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SUMMARY
Yes. Mina Al Arab is still substantially cheaper than Al Marjan Island today, with the latest off-plan data putting the realistic gap for comparable new property at roughly 27% to 30%.
The headline apartment averages show an even wider difference: about AED 1,782 per sq ft in Mina versus AED 2,570 on Al Marjan. Some of that gap comes from Mina having more older, lower-priced stock, but the discount survives when we compare new property with new property.
For the apartment sizes most buyers actually shop for, the pattern is unusually consistent. Off-plan studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms in Mina are roughly 28% to 31% cheaper per square foot than their Al Marjan equivalents.
That discount changes what a fixed budget buys. At current area-wide off-plan averages, AED 2 million translates into roughly 1,018 sq ft in Mina and 747 sq ft on Al Marjan, or about 271 extra sq ft in Mina.
Mina is no longer a uniformly cheap waterfront market. Older stock can still sit around AED 1,000-1,500 per sq ft, but new mainstream projects are often around AED 1,800-2,200, premium schemes around AED 2,400, and branded residences can move above AED 3,000.
Al Marjan’s premium is broader than a few trophy developments. Even ordinary one- and two-bedroom indices sit around the mid-AED 2,000s per sq ft, so removing the most expensive branded projects would not erase the gap.
There are still exceptions at the building level. Older Al Marjan stock such as Pacific can undercut some new Mina launches, which is why community averages are useful for market direction but not enough to price a specific apartment.
The two areas are not clearly converging. Mina’s broad apartment index is lower than a year ago, while Al Marjan is roughly flat; over two years, Al Marjan has also appreciated faster on the broad apartment measure.
Wynn has already helped reset what buyers are willing to pay on Al Marjan, but the latest index suggests the broad repricing has slowed. The premium is now established enough that Al Marjan does not need another sharp rise to remain in a different price tier.
Mina’s own luxury pipeline can lift individual projects into Al Marjan territory. Four Seasons, Armani, Anantara and Raha Island raise the quality ceiling, but they do not instantly reprice thousands of older and mainstream homes across the wider community.
The practical split is straightforward: Mina currently offers much more space for the money, while Al Marjan charges a premium for its concentrated resort ecosystem, Wynn exposure and international-investment positioning. That makes Mina the cheaper market today without making it a cheap market in absolute terms.
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Is Mina Al Arab still cheaper than Al Marjan Island today?
Yes. Mina Al Arab is still clearly cheaper than Al Marjan Island today, with the latest apartment data showing a gap of roughly 31% per square foot.
Bayut’s latest area index puts apartments in Mina Al Arab at about AED 1,782 per sq ft, compared with AED 2,570 on Al Marjan Island. That is too large a difference to dismiss as a quirk caused by one or two luxury projects.
The more useful test is new property because both areas now have a mix of older buildings and expensive new launches. Mina still comes out cheaper there too: roughly AED 1,964 per sq ft for off-plan property versus AED 2,676 on Al Marjan. The discount shrinks slightly, to about 27%, yet it remains substantial.
There is one important catch. Mina itself has moved upmarket quickly. Buyers can now find projects above AED 2,000 per sq ft and branded residences above AED 3,000. So Mina is still the cheaper choice between these two waterfront markets, while the idea that it is simply a cheap area of Ras Al Khaimah is becoming outdated.
| Latest price measure | Mina Al Arab | Al Marjan Island | Mina discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartments | AED 1,782/sq ft | AED 2,570/sq ft | 31% |
| Off-plan property | AED 1,964/sq ft | AED 2,676/sq ft | 27% |
| Off-plan studio | AED 2,025/sq ft | AED 2,938/sq ft | 31% |
| Off-plan 1-bed | AED 1,867/sq ft | AED 2,596/sq ft | 28% |
| Off-plan 2-bed | AED 1,882/sq ft | AED 2,677/sq ft | 30% |
Are Mina Al Arab and Al Marjan Island averages actually comparable?
Only partly. Mina Al Arab looks especially cheap in the headline numbers because its housing stock includes much more older and lower-priced property alongside its new luxury launches.
Mina stretches from The Lagoons, where Bayut’s latest index is around AED 1,041 per sq ft, to Anantara Mina Residences at roughly AED 3,045. Gateway Residence is around AED 1,418, while Mirasol II and Quattro Del Mar are already around AED 2,177 and AED 2,445 respectively.
