Rental yield in Dubai, with the numbers.
Thirteen areas measured from DLD records, a worked example from gross to net, and where to find each input for your own unit. Nothing on this page comes from a listing site.
Most mid-market Dubai apartments gross between 6% and 7.5%, measured from Dubai Land Department records through May 2026. Cheaper areas with a lot of tenants, International City among them, run past 10%. The figure to plan around is net yield, which comes out about 1.5 to 2.5 points lower once service charges and running costs are paid.
In short
Mid-market Dubai apartments gross 6 to 7.5%. International City tops the table at 10.8% and Dubai Creek Harbour sits at 5.9%.
Net yield runs 1.5 to 2.5 points below gross. Service charges account for most of the gap, and they are set per building, not per area.
A JVC one-bed at the 2026 medians: AED 72,000 rent on a AED 960,000 value is 7.5% gross and about 6.0% net after AED 14,000 of annual costs.
Each input has an official source: rent from your Ejari contract, charges from Mollak via Dubai REST, value from closed DLD sales in your own building.
One vacant month costs 8.3% of the year's rent, more than most fee negotiations will ever save you.
The two formulas
Gross yield is annual rent divided by current market value. A unit worth AED 2,000,000 renting at AED 140,000 grosses 7.0%. It is the figure in every market report and broker deck, and it is fine for comparing one area with another. It is a poor guide to your own investment because it ignores what the property costs you to hold.
Net yield takes those costs off first. The same unit paying AED 24,000 in service charges and AED 4,000 in maintenance and insurance nets (140,000 − 28,000) ÷ 2,000,000 = 5.6%. The 1.4 points between the two figures is AED 28,000 a year, paid whatever the market does.
Two units with the same gross yield can be quite different investments. One sits in a tower charging AED 24 per square foot, the other in a building charging AED 14, and the second earns noticeably more for its owner every year. This guide is about getting from the flattering figure to the one you can plan on.
Thirteen areas, measured
These figures come from the DLD record: 1.33 million sale transactions and 8.7 million Ejari registrations, all of them contracts that completed rather than asking prices. The last column compares 2026 median rents with 2023, so you can see where rents moved rather than where agents say they did.
| Area | Gross yield | Median rent 2026 | Rent vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| International City (Al Warsan First) | 10.8% | AED 41,100 | +21% |
| Dubai Silicon Oasis (Nadd Hessa) | 8.8% | AED 57,000 | +43% |
| Meydan · MBR City (Al Merkadh) | 8.3% | AED 80,000 | +11% |
| Town Square (Al Yelayiss 2) | 7.6% | AED 80,000 | +47% |
| JVC (Al Barsha South Fourth) | 7.2% | AED 72,000 | +37% |
| Downtown Dubai | 7.2% | AED 130,000 | +18% |
| JVT (Al Barshaa South Third) | 7.2% | AED 61,600 | +40% |
| Palm Jumeirah | 6.9% | AED 200,000 | +29% |
| Dubai Hills Estate (Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid) | 6.9% | AED 125,000 | +12% |
| Dubai Marina | 6.3% | AED 130,000 | +24% |
| Motor City (Al Hebiah First) | 6.1% | AED 80,000 | +23% |
| Business Bay | 6.0% | AED 60,000 | −20% |
| Dubai Creek Harbour (Al Khairan First) | 5.9% | AED 140,000 | +27% |
Computed by Mulki from Dubai Land Department records: 1.33 million sale transactions and 8.7 million Ejari rental registrations, through 30 May 2026. Median rents are from 2026 Ejari registrations. Yields are gross, before service charges and running costs. Each area's median reflects its own mix of unit sizes.
The spread is wide. International City earns nearly twice what Dubai Creek Harbour does for each dirham invested. Strong rent growth and high yield also tend not to appear in the same row: Town Square’s +47% belongs to a young community still filling up, while Meydan’s +11% is a community that has largely finished building. And Business Bay’s −20% is not a fall in rents. The area handed over thousands of new studios between 2023 and 2026, and that volume of small, cheap contracts pulled the median down while rents on existing units rose. A median follows the mix of units in the data, so it needs reading alongside what was built.
