Your Key Property Management

Rental Yields by Area in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

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Gross rental yield is annual rent divided by the purchase price. Net yield is what remains after service charges, vacancy and other recurring costs. Dubai Land Department and ADREC publish the raw materials for those calculations — registered sales, rent contracts and, in Dubai, a Rental Index and Service Charge Index — but they do not, in the official pages we checked on 16 Nov 2026, publish a single ready-made yield table for every community.

This guide therefore explains the official method, the sources to use, and the costs you must deduct. It does not invent area-average yields. If a figure is not from a cited official record with a date, it does not belong in an investment decision.

How should I calculate yield?

Use this sequence, and write the date on every input.

  1. Choose the unit type and community, for example a one-bedroom apartment in Jumeirah Village Circle or a two-bedroom apartment on Al Reem Island.
  2. Take a purchase price. The best evidence is a registered sale, or the price you actually paid. An asking price is weaker and should be labelled as such.
  3. Take an annual rent. The best evidence is a registered tenancy: in Dubai, a DLD / Ejari contract; in Abu Dhabi, a Tawtheeq contract. Asking rents on portals are weaker.
  4. Gross yield (%) = (annual rent ÷ purchase price) × 100.
  5. Estimate recurring costs for a year, at least:
    • Service charges (from the official Dubai Service Charge Index, or the Department-approved Abu Dhabi schedule)
    • Vacancy or void days (do not assume 365 days of rent)
    • Letting agency fees, if you will use an agent
    • Routine maintenance and landlord insurance, if you will pay them
    • Lease-registration costs (confirm the current Ejari or Tawtheeq fee at the time)
  6. Net yield (%) = ((annual rent − those costs) ÷ purchase price) × 100.

Work a simple illustration, with invented rents clearly marked as hypothetical arithmetic only: if a unit cost AED 1,000,000 and the registered annual rent were AED 70,000, the gross yield would be 7%. If service charges were AED 12,000 and you allowed one month void (AED 5,833), the net yield on those figures would be about 5.2%. Those rent and charge amounts are examples to show the formula, not market data for any community.

Which official sources should I use in Dubai?

  • Former Dubai Pulse rent-contract data. The old Dubai Pulse rent-contract dataset now redirects to Data Dubai. On 16 Nov 2026 that portal was still under development and did not serve the dataset at the old path. Do not treat the old URL as a live download. Use the Rental Index below as the working official rent reference until a replacement dataset is published.
  • DLD Rental Index. DLD operates a Rental Index service, which is the official reference for rent increases under Dubai’s landlord-and-tenant framework. Use the current index reading for the property type when you are renewing or comparing a rent, and note the date you consulted it.
  • DLD transaction publications. DLD also publishes sale information on its website so that investors can follow prices. Use registered sales, not asking prices, when you can.
  • Service Charge Index. Deduct the official rate for the project and budget year from DLD’s Service Charge Index. The index is project-specific; there is no single citywide number. See Service charges explained.

When you quote a Dubai yield, state: the area, the unit type, whether you used medians or averages, the number of contracts if you know it, and the period (for example, “registered 1-bedroom contracts, January–June 2026, drawn from official DLD records on 16 Nov 2026”).

Which official sources should I use in Abu Dhabi?

Sales and leases in most of the emirate are registered through DARI under ADREC. We did not find a public, official ADREC yield table in this session. Until such a table is published, a defensible yield should be built from:

  • the registered sale price or a recent comparable sale on DARI
  • the registered annual rent on Tawtheeq
  • the Department-approved service fee for the building

Property on Al Reem Island and Al Maryah Island is registered with ADGM. Use AccessRP records and the approved building budget for those units, not a mainland average.

Abu Dhabi lease-registration fees are set in official municipal schedules (Resolution No. 49 of 2018 includes lease-registration items, including an annual fee collected in connection with residential leases). Confirm the current Tawtheeq amounts on DARI before you deduct them, because municipal schedules can be updated.

Why do brochure yields mislead?

They often mix an off-plan list price with an assumed rent years before handover. They may ignore service charges, vacancy, agency fees and furniture. They may compare a small number of peak lettings with a discounted purchase price. None of that is an official statistic.

Off-plan units, including buildings such as Kaia on Dubai Islands or Yas Park Place, have no current yield. Any figure quoted before handover is a forecast. See Buying off-plan in Dubai and Buying off-plan in Abu Dhabi.

Community notes on JVC, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Islands, Al Reem Island, Saadiyat Island and Yas Island deliberately omit made-up yield numbers for the same reason.

What else changes the result?

  • Unit type. A studio and a three-bedroom apartment in the same community rarely share the same yield.
  • Furnishing and chiller. A “chiller-free” or fully furnished offer changes both the rent and the cost base. State what is included.
  • Mortgage. Yield on equity is not the same as yield on purchase price. If you borrow, interest is a cost, and official LTV caps limit how much leverage you can take. See Mortgages for expats and non-residents.
  • Short-term letting. Holiday-home rules, licences and occupancy are a different calculation. Do not apply a long-stay registered rent to a short-stay story, or the reverse.
  • Taxes and fees on the purchase itself belong in your acquisition budget, not in the annual yield, except where an annual municipal lease fee applies. See Total cost of buying in Dubai vs Abu Dhabi.

Your Key can help you assemble comparable registered evidence for a specific unit. We will date the source. We will not invent an area average to make a listing look stronger.

Frequently asked questions

What is a gross rental yield?

Gross yield is the annual rent divided by the purchase price (or a clearly stated market value), expressed as a percentage. If you use asking rent or asking price, say so.

What is a net rental yield?

Net yield subtracts recurring costs from the annual rent before you divide by the price. At a minimum, deduct service charges and an allowance for vacancy.

Does DLD publish an official yield table by area?

We did not find a ready-made official DLD or ADREC yield table in this session. Calculate yields from official rent and sale records, and state the date and method.

Can I use a developer’s brochure yield?

Not as a fact. Replace it with a calculation from dated, comparable evidence, including service charges.

How do service charges affect yield?

They are a cash cost every year and can change a strong gross yield into a weak net yield. Use the official Dubai index or the approved Abu Dhabi schedule.

Do off-plan purchases have a current yield?

No. Rent starts only after handover and actual letting. Any earlier figure is a forecast and should be labelled as such.

Official sources (as of 16 Nov 2026)

Last updated: 16 Nov 2026

Abdul Shakoor, Founder & CEO, Your Key — RERA certified (Dubai) and ADREC certified (Abu Dhabi)

For help building a dated yield file on a specific unit, contact Your Key, call or message +971 54 451 7999, or email main@yourkey.ae. Browse off-plan projects or the mortgage calculator if you are still at the acquisition stage.