency services, visitors |
| DEWA premise number | DEWA | A metered unit's supply | DEWA when you move in, and the Ejari registration |
| Plot number | Dubai Land Department | The land parcel the building stands on | The title deed, the sale contract, the developer |
| Unit number | The building | Your apartment within it | Everyone, once they are inside |
The confusion that costs people time is Makani against the DEWA premise number. The premise number is an account, nine or ten digits, that belongs to the meter in your unit, and DEWA and Ejari need it; the Makani number is a place, and neither of them can use it. Both appear on a DEWA bill, labelled. If a form asks for a Makani and you are holding a premise number, or the reverse, you have the wrong one.
Why it exists
Dubai grew faster than its street names, and for most of the city's life an address was a description: behind the mall, opposite the mosque, the tower with the blue top. Dubai Municipality launched Makani in 2015 to replace the description with a number any system could read, and the emergency services adopted it first, because a caller who can read the plate can be reached. Delivery apps followed, then the ride-hailing services, and today most of the forms in the city that want to know where you live will take it. The system has since spread to several of the other emirates, which use the same plates and the same app. Abu Dhabi runs its own scheme, Onwani, with street names and building numbers in the older style.
What it is not
It is not proof of address; that is your Ejari, or a DEWA bill. It does not identify a unit, only the door to the building the unit is in, so a delivery still needs the floor and the apartment number. And it is not the number on your title deed, which is the plot. It is simply the fastest way to tell someone where the door is, and once you have used it you will notice how little else does that.
Where this leads
The pages that pick up from here
Ejari →
The registration that asks for the DEWA premise number — the number a Makani is most often mistaken for.
The area guides →
Every Dubai community, with what it sells for and rents for from the registers.
Property for rent →
Every McCone rental, by community and building.
Questions people ask
Makani numbers, answered
What is a Makani number?
A ten-digit number that Dubai Municipality assigns to every building entrance in the emirate. The digits encode the entrance’s position on a grid to within a metre, so the number is the location — there is no lookup table to go out of date.
How do I find my Makani number?
It is on the green plate at the entrance of the building, in the Makani app and on its website, and in the Dubai Now app. Drop a pin on the map or type the building name and it returns the number.
Is the Makani number the same as the DEWA premise number?
No. The DEWA premise number identifies a metered unit and is what DEWA and Ejari ask for; the Makani number identifies an entrance and is what a courier, a driver or an ambulance asks for. Both are on a DEWA bill.
Does every building have a Makani number?
Every building with an entrance in Dubai, and a building with several entrances has several numbers. A villa’s is its gate. The plate is at the entrance; the app has the rest.
Does Makani work outside Dubai?
Several other emirates have adopted it, and Makani plates appear in the northern emirates. Abu Dhabi runs its own system, Onwani, with street names and building numbers rather than a coordinate.
Regulation here is stated as regulation, and what the market merely does is marked as convention. Figures were checked in September 2026; the rest of the set is written the same way.