Off-plan villas in Meydan City, Dubai

Low-rise homes in Meydan City are rare, and the arithmetic of the land explains it. Plots at this distance from Downtown carry enough value that a developer will almost always put a building on them, so the few houses released here are priced to reflect that competition for ground.

What a buyer gets in return is unusual for a house in this city: a central position rather than an outlying community, with the racecourse, the golf course and the canal district nearby and the centre a short drive away.

There is no townhouse phase of any scale in the district, so the practical choice is between a rare house at a premium and a large apartment in one of the new blocks. Families who want space at an ordinary price look to the communities further out, where land costs less and a house is the standard product rather than the exception. The trade is the one this whole district turns on: proximity to the centre against everything that proximity makes expensive.