Al Marjan also has an older layer, particularly buildings such as Pacific, alongside a much newer wave of resort residences. Yet the centre of gravity has shifted upward faster. Its latest one-bedroom apartment index is around AED 2,493 per sq ft, two-bedrooms are around AED 2,554 and three-bedrooms around AED 2,617.
That difference in housing mix exaggerates the headline gap a little. It does not explain it away. Once we compare only off-plan homes, Mina is still about 27% cheaper.
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Is new property in Mina Al Arab still cheaper than new property on Al Marjan Island?
Yes. If we compare off-plan property with off-plan property, Mina Al Arab still offers a large price advantage today.
The gap is remarkably consistent in the apartment sizes most buyers actually consider. A Mina off-plan studio averages around AED 2,025 per sq ft compared with AED 2,938 on Al Marjan. One-bedrooms are about AED 1,867 versus AED 2,596, and two-bedrooms about AED 1,882 versus AED 2,677.
Three-bedroom homes are the exception. Mina reaches roughly AED 2,444 per sq ft there, much closer to Al Marjan’s AED 2,624. Larger Mina homes include more premium stock, so the discount almost disappears in that category.
For studios, one-beds and two-beds, though, we keep finding the same basic answer: a buyer currently pays around 28% to 31% less per square foot in Mina.
| Off-plan apartment | Mina Al Arab | Al Marjan Island | Mina discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | AED 2,025/sq ft | AED 2,938/sq ft | 31% |
| 1 bedroom | AED 1,867/sq ft | AED 2,596/sq ft | 28% |
| 2 bedrooms | AED 1,882/sq ft | AED 2,677/sq ft | 30% |
| 3 bedrooms | AED 2,444/sq ft | AED 2,624/sq ft | 7% |
How much more apartment does the same budget buy in Mina Al Arab?
Quite a lot. At current off-plan averages, the Mina discount can translate into hundreds of extra square feet rather than a small saving on the purchase price.
Take a AED 2 million budget. Using the two area-wide off-plan benchmarks, that buys the equivalent of about 1,018 sq ft in Mina versus roughly 747 sq ft on Al Marjan. The difference is around 271 sq ft.
At AED 3 million, the theoretical gap reaches about 406 sq ft. That can mean moving from a compact one-bedroom to a larger one-bedroom, or from a normal two-bedroom into something much more spacious.
These are area-level calculations rather than prices for specific apartments, so views, floors, developers, brands and payment plans can move the actual figure considerably. They still show the scale of the current difference. Mina offers roughly 36% more floor area for the same budget when we apply the latest average off-plan prices.
| Budget | Mina at AED 1,964/sq ft | Al Marjan at AED 2,676/sq ft | Extra space in Mina |
|---|---|---|---|
| AED 1m | 509 sq ft | 374 sq ft | 135 sq ft |
| AED 1.5m | 764 sq ft | 561 sq ft | 203 sq ft |
| AED 2m | 1,018 sq ft | 747 sq ft | 271 sq ft |
| AED 3m | 1,527 sq ft | 1,121 sq ft | 406 sq ft |
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Has Mina Al Arab become expensive now?
Yes. Mina Al Arab is still cheaper than Al Marjan, although parts of Mina have already moved well beyond what most buyers would call affordable waterfront property.
The latest Bayut data put Quattro Del Mar around AED 2,445 per sq ft, Mirasol II at AED 2,177, Nura at AED 2,149 and Mirasol at AED 2,156. SKAI and Solera sit closer to AED 1,900. Anantara Mina Residences is above AED 3,000.
That range tells us more than the community average. Mina now contains several different markets at once: older homes near AED 1,000-1,500 per sq ft, new mainstream waterfront property around AED 1,800-2,200, premium projects around AED 2,400 and branded luxury above AED 3,000.
RAK Properties is actively pushing this change. The developer launched more than AED 5.4 billion of projects during 2025, while annual sales value reached AED 3.36 billion, up 142%. Four Seasons is coming to Mina with about 150 hotel rooms, suites and villas plus roughly 130 private residences. Anantara has added branded homes, and Raha Island will also host the Armani-branded villa project.
Mina’s discount therefore survives alongside a major upgrade in the product itself.
Is Al Marjan Island expensive just because of a few luxury branded residences?
