In this note
Updated October 2026. Apartments only.
Most yield tables show one number: a year's rent divided by the price. That's the gross yield, and it's the number nobody actually earns.
Here I take three things off it:
- The service charge, which you pay whatever happens.
- The rent lost between tenants, based on how often tenants in each community actually move and how long units sit empty when they do.
- Maintenance: the yearly cost of keeping an apartment working, from the AC to the plumbing.
What's left I call the real yield.
The headline: about 7% gross, 4–7% real
Across Dubai apartments, the median gross yield is 7.2%. After the service charge it's 6.2%. Then come the empty weeks between tenants, which take another fifth to half a point. Maintenance takes a further 0.15 to 0.75 of a point. Most communities end up with a real yield between 4% and 7%.
Source: Dubai Land Department rents and sales for apartments, service-charge records (2026 budget year) and Ejari tenancies (2025–26), 1 July 2025 to 26 October 2026, worked out building by building (at least 10 rents and 10 sales in the same building); each figure is the median of a community's buildings, for the 21 communities with at least 8 such buildings (Al Merkadh and Wadi Al Safa 3 by their DLD area name). Real yield: after the 2026 service charge, the expected empty days between tenants and a maintenance allowance a year (studio AED 2,500, 1BR AED 3,250, 2BR AED 4,500, 3BR AED 5,750), counted against the community's median rent. Rentinit analysis.
Show the numbers(21 communities)
| Community | Buildings | Gross | After service charge | Expected empty days a year | Maintenance allowance | Real |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai Investments Park | 9 | 9.2% | 7.8% | 9.4 | AED 4,5002BR, 7.8% of rent | 6.9% |
| Jabal Ali | 24 | 9.2% | 7.5% | 13.9 | AED 2,500studio, 5.0% of rent | 6.7% |
| Barsha Heights | 11 | 8.1% | 7.4% | 9.5 | AED 4,5002BR, 6.0% of rent | 6.7% |
| Dubai Silicon Oasis | 47 | 8.6% | 7.3% | 11.2 | AED 3,2501BR, 5.7% of rent | 6.6% |
| Al Warsan | 21 | 8.4% | 7.4% | 13.1 | AED 3,2501BR, 6.5% of rent | 6.6% |
| Jabal Ali First | 16 | 7.9% | 7.1% | 10.7 | AED 2,500studio, 4.7% of rent | 6.5% |
| International City | 44 | 9.1% | 7.5% | 10.9 | AED 3,2501BR, 8.1% of rent | 6.5% |
| JVT | 51 | 8.0% | 7.1% | 14.6 | AED 3,2501BR, 5.1% of rent | 6.4% |
| Dubai Production City | 42 | 8.3% | 7.2% | 19.8 | AED 3,2501BR, 5.9% of rent | 6.2% |
| Dubai Sports City | 53 | 8.5% | 7.1% | 17.5 | AED 3,2501BR, 6.0% of rent | 6.2% |
| Liwan | 15 | 8.3% | 6.8% | 12.9 | AED 3,2501BR, 5.6% of rent | 6.0% |
| Wadi Al Safa 3DLD area name | 9 | 7.8% | 6.7% | 14.7 | AED 4,5002BR, 7.4% of rent | 5.8% |
| JVC | 185 | 7.7% | 6.6% | 21.3 | AED 3,2501BR, 4.8% of rent | 5.8% |
| Dubai South | 37 | 7.9% | 6.3% | 18.4 | AED 3,2501BR, 5.4% of rent | 5.5% |
| Al Jaddaf | 18 | 6.3% | 5.9% | 16.0 | AED 4,5002BR, 6.0% of rent | 5.2% |
| Business Bay | 91 | 6.7% | 5.7% | 19.9 | AED 4,5002BR, 4.9% of rent | 5.0% |
| Al MerkadhDLD area name | 10 | 6.1% | 5.3% | 22.7 | AED 3,2501BR, 3.5% of rent | 4.8% |
| Dubai Marina | 111 | 5.8% | 5.1% | 22.0 | AED 4,5002BR, 3.7% of rent | 4.5% |
| Downtown Dubai | 72 | 5.7% | 4.9% | 21.5 | AED 4,5002BR, 3.0% of rent | 4.4% |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 54 | 5.6% | 4.8% | 17.1 | AED 4,5002BR, 3.3% of rent | 4.4% |
| Palm Jumeirah | 36 | 5.2% | 4.4% | 18.0 | AED 5,7503BR, 3.0% of rent | 4.0% |
Where yields are highest, and what's left of them
The highest yields are in the more affordable, established communities:
| Community | Gross | After service charge | Real |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai Investments Park | 9.2% | 7.8% | 6.9% |
