Business Bay

Business Bay was planned as the commercial extension of Downtown and has spent the last decade becoming residential in practice. Offices still fill the older towers along the main road, but almost everything new behind them is apartments, and the district now empties and fills on a residential rhythm rather than an office one.

The Dubai Water Canal changed the shape of the place. What used to be the back of the district became a waterfront with a promenade, and the buildings that faced away from it were quietly re-oriented. Anything with a canal frontage now trades on that view, and the walk along the water connects the district to the park at one end and the sea at the other.

Stock here is broad. Compact apartments aimed at the people who work in the towers sit in the same street as larger, better finished residences aimed at buyers who wanted Downtown and preferred the extra room.

It suits a buyer who wants the central location and would rather spend the difference on floor area, a canal view, or simply on paying less for the same commute.