Rental yield in Dubai, with the actual numbers.
Thirteen areas measured from DLD records, a worked example from gross to net, and where to find every input for your own unit. No listing-site estimates anywhere on this page.
By the Mulki team · Updated 6 June 2026
Most mid-market Dubai apartments gross between 6% and 7.5%, measured from Dubai Land Department records through May 2026. Cheaper, tenant-dense areas like International City run past 10%. The figure that actually matters to you is net yield, which lands about 1.5 to 2.5 points lower once service charges and running costs come out.
Mid-market Dubai apartments gross 6 to 7.5%. International City tops our table at 10.8%, Dubai Creek Harbour sits at 5.9%.
Net yield runs 1.5 to 2.5 points below gross in Dubai. Service charges are the reason, and they differ building to building, not area to 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.
Every input has an official source: rent from your Ejari contract, charges from Mollak via Dubai REST, value from closed DLD transactions in your own building.
One vacant month costs 8.3% of the year's rent. Almost no fee negotiation matters as much as four empty weeks.
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%. This is the number in every market report and every broker deck, and it is fine for comparing areas. It is not fine for judging your own investment, because it ignores what the property costs to hold.
Net yield subtracts those costs 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 numbers is real money: AED 28,000 a year, every year, regardless of what the market does.
Two units with the same gross yield are not the same investment. The one in the tower charging AED 24 per square foot earns visibly less than its twin in the building charging AED 14. The whole point of this guide is to get you from the flattering number to the true one.
These figures come from the DLD record itself: 1.33 million sale transactions and 8.7 million Ejari registrations. Not asking prices, not listings: registered contracts. The 3-year column compares 2026 median rents with 2023, which shows where rents actually moved, not 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. Medians reflect each area's unit mix.
Three things worth noticing. First, the spread is wide: International City earns nearly double Dubai Creek Harbour per dirham invested. Second, high rent growth and high yield rarely live in the same row. Town Square’s +47% is a young community filling up, Meydan’s +11% is a built-out one. Third, Business Bay’s −20% is not a crash. The area handed over thousands of new studios between 2023 and 2026, and the flood of small cheap contracts dragged the median down while like-for-like rents rose. Medians follow the unit mix. Read them with that in mind.
Gross to net, line by line
Take the JVC one-bed at the 2026 medians: value AED 960,000, rent AED 72,000, 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 common quoted rates, June 2026. Self-managed.
Now run the sensitivities, because this is where decisions live. Hand the unit to a manager at 6% of rent and the net drops to 5.6%. One month vacant takes AED 6,000 off the top line and the net falls to 5.4%. Put both together and your “7.5% unit” is earning 5.0%. None of that shows up in gross yield, which is exactly why brokers quote gross yield.
The same arithmetic on a high-charge tower is harsher. 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 are 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 area.
Where each number lives
- 01
Rent: your Ejari contract, or the index.
Your registered contract states the real rent. For the market level, the RERA rental index in the Dubai REST app gives the average for your unit type and area. If you're checking a renewal, our rent increase checker applies the Decree 43 brackets to those two numbers.
- 02
Value: closed transactions 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 per-square-foot midpoint. Listing prices are openers, not values; the gap between asking and closed in Dubai routinely runs 5 to 10%.
- 03
Service charges: Mollak, via Dubai REST.
Your unit's exact rate and invoice history sit against your title in the Dubai REST app. The figure is per square foot per year and it is building-specific. Anyone quoting you an area-wide service charge is approximating; Mollak is the number.
- 04
Running costs: your own last twelve months.
Maintenance callouts, insurance premium, management fee if any, chiller capacity charges if the building bills owners. If you haven't tracked them, 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.
Today's market value, not what you paid.
The full contract value for one year.
From your Mollak invoice. Often the largest cost owners forget.
Maintenance, insurance, management fees, chiller if you pay it.
Rent over value, before any costs. The number brokers quote.
After service charges and running costs. The number that's actually yours.
Your gross yield is at or above the 7.0% Dubai-wide average for new contracts. The net figure is the one to watch. Service charges quietly decide whether a “good” yield is real.
Moving the number
- 01
Close an old rent gap. Worth 5 to 20% of rent.
A tenant who signed in 2022 in JVC is plausibly AED 15,000 below the 2026 median. Decree 43 lets you recover that in steps at each renewal, 5% to 20% depending on the gap, or fully at a natural vacancy. Run your contract through the rent increase checker before every renewal; rent gaps left unmanaged are the most common self-inflicted yield loss in Dubai.
