Buying off-plan asks a lot of trust: a large deposit for a home that is still a drawing, a hole in the ground or half a frame. Buyers, many of them overseas, do their homework on a phone long before they visit a site office. The developers who win them don't do it with renders alone. They answer the practical questions on the page: what does it cost, what's left, how big is it, how do I pay, and will you actually finish it?
Below are the seven habits we saw on the strongest sites, each with real examples you can visit. Every example was checked on 12 October 2026. Prices and stock on these pages change often, so some details may have moved since.
Habit
Put prices on the page, by unit type
The weakest sites we saw had no price anywhere, just a form. A buyer who can't find a price assumes it's out of reach, or goes to an agent to find out. The best sites give a "from" price for every unit type, next to its size.
- Unity Homes Tatu City, Kenya
Every project card gives the size, bedrooms, share sold and a starting price, for example "45sqm / 1 BEDROOM APARTMENTS / 68% Sold / From KSH 6,100,000".
- Porini Point Tatu City, Kenya
A starting price and floor area for each of the one, two and three-bedroom apartments.
- Meriton, The Oscar Brisbane, Australia
A price range for every configuration, from two to four bedrooms, rather than one headline "from" figure.
- Sobha Realty, The Pinnacle Dubai, UAE
The starting price in five currencies side by side, written for buyers who are not in Dubai.
Habit
Show what's left
Off-plan is sold in phases and stock moves. A buyer who can see that most of a block has gone, or which units are still free, decides faster than one told to "contact sales for availability".
- Porini Point Tatu City, Kenya
An "Available Apartments" search by building, bedrooms and area. Each result gives the floor, size and status, for example "Building A1 / 3rd Floor, 2 bedrooms, 90 m² / Available".
- Unity Homes Tatu City, Kenya
A "% Sold" figure on every project card, so buyers can see how fast each one is moving.
- Emaar, Albero at Dubai Creek Harbour Dubai, UAE
The number of units still available, next to the starting price and the range of sizes.
Habit
Give every plan its size
A floor plan without a number is a picture. The best sites put the area of each unit type in the page text, in square metres and square feet, and say what the figure includes.
- River Modern River Valley, Singapore
Every type gives its area and the stacks it applies to, for example "Type B1 / 50 SQM / 538 SQFT / INCLUSIVE OF 3 SQM BALCONY", with the building approval number on each plan.
- Sobha Realty, The Pinnacle Dubai, UAE
Each unit type split into suite and balcony area, with a floor plan to download per type.
- Unity Parkside Tatu City, Kenya
The gross area of every two and three-bedroom layout on the project page.
- Mi Vida, 237 Lulu Nairobi, Kenya
Area and starting price per apartment type, with the floor plans one click away.
Habit
Spell out the payment plan
"Flexible payment plans available" tells a buyer nothing. The best sites give the deposit, the instalments during construction and what is due on completion, so a buyer can see the cash they need and when.
- Mi Vida, 237 Lulu Nairobi, Kenya
A deposit that varies by unit type, a payment on signing the sale agreement, then quarterly or monthly instalments across the construction period, with a separate cash plan and an estimated completion date.
- Binghatti Skyflame Majan, Dubai, UAE
The plan in one line, how much on booking, during construction and on completion, next to the starting price and a completion date.
- Unity One Tatu City, Kenya
A "24-Month Payment Plan / Paid in four instalments", alongside a cash option and a mortgage route.
Habit
Show the building going up, with dates
The biggest fear in off-plan is that the building stalls. Undated photo galleries don't answer it. Dated progress updates do, especially ones that say exactly where the build has reached.
- Unity One Tatu City, Kenya
A dated timeline on the project page, from "October 2024 – The first row of Unity One (Row A) is handed over" to completion, with the rental occupancy at each step.
- COAST Queensland, Australia
Construction updates with dates and storey counts: the March 2026 update gives the level the structure has reached and the pace, about a floor a week.
- Beedie Living, West Vancouver area, Canada
An older update from July 2023, worth seeing for the format: what was poured and when, the level reached and drone photos.
Habit
Tell buyers what they'll see
In a tower, the view is a large part of the price, and it changes with the floor and the side of the building. Buyers can't stand on a floor that isn't built yet, so the best sites tell them what each side looks onto.
- HassConsult, Ankori Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya
Residences sold by outlook, "City Side" or "Valley Side", with the starting price and completion date.
- River Modern River Valley, Singapore
A 360° panoramic view of the site, and floor plans mapped to stacks so buyers can work out which way each one faces.
- Porini Point Tatu City, Kenya
Says which apartments face the Tatu Wildlife Sanctuary, and gives the floor of every unit in its list.
Habit
Prove you finish what you start
A buyer paying for a home that doesn't exist yet is really buying the developer's record. The strongest sites state it with numbers, licences and finished phases, not adjectives.
- Meriton Australia
States how many apartments it has built, sold and leased, a "100% completion track record", and on The Oscar that projects are approved and under construction before they are sold.
- Danube Properties Dubai, UAE
Gives its projects launched and delivered as separate numbers, which reads as more honest than one big total.
- GuocoLand, River Modern and Faber Residence Singapore
The developer licence number, tenure and expected dates of vacant possession and legal completion, on the project pages.
- Mi Vida, 237 Garden City Phase II Nairobi, Kenya
Leads with the fact that the first phase is complete before selling the second.
Common mistakes
The mistakes we saw most often
These came up again and again on the sites that didn't make the list. We've kept them anonymous: the point is to check your own site, not anyone else's.
- A "from" price in the header that contradicts the price table further down the same page.
- A payment plan that is named ("30/70", "flexible plans available") with no deposit, milestones or amounts.
- No prices anywhere, only "Register interest" or a brochure behind a form.
- Floor plans only as images or a PDF, with no sizes in the page text.
- "Under construction" with no completion date, no progress and undated photos.
- Sold-out projects left live without saying so clearly.
- Rents and sale prices mixed under the same "from" label.
- Return figures promised, with nothing on escrow, approvals or who holds the deposit.
The numbers
Why it matters: the numbers
of Dubai's residential transactions in 2025 were off-plan, up from 69.3% in 2024. Source: Cavendish Maxwell, Dubai Residential Market Performance FY 2025
of flats in England and Wales in 2025 were sold before construction was complete (Hamptons Off-Plan Sales Index). Source: Mortgage Professional, reporting Hamptons
of US buyers found the home they bought online, and 70% used a phone or tablet during their search. Source: National Association of Realtors, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
These are figures for Dubai, the UK and the US: we found no published figure for Kenya's off-plan share or online search. The pattern holds wherever buyers commit early: most of the decision is made on a screen, before anyone visits a site office.
Your own site
A 10-point check for your own site
- A starting price for every unit type, in the buyer's likely currency.
- Each type's area in the page text, and what it includes.
- Buyers can see what is still available without asking.
- The payment plan is written out: deposit, instalments, completion.
- A completion date, and dated construction updates.
- Each side or floor says what it looks onto.
- Your finished projects, approvals and licence numbers are stated plainly.
- Nothing contradicts itself: one price, one status, one date.
- Prices, plans and enquiry all work well on a phone.
- Every contact link goes to someone who replies quickly.
Try it live
Want to see these habits in one site?
We built Kilele, a concept off-plan tower site. Buyers pick a unit on a live stack of the building and see the view from that floor, rendered over a 3D Nairobi. It prices the unit, works out the payment plan month by month, and shows the build as it stands. Try it, then tell us about your development.