How the rating works

The rating

Rating = 100 x group gross yield / Dubai gross yield

The Dubai average scores 100, a gross yield of 5.98%. A group whose yield is 20% higher than Dubai's rates 120; one that is 20% lower rates 80. The rating is shown as a whole number, always beside the yield itself. The bar shows the distance from 100: green above, red below.

Gross yield

Dubai Land Department does not link a rent contract to a sale, so a yield cannot be worked out for a single apartment from the register. It is worked out for a group: the median annual rent per sq ft of new rent contracts, divided by the median sale price per sq ft of sales, both over the same 12 months.

It is a gross yield: before service charges, vacancy, agent fees, maintenance and financing costs, which can take away much of it.

The 12-month window

The figures cover the 12 calendar months ending on the last day of the latest month fully covered by the data, currently 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026. The ratings are rebuilt with every data load but only change when the data passes a month end, so they stay the same all month and move once, early in the next month.

What counts

• Sales: registered resales of existing apartments. Off-plan sales and bulk deals (5 or more sales on the same day, building and price) are left out, as are prices outside AED 300 to 15,000 per sq ft and outliers within each building and bedroom type.
• Rent: new Ejari contracts for single apartments only. Renewals are never used, because renewal rents are capped by regulation and sit below the market.
• Apartments with an unknown number of bedrooms are left out throughout.

Bedroom mix

Studios usually yield more than larger apartments, so a group's yield depends on its mix. Each bedroom type (studio, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5+) is rated on its own when it has at least 10 sales and 10 new rent contracts. A group's overall figure combines only those types, weighted by their share of the group's own resales. If they cover less than 60% of its resales, the group is not rated overall.

Not rated

A group with too little data is not rated. It shows the reason and no number, and it is left out of every ranked list. The reasons are:

• Not enough registered sales in the 12 months to rate it (fewer than 10).
• Not enough new rent contracts in the 12 months to rate it (fewer than 10).
• Not enough registered sales or new rent contracts in the 12 months to rate it (fewer than 10 of each).
• No bedroom type here had at least 10 sales and 10 new rent contracts in the 12 months, so there is nothing to rate yet.
• The bedroom types with enough data cover less than 60% of sales here, so a single rating would not be representative.

What a community is

A community is a Dubai Land Department area, identified by its area number, with a readable display name. It is not a marketing community and can be wider than the name suggests: Dubai Marina's area includes Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR). Some display names are still being reviewed and may change.

Index yield and the Instant Estimate

The Index yield and the Instant Estimate's yield are measured differently and are not expected to match. The Index yield is a 12-month figure for a whole group, from new rent contracts. The Instant Estimate's yield is for one typical unit, using rents adjusted to the latest month.

When rents have recently fallen, the Index tends to read higher, because the estimate adjusts to the latest month and the Index does not. The rating itself is relative to the Dubai average, so the difference mostly cancels out in the rating, but it shows in the yield percentage.

What the rating does not tell you

• Service charges, which vary widely and can remove much of a high gross yield.
• Vacancy, agent fees, maintenance and the cost of financing.
• Price growth or how easy an apartment is to resell. A high yield often reflects a lower price, not a better outcome.
• How a specific apartment compares. The two sides of the yield are medians of different apartments in the group.