Buyers ask me about price first. They should ask about the plan first. Two villas at the same headline figure can require very different amounts of money from you over the next three years, and that gap is where people get caught out.
Here is how the plans actually break down across the clusters, taken from Emaar's own payment schedules rather than anyone's summary of them.
The three shapes
80/20. This is the standard structure, and it covers Marèva, Marèva 2, Address Villas Tierra, Palace Villas Ostra and Palmiera Collective. You pay 10 per cent on booking, then roughly 70 per cent spread across six to eight construction milestones, then the final 20 per cent when the villa reaches completion.
85/15. Palmiera phase one runs on this. More of the money lands before handover, less at the end.
90/10. Mirage. Nine instalments of 10 per cent during construction, then a final 10 per cent at handover. Front-loaded compared with the others.
The pattern is simple once you see it. The number after the slash is what you owe at the finish line. A smaller number there means you have already paid more along the way.
Lavita is different, and it matters
Lavita asks for 20 per cent up front, not 10. On a mansion starting in the high thirties of millions, that first cheque is roughly double what the villa clusters ask for. It is the clearest signal Emaar sends about who Lavita is built for.
If you are weighing Lavita against a large villa elsewhere in the community, do the day-one cash comparison before the per-square-foot comparison. I have watched that reorder people's shortlists more than once.
Handover is spread across four years
The community does not complete in one go. Palmiera phase one targets Q4 2027. Mirage is June 2028, Lavita December 2028. Address Villas Tierra is June 2029, Palace Villas Ostra September 2029, and the Marèva releases run to February 2030.
That spread has two consequences people underestimate. The first is obvious: a 2030 handover means five more years of instalments against a building you cannot walk through. The second is less obvious. The earlier clusters will be lived in, landscaped and trading on the resale market while the later ones are still a construction site. If you buy late, your first few years are next to active works.
Neither is a reason not to buy. Both are reasons to know which you are choosing.
What I would actually check
- Your own cash timeline, not the plan's. Map the milestone dates against when money genuinely reaches you. Construction milestones are not evenly spaced and they do not wait for your bonus.
- What happens if you want out. Ask about transfer and assignment terms before you sign, not when you need them. The answer varies and it is easier to hear early.
- Whether the plan suits an exit. A front-loaded plan means more of your capital is committed if you decide to sell before handover. That changes what a buyer will pay you for the position.
- The completion payment in isolation. Twenty per cent of a large number is still a large number, and it lands in a single month.
The honest summary
The plans are genuinely reasonable by Dubai standards. None of them is a trap. But they are marketed as a convenience and they are really a financing structure, and the right one depends on your cashflow rather than on which villa you like most.
Send me the cluster you are looking at and I will walk you through the actual schedule for it, dates and percentages, so you can see the cash laid out before you decide.