Dubai Rental Yield by Area in 2026: The Average and the 10 Highest-Yield Areas
The average gross rental yield in Dubai is 6.2% for apartments and 4.2% for villas, on Property Finder's record of Dubai Land Department sales and rents, read on 13 October 2026. Of 35 areas, Downtown Jebel Ali is highest at 9.2% and Downtown Dubai lowest at 5.0%. Costs take about two points off.
Compare the Dubai rental yield by area and one pattern stands out: the cheaper the area, the more rent you get for each dirham you pay. In October 2026 the highest figure was 9.2%, in Downtown Jebel Ali, and the lowest was 5.0%, in Downtown Dubai. The average for apartments was 6.2%. But a high figure often hides a catch, which we show for each of the top ten.
Dubai Rental Yield by Area in 2026
Here is the rental yield in 35 areas of Dubai, the ten highest with the price and rent behind each one, the Dubai average, and how to work out the yield on a home yourself.
The 10 Areas With the Highest Rental Yield in Dubai
Rental yield is one year of rent as a share of what the home cost. A flat that costs AED 1 million and rents for AED 70,000 a year has a yield of 7%. Every figure here is a gross yield, which means the yield before any costs are taken off. The figures are for apartments, in the three months to 11 October 2026.
None of these ten areas is by the sea or in the city centre, and in all of them the average flat costs less than AED 1.1 million. That is no accident. When you move away from the expensive parts of Dubai, prices fall faster than rents do.
A high yield can describe flats you cannot buy
In many of these areas, most of the flats now being sold are off-plan, which means they are sold before they are built. A flat that does not exist yet has no tenant, so the rents behind the yield come from older, cheaper buildings.
Each area below shows how many of the flats sold were already built. The higher that share, the more you can trust the yield.
1. Downtown Jebel Ali
Downtown Jebel Ali is a line of new towers along Sheikh Zayed Road, at the far south-western end of the city, next to the Jebel Ali port and free zone.
Top of the list, but the figure to trust least
Almost every flat sold here in the last three months is still being built. The 9.2% really describes a small number of older buildings, where flats sold for about AED 709,000.
A new flat costs more than that, so do not expect 9.2% on it. Work out your own figure before you buy: take the yearly rent in a finished building nearby, and divide it by the price you are being quoted.
2. Dubai Investment Park
Dubai Investment Park is a business park in the south of the city. It has offices, warehouses and factories, with homes built beside them, and it has its own Metro station.
Finding a tenant is the easy part here. For every flat that was sold in the last three months, more than eight were rented out. And the yield is high for a simple reason: older flats here are cheap for their size, at about AED 816 per sq ft.
The hard part is buying one of them. Only 41 finished flats were sold in three months. Everything else on sale was new, at a higher price, and a higher price means a lower yield.
3. Dubai Land Residence Complex
Dubai Land Residence Complex is a district of apartment blocks on the inland side of the city, in the wider area known as Dubailand.
This is the area that shows most clearly why the share of finished flats matters. Finished flats here sold for about AED 646,000. The new ones cost more, and they pulled the average up to AED 920,000.
So the 8.7% belongs to the older, cheaper flats. For example, a rent of AED 52,400 on a flat that cost AED 920,000 is a yield of 5.7%. That is three percentage points lower.
4. Arjan
Arjan is a newer district of mid-rise apartment blocks, next to the Dubai Miracle Garden.
A lot of people rent in Arjan. It had 5,151 rental contracts in three months, more than any area on this list except International City. So this yield is based on plenty of real rents. Tenants here also pay more than in most of the other nine areas.
What you need to watch is the building work. Six in every ten flats sold were off-plan. Each one will need a tenant when it is finished, so your flat will have more flats to compete with.
Ask the agent before you buy
"Which projects near this building will be finished in the next two years?"
5. Dubai Silicon Oasis
Dubai Silicon Oasis is a free zone for technology companies on the eastern side of the city, with a large residential part around the offices.
This is one of the yields you can rely on, because seven in every ten flats sold were already built. You also get a lot of space for your money here. The average price buys a flat of about 880 sq ft.
That space has a cost. Service charges, the yearly fees for running the building, are billed for each square foot. A bigger flat costs more to own every year, so look up the building's rate before you make an offer.
6. International City
International City has the cheapest flats on this page. It is a very large community of low-rise blocks on the eastern edge of the city, next to the Dragon Mart shopping centre.
It is also the busiest rental market of the ten, with 6,847 contracts in three months. Two thirds of the flats sold were already built, and those sold for about AED 466,000.
The weak point is how small the sums are. When the rent is AED 41,100 a year, one empty month or one repair takes a large share of it. Some banks also will not lend on the cheapest flats, so check with yours first.