Gross to net, line by line
Take the JVC one-bed at the 2026 medians: a value of AED 960,000, a rent of AED 72,000, and around 750 square feet.
| Line | AED / year |
|---|---|
| Annual rent (Ejari median, 2026) | 72,000 |
| Service charges: 750 sq ft × AED 14 | −10,500 |
| Maintenance contract | −2,500 |
| Landlord insurance | −1,000 |
| Net income | 58,000 |
| Gross yield (72,000 ÷ 960,000) | 7.5% |
| Net yield (58,000 ÷ 960,000) | 6.0% |
Service charge at AED 14/sq ft, typical for JVC mid-rise stock. Maintenance and insurance at commonly quoted rates, June 2026. Self-managed, no agent fee.
Now change one or two assumptions, because that is where the decisions sit. Hand the unit to a manager at 6% of rent and the net drops to 5.6%. Leave it empty for a month and AED 6,000 comes off the rent, taking the net to 5.4%. Do both and the “7.5% unit” is earning 5.0%. None of this shows up in the gross figure, which is one reason brokers prefer to quote it.
In a building with a high service charge the same sums bite harder. A 900 sq ft Marina one-bed at AED 130,000 rent and AED 2,000,000 value grosses 6.5%. At AED 24 per square foot the charges come to AED 21,600, and with the same maintenance, insurance and management the net lands near 4.9%. The building’s charge rate did that, not the location.
Where each number lives
Rent: your Ejari contract, or the index.
Your registered contract states the rent you receive. For the market level, the RERA rental index in the Dubai REST app gives the average for your unit type and area. If you are checking a renewal, the rent increase checker applies the Decree 43 brackets to those two figures.
Value: closed sales in your own building.
DLD publishes every registered sale. Find three to five recent sales of comparable units in your building or cluster and take the midpoint of their price per square foot. Asking prices are opening positions, and in Dubai the gap between asking and sold routinely runs 5 to 10%.
Service charges: Mollak, via Dubai REST.
Your unit's exact rate and its invoice history sit against your title in the Dubai REST app. The rate is per square foot per year and it belongs to your building alone, so any area-wide figure someone quotes you is an approximation.
Running costs: your own last twelve months.
Maintenance callouts, the insurance premium, a management fee if you pay one, and chiller capacity charges if your building bills owners for them. If you have not kept track, AED 2,500 to 4,500 covers a typical apartment maintenance contract and AED 1,000 to 2,500 covers landlord insurance.
Your unit, both yields.
After service charges and running costs. This is the return you keep.
Your gross yield is at or above the 7.0% Dubai-wide average for new contracts. Watch the net figure: service charges decide whether a good yield is real.
Moving the number
Close an old rent gap. Worth 5 to 20% of rent.
A tenant who signed in JVC in 2022 could easily be AED 15,000 below the 2026 median. Decree 43 lets you recover that in steps at each renewal, from 5% to 20% depending on the gap, or in full when the unit falls vacant. Check the contract against the index before every renewal. Rent gaps that drift for years are the most common avoidable loss of yield in Dubai.
Cut vacancy. Each empty month costs 8.3%.
At AED 72,000 rent, a vacant month is AED 6,000 gone. Asking AED 5,000 more on a relisting and waiting six extra weeks to get it loses more than the premium earns back in two years. Price from closed Ejari contracts and take the reliable tenant.
Renovate where the return is obvious.
AED 60,000 spent on a kitchen and bathrooms that lifts the rent by AED 15,000 returns 25% a year on the spend and lets the unit faster. AED 60,000 on finishes that photograph the same as the neighbours' is decoration. Look at what the best-letting units in your own building have that yours does not.
Re-shop the fixed costs.
Management at 8% rather than 5% on AED 72,000 of rent is AED 2,160 a year. Insurance quotes for identical cover can differ by half. These are small lines, but they are the ones fully in your control and they repeat every year you hold.