No. Expensive branded residences lift Al Marjan Island’s average, but the premium runs much deeper than Mondrian, Nikki Beach or other trophy projects.
The best evidence comes from ordinary unit sizes. Al Marjan’s overall one-bedroom apartment index is around AED 2,493 per sq ft and its two-bedroom index around AED 2,554. For off-plan homes, those numbers rise to roughly AED 2,596 and AED 2,677.
Individual new projects can go much higher. Recent Bayut project indices put Mondrian Al Marjan Beach Residences above AED 3,200 per sq ft, Karl Lagerfeld Beach Residences at similar levels for some unit types and several other schemes close to or above AED 3,000.
Even without those projects, Al Marjan would still sit considerably above Mina. The one-bedroom off-plan gap alone is more than AED 700 per sq ft. Luxury branding adds to the premium; it does not create the whole thing.
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Can buyers still find cheap apartments on Al Marjan Island?
Yes. Older Al Marjan Island stock can still undercut many new Mina launches, so buyers should never assume every Al Marjan apartment costs AED 2,500-plus per sq ft.
Pacific is the clearest example. Older resale units there can appear around the low-to-mid AED 1,000s per sq ft, far below the island-wide average. That puts some Al Marjan resale apartments in the same price territory as older Mina stock.
Mina has its own version of this. The Lagoons currently sits around AED 1,041 per sq ft in Bayut’s project index, while Gateway Residence is around AED 1,418. A buyer looking purely for the lowest entry price can therefore find affordable options in either area.
The real difference appears when we move into current-generation property. Mina still has a large group of new developments around AED 1,800-2,200 per sq ft. Al Marjan’s new-build market is much more concentrated in the mid-AED 2,000s and above.
So someone buying a specific old Al Marjan apartment may spend less than someone buying a new Mina apartment. Across equivalent new stock, Mina remains comfortably cheaper.
Did Wynn permanently change Al Marjan Island prices?
Yes. Wynn has already changed what buyers are willing to pay for Al Marjan Island, even though the resort itself has not opened yet.
This is much further along than an early-stage development promise. Wynn said in its latest quarterly results that construction is progressing rapidly and that the resort is expected to open in September 2027. The tower has already topped out. A $2.4 billion construction financing package was secured earlier in the project, and Wynn has now invested more than $1 billion of its own cash into its Al Marjan developments.
The resort itself is enormous by Ras Al Khaimah standards. Wynn currently describes a property with about 1,530 rooms, suites and villas, more than 20 restaurants and bars, luxury retail, entertainment, a marina and a private beach.
Investors have therefore spent several years pricing Al Marjan as the centre of a future tourism district rather than simply another beachfront residential location.
The interesting part today is that this repricing has slowed sharply. Bayut’s overall Al Marjan apartment index is now only about 0.2% higher than one year ago. The Wynn premium appears well established already; the market is no longer moving upward at anything like the pace buyers saw during the first stage of the Wynn story.
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Is Mina Al Arab catching up with Al Marjan Island now?
No. Mina Al Arab is improving quickly, but current price data show no meaningful convergence with Al Marjan Island yet.
Mina’s apartment index is around 3.6% lower than a year ago, while Al Marjan is almost flat at about +0.2%. Over two years, Mina apartments have moved from roughly AED 1,703 to AED 1,782 per sq ft, an increase of about 5%. Al Marjan has gone from around AED 2,274 to AED 2,570, closer to 13%.
Off-plan prices tell a slightly different story because both communities have risen at a similar pace over two years. Mina moved from roughly AED 1,807 to AED 1,964 per sq ft, while Al Marjan went from around AED 2,452 to AED 2,676. Both increases are around 9%.
Mina has upgraded without closing much of the underlying off-plan price gap. Its new developments are getting more ambitious, but buyers continue to assign a much higher price to an equivalent square foot on Al Marjan.
| Price trajectory | Mina Al Arab | Al Marjan Island |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment price now | AED 1,782/sq ft | AED 2,570/sq ft |
| Apartment change over 12 months | -3.6% | +0.2% |
| Apartment price 24 months ago | AED 1,703/sq ft | AED 2,274/sq ft |
| Off-plan price now | AED 1,964/sq ft | AED 2,676/sq ft |
| Off-plan price 24 months ago | AED 1,807/sq ft | AED 2,452/sq ft |
Why do buyers still pay so much more for Al Marjan Island?