Read the full guide: the cheapest property in Dubai
7. Discovery Gardens
Discovery Gardens is an older community of low-rise blocks set among gardens, next to Ibn Battuta Mall.
This is the most dependable figure of the ten. Every flat sold here was already built, so the price and the rent describe the same kind of home. Tenants are easy to find too: there were about 20 rental contracts for every sale.
The flats are cheap because the buildings are old, and that is also the thing to check.
Ask the seller before you buy
- What is the service charge for this building?
- When were the air conditioning and the lifts last replaced?
8. Dubai Sports City
Dubai Sports City is a district of apartment towers built around the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
About half of the flats sold here were already built, and they sold for about AED 815,000. The rest were new, at a higher price.
So you have a real choice in Sports City. You can buy a finished flat, where the tenant and the rent are there to see. Or you can buy a new one for more money, and find the tenant later. The 8.1% describes the first of those.
9. Dubai Studio City
Dubai Studio City is a small district that was built for film and television companies, next to Motor City.
The flats here are small, about 500 sq ft on average. That is why the area is on this list, because small flats earn more rent for each dirham of their price all over Dubai.
Be careful with this figure for two reasons. It is based on fewer records than any other figure on the list, with 192 sales and 591 rental contracts. And some homes sold here are hotel apartments, which are run by a hotel company and are a different kind of purchase. Check the property type on the advert.
10. Majan
Majan is a newer district in Dubailand, and it is being built very fast.
Almost nine in every ten flats sold here are not finished yet. Tenants pay well, the highest rent of the ten, but those rents come from the small number of buildings that are open.
Plan for a lower rent in the first year
When the new flats are finished, their owners will all be looking for tenants at about the same time. If you buy here, do your sums on a rent below the one you see in today's contracts.
Yield is only one way to choose an area. It tells you nothing about how many new homes are coming, or how easy the flat will be to sell later.
Read the full guide: the best areas to buy property in Dubai
Rental Yield in Every Area of Dubai
The ten areas above are the top of a longer list. This table has all 35 areas of Dubai where at least 100 flats were sold and at least 100 rental contracts were signed in the three months to 11 October 2026. It runs from the highest yield to the lowest.
Each row gives three figures for apartments in that area:
- Gross rental yield is one year of rent as a share of the price of the flat, before any costs.
- Average sold price is what a flat in the area sold for, on average.
- Average new rent a year is what tenants who signed a new contract pay for one year, on average.
| Area | Gross rental yield | Average sold price | Average new rent a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Jebel Ali | 9.2% | AED 890,000 | AED 55,300 |
| Dubai Investment Park | 8.9% | AED 822,000 | AED 54,200 |
| Dubai Land Residence Complex | 8.7% | AED 920,000 | AED 52,400 |
| Arjan | 8.5% | AED 1,042,000 | AED 64,100 |
| Dubai Silicon Oasis | 8.5% | AED 1,054,000 | AED 58,700 |
| International City | 8.4% | AED 576,000 | AED 41,100 |
| Discovery Gardens | 8.1% | AED 802,000 | AED 56,100 |
| Dubai Sports City | 8.1% | AED 954,000 | AED 57,200 |
| Dubai Studio City | 8.1% | AED 753,000 | AED 61,000 |
| Majan | 8.1% | AED 903,000 | AED 64,600 |
| Liwan | 7.9% | AED 951,000 | AED 58,100 |
| Dubai Production City | 7.8% | AED 918,000 | AED 57,100 |
| Motor City | 7.8% | AED 1,184,000 | AED 93,000 |
| Jumeirah Village Circle | 7.5% | AED 1,036,000 | AED 67,300 |
| Jumeirah Village Triangle | 7.4% | AED 1,123,000 | AED 64,700 |
| Wasl Gate | 7.4% | AED 1,745,000 | AED 75,400 |
| Town Square | 7.2% | AED 1,345,000 | AED 75,500 |
| Al Furjan | 7.2% | AED 1,414,000 | AED 72,600 |
| Damac Hills | 7.0% | AED 1,173,000 | AED 61,100 |
| Meydan | 7.0% | AED 1,411,000 | AED 62,300 |
| Dubai Science Park | 6.9% | AED 1,085,000 | AED 75,200 |
| Business Bay | 6.9% | AED 2,639,000 | AED 96,900 |
| Jumeirah Lake Towers | 6.7% | AED 1,821,000 | AED 90,800 |
| Dubai South | 6.4% | AED 928,000 | AED 59,200 |
| Al Satwa | 6.3% | AED 1,462,000 | AED 81,200 |
| Mohammed Bin Rashid City | 6.3% | AED 1,955,000 | AED 108,000 |
| Dubai Hills Estate | 6.1% | AED 2,517,000 | AED 125,600 |
| Dubai Marina | 6.0% | AED 2,765,000 | AED 117,200 |
| Jumeirah Beach Residence | 5.8% | AED 2,861,000 | AED 160,800 |
| Al Jaddaf | 5.6% | AED 1,488,000 | AED 81,600 |
| City Walk | 5.5% | AED 4,465,000 | AED 214,900 |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 5.5% | AED 2,871,000 | AED 134,100 |
| Dubai Harbour | 5.2% | AED 6,682,000 | AED 183,200 |
| Palm Jumeirah | 5.2% | AED 9,494,000 | AED 249,200 |
| Downtown Dubai | 5.0% | AED 4,410,000 | AED 250,600 |
These figures come from Property Finder, which is a property website. It shows the sales and the rental contracts that are registered with the Dubai Land Department. That is the government office that records every sale and every rental contract in Dubai.
