DST 
Payment plan
Paying for Palm Central over four years, in Dubai
The gap between booking a Palm Central apartment and holding the keys is about four years. What fills it is a schedule Nakheel has not published for the current phase — so the honest starting point is the phase that is documented, and the arithmetic it implies at today's prices.
The structure that is on the record
Phase 1, released October 2025 and now sold out, used a 20 / 50 / 30 plan: a fifth at booking, half spread across roughly seven to eight construction milestones, and the remaining 30% on handover, then dated August 2029. At that phase's AED 2.5 million entry price the booking payment was AED 500,000.
Apply the same shape to the current AED 2.7 million entry price and booking becomes AED 540,000, with roughly AED 1.35 million falling across construction and AED 810,000 at handover. Treat that as arithmetic on an assumption, not as a quotation: the assumption is the part Nakheel has not confirmed.
Why "construction-linked" is worth more here than usual
A construction-linked instalment is normally something a buyer takes on trust: the invoice says a stage is complete and there is no independent way to check. Palm Jebel Ali is an exception, because Nakheel publishes progress for the island — 26.75% overall, with building work at 21.64% and MEP at 18.76% — and a regulator's inspection sits alongside it: RERA's report of 27 January 2026 put the six fronds between 15.60% and 31.45%.
Two published figures for the same thing, from the developer and from the regulator, is the most useful thing a buyer on a construction-linked plan can have. It will not settle a dispute, but it means the question "is this stage really done" has somewhere to start other than the invoice.
The four years, laid flat
- At booking — the largest single payment, and the one made before any of the flat exists.
- Through construction — the longest stretch, and the one where a delay moves money rather than cancelling it.
- At handover, September 2030 — the balance, due on a date four years away, which is long enough for a mortgage market and a personal situation to be unrecognisable.
Several broker sites publish exact Phase 2 percentages. They may well be right, but they are not Nakheel saying so, and an instalment schedule is not a detail to take from a listing. Ask for the schedule with dates attached, in writing, before the booking payment moves.
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The prices these percentages apply to are on the prices page; the progress figures behind the milestones are on the section front; and if the purchase is also a residency plan, that is the Golden Visa page.
What is the Palm Central payment plan?
Nakheel has not published exact terms for the current phase. The sold-out first phase used a documented 20 / 50 / 30 structure: 20% at booking, 50% across construction milestones, 30% on handover. Secondary listings describe something similar for Phase 2; that is not the developer's own statement.
What does the booking payment come to?
On the Phase 1 structure and the current AED 2.7 million entry price, a 20% booking would be AED 540,000. On the retired AED 2.5 million it was AED 500,000. Confirm the percentage before budgeting from either.
What does construction-linked actually mean here?
That instalments fall due as stages complete rather than on calendar dates. Palm Jebel Ali is unusual in that Nakheel publishes its own progress figures, so a buyer can compare what is being invoiced against what the developer says is built.
What happens if handover slips past September 2030?
That is set by the sale and purchase agreement, not by a brochure, and it is the clause worth reading before the ones about finishes. Ask for it in writing before booking.
Phase 1's 20 / 50 / 30 structure, entry prices and handover dates: Nakheel's releases as carried on palmcentral.dst.llc. Island progress percentages and the RERA inspection of 27 January 2026: Nakheel, construction progress for Palm Jebel Ali, read 22 September 2026. Dirham figures at the current entry price are arithmetic on the Phase 1 structure and are not a developer quotation. Nothing here is financial advice.