Al Marjan Island currently commands more because buyers are paying for an unusually concentrated resort and tourism story around Wynn, international hotel brands and future visitor traffic.
Ras Al Khaimah itself is growing as a destination. The Tourism Development Authority reported 1.35 million overnight visitors in 2025, up 6%, while tourism revenue rose 12%. The emirate wants to reach more than 3.5 million annual visitors by 2030.
Al Marjan sits right in the middle of that expansion. Wynn will be the largest single catalyst, while other hospitality and branded-residential projects are clustering around the island. That creates a straightforward investment story for buyers targeting holiday demand, short-term rentals and international resale buyers.
Mina benefits from the same tourism boom, and its own hotels are performing well. RAK Properties reported 69.9% occupancy at the InterContinental Mina Al Arab during 2025, while Anantara’s villa occupancy reached 70%, up from 53% a year earlier.
The gap comes from concentration. Mina mixes permanent residential living, resorts, villas, apartments and neighbourhood infrastructure across a much larger masterplan. Al Marjan has become a more focused resort-investment destination, and buyers currently pay extra for that positioning.
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Is Mina Al Arab actually better value because it is cheaper?
For buyers who care mainly about space and purchase price, Mina Al Arab offers better value today. For investment returns, the answer is much less automatic.
Paying around AED 1,900-2,000 per sq ft for a new Mina property gives a buyer waterfront exposure to the same fast-growing emirate while avoiding much of Al Marjan’s premium. A resident can also get materially more space for the same AED 1.5 million or AED 2 million budget.
Al Marjan asks buyers to pay more upfront in exchange for direct exposure to Wynn, dense resort development and a location increasingly recognised by international investors. That higher entry price can work if rental demand and resale demand keep strengthening after the new hotels and attractions open.
There is also more expectation embedded in Al Marjan prices already. An average off-plan price near AED 2,676 per sq ft leaves less room for disappointment than Mina around AED 1,964.
So Mina currently wins the straightforward price-for-space comparison. We would need rental yields, service charges, completion quality and eventual resale prices for specific projects before making the same claim about investment returns.
Could Four Seasons, Armani and Anantara close Mina Al Arab’s price gap?
They can push individual Mina projects up to Al Marjan prices, although the broader Mina market still has a long way to go before the overall gap disappears.
Anantara already proves the first part. Its latest Bayut index is around AED 3,045 per sq ft, above the Al Marjan community average. Premium Mina property can therefore trade squarely in Al Marjan territory today.
The pipeline should create more examples. Four Seasons plans roughly 130 private residences alongside its resort, while the Armani project on Raha Island takes Mina into an even higher luxury category. RAK Properties has also been filling out the middle of the market with projects such as Mirasol, Nura, SKAI and Solera.
This should keep pulling Mina’s upper end higher. The harder part is shifting thousands of existing homes. Mina still has older stock around AED 1,000-1,500 per sq ft, so a handful of AED 3,000-plus branded residences cannot rapidly move the whole community average.
For Mina to genuinely catch Al Marjan, we would need to see its normal one- and two-bedroom new-build market move much closer to Al Marjan’s AED 2,600-2,700 range. We are nowhere near that yet.
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Is Al Marjan Island’s price premium still rising quickly?
No. Al Marjan Island remains expensive, but the latest data suggest that its broad premium has stopped expanding rapidly for now.
The overall apartment index is around AED 2,570 per sq ft, almost unchanged from roughly AED 2,564 one year earlier. One-bedrooms are virtually flat year-on-year, two-bedrooms are also flat and three-bedrooms are slightly lower.
Studios are one of the stronger pockets, up more than 4% in the broader apartment index and more strongly within off-plan stock. Individual projects also keep moving in very different directions, which is what we would expect from a market entering a more mature stage of the Wynn repricing.
For the Mina comparison, Al Marjan does not need another rapid price surge to remain more expensive. Its starting point is already around 44% above Mina on the broad apartment price-per-square-foot measure.
The next phase will depend much more on whether specific projects justify their pricing through delivery quality, rental demand and resale liquidity.
Will Mina Al Arab become as expensive as Al Marjan Island when Wynn opens?
Probably not across the whole market. Mina can keep getting more expensive without reaching Al Marjan’s average price level.