- 02
Cut vacancy weeks. Each month costs 8.3%.
At AED 72,000 rent, a vacant month is AED 6,000 gone. Overpricing a relisting by AED 5,000 and waiting six extra weeks to get it loses more than the premium recovers in two years. Price from closed Ejari contracts and take the strong tenant.
- 03
Renovate only where the arithmetic is loud.
AED 60,000 into a kitchen and bathrooms that lifts rent AED 15,000 is a 25% return on the spend, plus faster letting. AED 60,000 into finishes that photograph the same as the neighbours' is decoration. The test is what the best-letting units in your own building have that yours doesn't.
- 04
Re-shop the fixed costs.
Management at 8% versus 5% on AED 72,000 of rent is AED 2,160 a year. Insurance quotes vary by half for identical cover. Small lines, but they're the only ones entirely inside your control, and they compound for as long as 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 sits last on yield at 5.9%. And its rents rose 27% in three years while its waterfront stock keeps repricing upward. Dubai Hills shows the same shape: modest 6.9% yield, relentless demand. These areas pay in capital growth and rent trajectory, not in this year’s coupon. International City pays the opposite way: a 10.8% coupon on stock that appreciates slowly and works its owners harder.
Neither machine is wrong. What goes wrong is owning one and expecting it to behave like the other: holding a Creek Harbour flat and resenting the yield, or an International City cluster and resenting the appreciation. Decide which machine each unit is supposed to be, then judge it by that standard. When a unit fails its own standard for more than a year, that’s when the sell-or-hold question is worth asking seriously.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average rental yield in Dubai?
- In Mulki's analysis of DLD records through May 2026, gross apartment yields cluster between 6% and 7.5% in the large mid-market communities (JVC 7.2%, Downtown 7.2%, JVT 7.2%, Dubai Hills 6.9%). Affordable areas run higher: International City shows 10.8% and Dubai Silicon Oasis 8.8%. Premium waterfront runs lower: Dubai Marina shows 6.3% and Dubai Creek Harbour 5.9%. Net yields land roughly 1.5 to 2.5 points below these once service charges and running costs are paid.
- How do I calculate rental yield on my Dubai apartment?
- Gross: divide the annual rent by the property's current market value, times 100. An apartment worth AED 960,000 renting at AED 72,000 yields 7.5% gross. Net: first subtract your annual costs from the rent. 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 the current value, not your purchase price.
- Why does Business Bay show falling median rent when rents rose?
- Unit mix. Business Bay handed over a wave of new studios and small one-beds between 2023 and 2026. Thousands of cheap new contracts entered the Ejari data, so the median fell about 20% even while like-for-like rents on existing units rose. It is a good example of why a median needs reading alongside what was built in the area, not in isolation.
- Is rental yield in Dubai better than in other cities?
- On the gross numbers, clearly. 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 charges no annual property tax and no personal tax on rental income. The offset is service charges, which are higher than most of those markets and which is why the net calculation matters more in Dubai than almost anywhere else.
- Which areas in Dubai have the highest rental yields?
- Affordable, tenant-dense communities. In DLD-derived data through May 2026: International City at 10.8% gross, Dubai Silicon Oasis at 8.8%, and Meydan/MBR City at 8.3%. The trade-off is real: these areas appreciate more slowly than prime districts, tenancies turn over more often, and buildings age harder. High yield is payment for taking those on.
- Do villas and townhouses yield less than apartments in Dubai?
- Standalone villas usually do, on the gross number. 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 run up faster than their rents. Townhouses sit in between and can reach 6 to 8% in family communities. The trade-off is the one this guide keeps returning to: a villa is mostly a capital-growth machine, with the recent cycle delivering far stronger appreciation, while an apartment is mostly a yield machine. Villa service charges are also lower per square foot, so the gross-to-net gap is narrower. The same discipline applies; the deductions are just smaller.
- Should I use my purchase price or current value to calculate yield?
- Current value. Yield on purchase price flatters anyone who bought early and tells you nothing actionable. Yield on current value answers the live question: is the equity sitting in this unit earning enough compared with what the same money would earn in another unit, or out of property entirely. Every comparison in this guide uses current value.
Mulki computes this for every unit you own, every week.
Get notified