| Barsha Heights | 8.1% | 7.4% | 6.7% |
| Dubai Silicon Oasis | 8.6% | 7.3% | 6.6% |
| International City | 9.1% | 7.5% | 6.5% |
| JVC | 7.7% | 6.6% | 5.8% |
The prime areas yield the least:
| Community | Gross | After service charge | Real |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Bay | 6.7% | 5.7% | 5.0% |
| Dubai Marina | 5.8% | 5.1% | 4.5% |
| Downtown Dubai | 5.7% | 4.9% | 4.4% |
| Palm Jumeirah | 5.2% | 4.4% | 4.0% |
Why the gap differs by area
Three things set how much of the gross yield disappears.
The service charge is a bigger share of rent in cheaper communities. That's why International City loses 1.6 points to it, while Dubai Marina loses less than one (more on service charges).
Empty time follows tenant turnover, and turnover is highest in the newer, prime communities:
- About a third of tenancies end with a new tenant in Dubai Marina, JVC and Downtown. That works out to roughly three weeks of lost rent per unit per year on average.
- In International City, Deira and Bur Dubai it's closer to one in five, and about ten days a year.
So a unit in a steady, lower-turnover community keeps more of its yield. In a high-turnover community, holding on to a good tenant is worth more (renew or re-let?).
Maintenance costs about the same per apartment whatever the rent. Keeping a typical one- or two-bedroom flat working takes roughly AED 3,000 to 4,500 a year: an annual maintenance contract covering the AC, plumbing and electrics, plus parts. That's about 8% of the rent in International City, but 3% in Downtown. So maintenance narrows the gap between the cheaper areas and the prime ones (why repairs are worth doing fast).
What this doesn't include
The real yield still leaves out:
- Mortgage costs, which depend entirely on how the property is financed
- A management fee, if you use one: typically 5–8% of the rent (what that fee should buy)
- Big one-off repairs, like a replacement AC compressor, which are better budgeted as a reserve
- Changes in the property's value
Prime areas are usually bought for price growth as much as for rent. A lower yield there isn't automatically a worse investment, just a different bet.
Add your property, and I'll reach out on WhatsApp with the yield on your own building, worked out from its completed rents and sales rather than community medians.
How Hazel measured this
- Rents and sales: Dubai Land Department records for apartments, from July 2025 to October 2026.
- Rents are new leases, annualised.
- Sales are recorded sale transactions.
- Yields are worked out building by building, comparing median rent and median sale price per square metre in the same building, so a community isn't skewed by which buildings happened to trade. A building counts if it had at least 10 rents and 10 sales.
- 1,482 buildings across Dubai. Each community figure is the median of its buildings.
- The table shows communities with at least 8 qualifying buildings.
- Service charges: DLD service-charge records for the 2026 budget year, per square metre, for the same buildings.
- Empty time: Ejari records for 2025–26. It's the share of tenancies that ended with a new tenant, times the average days empty in between. Gaps over a year are excluded.
- Maintenance: an approximation, because there is no official figure.
- Each community's typical apartment size uses the middle of the published Dubai price ranges for an annual maintenance contract plus parts, checked 27 October 2026: studio AED 2,500, one bedroom 3,250, two bedrooms 4,500, three bedrooms 5,750.
- It's counted against the community's median rent for new leases.
General information, not investment advice.