Figures derived from DLD open data through 30 May 2026. Mixed unit types and contract mixes; indicative, not a valuation of any specific unit. Not investment advice.
When yield isn't the point
Look at the table again. Dubai Creek Harbour is last on yield at 5.9%, yet its rents rose 27% in three years and its waterfront stock keeps repricing upward. Dubai Hills has the same shape, a modest 6.9% yield with demand that does not let up. These areas pay their owners through capital growth and rising rents rather than this year’s income. International City pays the other way: a 10.8% yield on stock that appreciates slowly and needs more of your time.
Neither is a mistake to own. The mistake is owning one and expecting it to behave like the other, resenting a Creek Harbour flat for its yield or an International City cluster for its appreciation. Decide what each unit is for, then judge it on that. If a unit falls short of its own purpose for more than a year, that is the point at which the sell-or-hold question deserves a serious answer.
Questions
- What is the average rental yield in Dubai?
- In Mulki's analysis of DLD records through May 2026, gross apartment yields in the large mid-market communities sit between 6% and 7.5% (JVC 7.2%, Downtown 7.2%, JVT 7.2%, Dubai Hills 6.9%). Cheaper areas run higher: International City shows 10.8% and Dubai Silicon Oasis 8.8%. Waterfront areas run lower: Dubai Marina 6.3%, Dubai Creek Harbour 5.9%. Take off service charges and running costs and the net figure lands roughly 1.5 to 2.5 points below these.
- How do I calculate rental yield on my Dubai apartment?
- For gross yield, divide the annual rent by the property's current market value and multiply by 100. An apartment worth AED 960,000 renting at AED 72,000 yields 7.5% gross. For net yield, take your annual costs off the rent first. If that unit pays AED 10,500 in service charges and AED 3,500 in maintenance and insurance, the net is (72,000 − 14,000) ÷ 960,000 = 6.0%. Use today's value, not what you paid.
- Why does Business Bay show falling median rent when rents rose?
- Because of what was built there. Business Bay handed over a large number of new studios and small one-beds between 2023 and 2026. Thousands of cheap new contracts went into the Ejari data, and the median fell about 20% even though like-for-like rents on existing units went up. A median only makes sense read alongside what has been added to the area in the same period.
- Is rental yield in Dubai better than in other cities?
- On gross figures, yes, by some margin. Dubai's 6 to 7.5% mid-market range compares with roughly 3 to 4% in London, 2 to 3% in Singapore and 3 to 4.5% in most large US metros, and the UAE has no annual property tax and no personal tax on rental income. The catch is service charges, which are higher here than in most of those markets. That is why the net calculation matters more in Dubai than it does elsewhere.
- Which areas in Dubai have the highest rental yields?
- The cheaper communities with a lot of tenants. In DLD-derived data through May 2026, International City leads at 10.8% gross, then Dubai Silicon Oasis at 8.8% and Meydan/MBR City at 8.3%. There is a cost to that yield: these areas appreciate more slowly than prime districts, tenants move more often, and the buildings wear faster. The extra yield is what you are paid for putting up with those things.
- Do villas and townhouses yield less than apartments in Dubai?
- Standalone villas usually do, on the gross figure. Detached villas in established communities like Dubai Hills and Arabian Ranches commonly gross 4 to 6%, below the 6 to 7.5% mid-market apartment band, because their prices have risen faster than their rents. Townhouses sit in between and can reach 6 to 8% in family communities. A villa mostly rewards you through capital growth, and the recent cycle delivered a lot of it; an apartment mostly rewards you through rent. Villa service charges are also lower per square foot, so the gap between gross and net is smaller. The same calculation applies, with smaller deductions.
- Should I use my purchase price or current value to calculate yield?
- Current value. Yield on purchase price looks good for anyone who bought early and tells you nothing you can act on. Yield on current value answers the question you face today: is the equity in this unit earning enough compared with what the same money would earn in a different unit, or outside property altogether. Every comparison in this guide uses current value.
Mulki works this out for every unit you own, every week.
Notify me