Buying

Studio or one bedroom? The price gap is not the whole story

A separate bedroom can change how an apartment works every day. The useful question is how much extra price and space appeared in completed sales, rather than whether one label sounds better.

Mada editorial · Prices updated 23 September 2026

Studio and one-bedroom sales side by side

Studio and one-bedroom sales side by side
NeighbourhoodStudio priceStudio area1-bedroom price1-bedroom area
Downtown DubaiAED 1,160,000516 ft²AED 2,050,000888 ft²
Business BayAED 1,032,500460 ft²AED 1,500,000822 ft²
Dubai MarinaAED 1,050,000480 ft²AED 1,575,000829 ft²
Jumeirah Village CircleAED 610,000432 ft²AED 991,442809 ft²

Completed residential apartments in four neighbourhoods, 2026. Past sales are not current offers.

The extra purchase price in the recorded groups

Downtown DubaiAED 890,000
Business BayAED 467,500
Dubai MarinaAED 525,000
Jumeirah Village CircleAED 381,442

Difference between the two typical sale prices, not the cost of adding a room to the same home.

Compare the layout you would use

A good studio can have better furniture clearances or storage than a poorly arranged one-bedroom apartment. Equally, a separate bedroom may make working from home or sharing the living space more comfortable. Look at the plan and place your actual furniture on it.

Registered area alone cannot tell you how much is a balcony, hallway or internal room. Check whether the kitchen, wardrobe storage and laundry arrangements suit your routine. Daylight and noise also matter when one room has to serve several purposes.

Do not turn a purchase comparison into a rental-return claim

The figures here are purchase prices. They do not show achieved rents, annual occupancy or net returns. If you intend to rent the apartment out, collect rental evidence for the same building and layout, then account for ongoing costs.

For your own home, compare the extra purchase cost with the way you expect to use the apartment. The cheapest bedroom count is not necessarily the least expensive decision over the time you plan to stay.

Put it into practice

Sources

Found something that needs correcting? Tell the editorial team