Rent divided by price will not give you the yield in this table
You may try to check a row by dividing its rent by its price. The answer will not match the yield. For Jumeirah Village Circle, that sum gives 6.5%, and the table shows 7.5%.
There are two reasons:
- Property Finder works out the yield itself, and it does not publish how it does this.
- The price and the rent come from different flats. The price is the average of the flats that were sold, and the rent is the average of the flats that were rented.
So use this table to compare one area with another. For a flat you want to buy, do your own sum. The last section of this guide shows you how.
Jumeirah Village Circle has far more records than any other area in the table. It had 2,282 sales and 10,242 rental contracts in three months. An average that comes from so many homes is hard for one unusual sale to move, so its 7.5% is the yield in this table you can trust most.
You can also look up an area, or a single building, that is not in the table. It is free and you do not need an account.
- Open the page. Go to Property Finder's sales transactions page.
- Search for the place. Type the name of the area or the building in the location box.
- Set the two filters. Choose 3 Months and Apartment.
- Read the yield. Look for the box called Rental Yield. The figure in it is the gross yield for the place you searched.
Rental yield for villas and townhouses by area
Houses earn less rent for their price than flats do, so their yields are lower. A villa is a house that stands alone. A townhouse is a house that shares its side walls with its neighbours. Property Finder's records count most townhouses as villas, so this table covers both.
The table has the 12 areas where at least 50 houses were sold and at least 100 rental contracts were signed in the same three months.
| Area | Gross rental yield | Average sold price | Average new rent a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villanova | 5.6% | AED 3.28 million | AED 159,700 |
| Mudon | 5.5% | AED 3.85 million | AED 204,100 |
| Damac Lagoons | 5.2% | AED 3.40 million | AED 158,500 |
| Tilal Al Ghaf | 5.2% | AED 12.55 million | AED 345,900 |
| Mohammed Bin Rashid City | 5.1% | AED 12.72 million | AED 373,100 |
| The Valley | 5.1% | AED 4.07 million | AED 150,300 |
| Reem | 5.0% | AED 3.34 million | AED 166,100 |
| Dubai South | 4.8% | AED 5.01 million | AED 135,100 |
| Nad Al Sheba | 4.6% | AED 7.96 million | AED 339,000 |
| Arabian Ranches | 4.5% | AED 7.73 million | AED 345,200 |
| Arabian Ranches 3 | 4.4% | AED 4.47 million | AED 196,800 |
| The Springs | 4.3% | AED 4.57 million | AED 205,900 |
Four areas you might look for are not in the table: Dubai Hills Estate, Damac Hills, Damac Hills 2 and Town Square. Property Finder showed no rental yield for houses in them.
The Average Rental Yield in Dubai
The average rental yield in Dubai is 5.7% a year for all homes together. In plain words, an average home in Dubai earns AED 5.70 of rent a year for every AED 100 of its price, before costs.
The average is very different for flats and for houses. It is 6.2% for apartments and 4.2% for villas. These figures also come from Property Finder, and we read them on 13 October 2026.
The size of the home matters as much as the type. A small home earns more rent for each dirham of its price than a large home does. So the yield goes down as the number of bedrooms goes up.
This also explains the order of the area table. Dubai Studio City is in the top ten, and the average flat there is small, at about 500 sq ft. Palm Jumeirah is near the bottom, and the average flat there sold for AED 9.5 million.
What is a good rental yield in Dubai
A good gross rental yield for an apartment in Dubai is anything above 6.2%, because 6.2% is the average. No authority sets an official figure, so the fair test is to compare the yield you are offered with what other homes in Dubai earn.
This is how apartments stood in October 2026:
- Above 6.2% is better than the Dubai average for apartments.
- 7% or more is a level that 20 of the 35 areas in our table reached.
- 8% or more is a level that only the top ten areas reached. In most of those ten, the flats now on sale are not built yet, so the yield describes older and cheaper flats.