Wynn’s latest guidance now puts the opening in September 2027, and much of the Al Marjan premium has already been built into property prices. That reduces the chance of another immediate repricing on the same scale as the first Wynn-driven surge.
Mina has its own catalysts, including Four Seasons, Armani, Anantara and the continued build-out of Raha Island. Those projects should keep raising the quality and price ceiling of the community.
Still, Mina would need a major relative repricing to catch up. At current off-plan averages, it sits about AED 712 per sq ft below Al Marjan. Closing that gap would require Mina to rise roughly 36% with Al Marjan standing still.
Nothing in the latest price data shows that happening now. Mina’s apartment prices have actually softened over the past year, while its off-plan benchmark is also slightly lower.
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So, is Mina Al Arab still cheaper than Al Marjan Island?
Yes. Mina Al Arab is still substantially cheaper than Al Marjan Island, and the latest evidence puts the realistic gap for new property at roughly 27% to 30%.
The broad apartment numbers are AED 1,782 per sq ft in Mina against AED 2,570 on Al Marjan. Off-plan property is around AED 1,964 versus AED 2,676. New one- and two-bedroom apartments show almost the same pattern, with Mina about 28% to 30% cheaper.
We also do not see the two markets rapidly converging. Mina’s apartment index has fallen about 3.6% over the latest 12-month period while Al Marjan has stayed almost flat. Mina’s luxury pipeline is expanding fast, yet its mainstream new-build prices still sit well below Al Marjan’s.
The useful distinction today is simple. Mina remains the cheaper place to buy comparable new waterfront property and gives buyers considerably more space for the same budget. Al Marjan commands the higher price because buyers are paying for a denser resort ecosystem, the Wynn effect and stronger international-investment positioning.
Mina is becoming much more premium. Al Marjan is still in a different price tier.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests whether Mina Al Arab is still meaningfully cheaper than Al Marjan Island today. Because both markets contain older stock, current-generation launches and increasingly expensive branded residences, we did not rely on a single community average or a handful of active listings.
We started with current price-per-square-foot data for the two communities, then used off-plan property as the main like-for-like benchmark. We also checked studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom homes separately to see whether the apparent price gap survived across comparable unit types.
We then looked inside each market at older buildings, mainstream new launches and premium branded projects. The goal was to distinguish a genuine community-wide price difference from an average distorted by cheap legacy stock on one side or a few trophy projects on the other.
To show what the gap means in practical terms, we applied the same off-plan price benchmarks to identical purchase budgets and calculated the theoretical floor area those budgets would buy in each location. These are area-level comparisons, not estimates for a specific apartment.
Price level alone does not show whether the gap is closing, so we also compared 12-month and 24-month movements in both the broad apartment and off-plan indices. That lets us separate Mina becoming more premium from Mina actually converging with Al Marjan.
We also reviewed the forces behind those prices: branded-residence expansion, hotel performance, Ras Al Khaimah tourism growth, the Mina development pipeline, and the latest construction and opening milestones for Wynn Al Marjan Island. Those sources help explain the premium, but they do not replace observed price data.
We gave the greatest weight to recent quantitative market evidence, then used first-hand developer, corporate and tourism sources to interpret what is changing around the two communities. Where several measures pointed in the same direction, we treated that convergence as stronger evidence than any single project, listing or headline.
The market data used here were the latest available during our September 2026 research window. Because live property indices update continuously, we kept the period attached to each dataset in mind rather than treating figures from different snapshots as perfectly simultaneous.
Key sources used for this analysis include: Bayut’s Mina Al Arab apartment price index, Bayut’s Al Marjan Island apartment price index, Bayut’s Mina Al Arab off-plan index, Bayut’s Al Marjan Island off-plan index, Bayut’s Pacific project index, Bayut’s Mondrian Al Marjan Beach Residences index, RAK Properties’ 2025 results, RAK Properties’ 2025 Annual Report, RAK Properties on Four Seasons at Mina, RAK Properties on Armani Beach Residences, RAK Properties on the Raha Island masterplan, Marjan’s Al Marjan Island masterplan, Wynn Resorts’ Q2 2026 results, Wynn’s tower topping-out update, and RAK Tourism Development Authority’s 2025 tourism update.
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Fact-checked and reviewed by our local expert
Jean-Charles Salvin 🇫🇷
Co-Founder, Best Dubai Condos