For a villa, any yield above 4.2% is better than the average. No villa area in our table was higher than 5.6%.
Remember that all of these are gross yields, which means before costs. The yield you really keep is lower, and the next section shows how much lower.
How to Calculate Rental Yield on a Dubai Property
Rental yield tells you how much rent a home earns in one year, compared with its price. It is a percentage, so you can use it to compare a cheap flat with an expensive one.
You do not need a rental yield calculator, because the sum is one line. Divide the rent for one year by the price of the home, then multiply by 100.
In this example, AED 70,000 divided by AED 1,000,000 is 0.07. Multiply 0.07 by 100 and you get 7%.
How to do the sum for a flat you are looking at
You need two real numbers: the price of the flat and the rent for one year.
- Find the price. Use the price that similar flats in the same building sold for. Our guide to distressed property in Dubai shows you how to find those sales.
- Find the rent for one year. On Property Finder's transactions page, move the switch at the top from Sold to Rented. The page now shows the building's latest rental contracts, so use those rents. Do not use the rent in an advert, because that is only what the owner is asking for.
- Do the sum. Divide the rent for one year by the price, then multiply by 100. The answer is the gross yield of that flat.
Gross yield against net yield
The sum above gives you the gross yield. Gross means before costs. It counts all of the rent as yours, and it counts the price as the only money you paid.
Neither is true for an owner. You pay bills out of the rent every year, and you pay fees on top of the price when you buy. The net yield counts both. It is the rent you keep after costs, as a share of everything you paid to buy the home. That is why the net yield is always lower than the gross yield.
Three costs come out of the rent:
- The service charge. This is the fee every owner pays each year to run the building. It is charged for each square foot of the flat, so a bigger flat pays more. The Dubai Land Department's Service Charge Index gives the approved rate for each building.
- An agent. If you pay someone to find the tenant and manage the flat, they take a share of the rent.
- Empty weeks and repairs. Few flats have a tenant for all 52 weeks of every year, and repairs cost money.
Two fees are added to the price when you buy. The Dubai Land Department charges a fee of 4% of the price, and the buying agent charges about 2%. Together that is about 6%.
How to work out the net yield
Here is the sum, step by step. The example is a flat of 700 sq ft, bought for AED 1,000,000 and rented out for AED 70,000 a year. Its building charges AED 12 per sq ft.
- Start with the rent for one year. In the example, that is AED 70,000.
- Take off the service charge. Multiply the size of the flat by the building's rate. Here, 700 sq ft at AED 12 is AED 8,400.
- Take off 15% of the rent. This covers the agent, empty weeks and repairs together. The 15% is our own rough estimate. Here, it is AED 10,500.
- See what you keep. AED 70,000 less AED 8,400 and AED 10,500 leaves AED 51,100.
- Add 6% to the price. This covers the two buying fees. Here, AED 1,000,000 becomes AED 1,060,000.
- Divide and multiply by 100. Divide what you keep by the price with the fees. AED 51,100 divided by AED 1,060,000 gives 4.8%.
So a gross yield of 7.0% becomes a net yield of about 4.8%. That is about two percentage points lower. A loss of this size is normal, and it is larger in buildings with a high service charge.
Our guides to service charges in Dubai and the cost of buying property in Dubai explain these bills in full.
FAQs
What is the average rental yield in Dubai?
It is 6.2% a year for apartments and 4.2% for villas, before costs, on Property Finder's record of Dubai Land Department data read on 13 October 2026. For all homes together it is 5.7%.
Which area has the highest rental yield in Dubai?
Downtown Jebel Ali, at 9.2%, followed by Dubai Investment Park at 8.9% and Dubai Land Residence Complex at 8.7%. In all three, most of the flats sold in the last three months were not built yet.
Is 7% a good rental yield in Dubai?
Yes, for a gross yield. It is above the Dubai average of 6.2% for apartments, and 20 of the 35 areas in our table reached it. After costs, a 7% gross yield is about 4.8%.
How do I work out rental yield per month?
Yield is a yearly figure. To see it by the month, divide it by 12. A yield of 7% a year is about 0.58% a month, which is AED 5,833 a month on a home that cost AED 1 million.
Is rental income taxed in Dubai?
The UAE does not charge income tax on individuals, so a person who rents out a home in Dubai pays no income tax on the rent there. Your home country may still tax it. Our guide to property tax in Dubai explains the fees you do pay.
Sources and method4 sources from 3 publishers · last checked 13 October 2026
Official
- Dubai Land Department Service Charge Index
Reporting and other sources
- About this guide: every yield, price and rent for an area was read from one source, Property Finder's transactions pages, and checked on 13 October 2026. It is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice.
- Property Finder Sales transactions in DubaiRental transactions in Dubai
