Most "rental yield by area" tables for Dubai are built from listings: asking rent over asking price. This one is built from what was actually signed and registered. Rent is the median annual rent on Ejari-registered tenancy contracts over the last 12 months; price is the median ready-apartment sale in the Dubai Land Department (DLD) register over 24.09.2025–23.09.2026. The result covers 33 unit types across 12 districts, from a studio in International City to a one-bedroom in Burj Khalifa.
This page is the numbers. The method for turning a gross figure into a net one — service charges, vacancy, management, tax at home — is in our separate guide, Rental Yield in Dubai: gross to net.
These are historical transaction and tenancy data, not investment advice and not a forecast. Past results say nothing about future returns. An area median is not the price or the rent of any specific apartment.
Data in one paragraph
- Rent: median annual rent by district and bedroom count, Ejari contracts, last 12 months (DLD data via the Dubai Data aggregate). Ejari registration of every lease with RERA is a legal requirement under Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 as amended by Law No. 33 of 2008.
- Price: median ready-unit sale from the DLD sales register (September–December 2025) plus our own pull from DLD open data (January–September 2026). The Arabian Ranches villa uses the register for 15.09.2025–14.09.2026.
- Gross yield = annual rent / price. Example: JVC one-bedroom, AED 70,000 / AED 1,000,000 = 7.0%.
- USD at the dirham peg, 1 USD = 3.6725 AED.
Dubai rental yield by area: the full table
Sorted from highest to lowest gross yield. The last column shows how many sales and how many Ejari contracts sit behind each median — the thinner the sample, the less weight the number deserves.
| # | area | unit | median price, AED | ≈ USD | annual rent, AED | gross yield | sales / Ejari contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International City | studio | 333,000 | 91k | 30,000 | 9.0% | 525 / 9,357 |
| 2 | International City | 1-bed | 450,000 | 123k | 40,000 | 8.9% | 543 / 9,702 |
| 3 | Dubai Sports City | studio | 470,000 | 128k | 40,000 | 8.5% | 451 / 3,422 |
| 4 | Dubai Sports City | 1-bed | 700,000 | 191k | 56,000 | 8.0% | 459 / 3,313 |
| 5 | Jumeirah Lake Towers | studio | 750,000 | 204k | 60,000 | 8.0% | 135 / 596 |
| 6 | Jumeirah Village Circle | studio | 610,000 | 166k | 48,000 | 7.9% | 1,138 / 7,498 |
| 7 | Dubai Sports City | 2-bed | 1,070,000 | 291k | 80,000 | 7.5% | 248 / 1,399 |
| 8 | Jumeirah Lake Towers | 1-bed | 1,130,000 | 308k | 84,000 | 7.4% | 415 / 1,529 |
| 9 | Jumeirah Village Circle | 1-bed | 1,000,000 | 272k | 70,000 | 7.0% | 2,478 / 15,358 |
| 10 | Business Bay | studio | 990,000 | 270k | 67,000 | 6.8% | 607 / 3,924 |
| 11 | Jumeirah Village Circle | 2-bed | 1,490,000 | 406k | 95,000 | 6.4% | 634 / 4,673 |
| 12 | Dubai Marina | 4-bed | 4,500,000 | 1,225k | 290,000 | 6.4% | 51 / 192 |
| 13 | Jumeirah Lake Towers | 2-bed | 1,900,000 | 517k | 120,000 | 6.3% | 264 / 838 |
| 14 | The Greens | 1-bed | 1,450,000 | 395k | 90,000 | 6.2% | 221 / 1,730 |
| 15 | Jumeirah Beach Residence | 3-bed | 2,900,000 | 790k | 180,000 | 6.2% | 98 / 777 |
| 16 | The Greens | 2-bed | 2,450,000 | 667k | 150,000 | 6.1% | 157 / 1,126 |
| 17 | Business Bay | 1-bed | 1,450,000 | 395k | 87,000 | 6.0% | 1,011 / 6,635 |
| 18 | Dubai Marina | studio | 1,050,000 | 286k | 63,000 | 6.0% | 156 / 1,052 |
| 19 | Dubai Marina | 1-bed | 1,525,000 | 415k | 90,000 | 5.9% | 835 / 6,307 |
| 20 | Business Bay | 2-bed | 2,260,000 | 615k | 130,000 | 5.8% | 586 / 3,083 |
| 21 | Jumeirah Beach Residence | 1-bed | 1,745,000 | 475k | 102,000 | 5.8% | 92 / 752 |
| 22 | Jumeirah Beach Residence | 2-bed | 2,300,000 | 626k | 130,000 | 5.7% | 179 / 1,212 |
| 23 | Palm Jumeirah | 4-bed | 14,000,000 | 3,812k | 800,000 | 5.7% | 30 / 211 |
| 24 | Dubai Marina | 2-bed | 2,500,000 | 681k | 140,000 | 5.6% | 592 / 4,709 |
| 25 | Downtown Dubai | 1-bed | 2,050,000 | 558k | 115,000 | 5.6% | 550 / 4,104 |
| 26 | Downtown Dubai | 3-bed | 5,500,000 | 1,498k | 300,000 | 5.5% | 212 / 974 |
| 27 | Dubai Marina | 3-bed | 4,000,000 | 1,089k | 215,000 | 5.4% | 247 / 1,363 |
| 28 | Downtown Dubai | 2-bed | 3,375,000 | 919k | 180,000 | 5.3% | 595 / 3,374 |
| 29 | Palm Jumeirah | 1-bed | 2,900,000 | 790k | 150,000 | 5.2% | 151 / 1,075 |
| 30 | Palm Jumeirah | 2-bed | 4,500,000 | 1,225k | 210,000 | 4.7% | 267 / 1,593 |
| 31 | Palm Jumeirah | 3-bed | 6,350,000 | 1,729k | 290,000 | 4.6% | 125 / 727 |
| 32 | Arabian Ranches | 3-bed villa | 5,100,000 | 1,389k | 235,000 | 4.6% | 61 / 622 |
| 33 | Burj Khalifa | 1-bed | 3,050,000 | 830k | 115,000 | 3.8% | 43 / 4,104 |
Highest rental yield areas in Dubai — what the data does and does not say
On registered contracts, the highest gross yields in this set sit in International City (9.0% studio, 8.9% one-bed), Dubai Sports City (8.5% studio, 8.0% one-bed) and the studio end of JLT (8.0%) and JVC (7.9%). The lowest are the addresses people pay a premium for: Palm Jumeirah (4.6–5.7%), Arabian Ranches (4.6%) and Burj Khalifa (3.8%).
Two patterns hold almost everywhere:
- Yield falls as the unit gets bigger. Sports City goes 8.5% → 8.0% → 7.5% from studio to two-bed; JLT goes 8.0% → 7.4% → 6.3%; JVC 7.9% → 7.0% → 6.4%. Rents rise more slowly than prices.
- The exceptions are thin samples. The Dubai Marina four-bed (6.4%) rests on 51 sales and 192 contracts; the Palm four-bed (5.7%) on 30 sales. One unusual deal moves those medians.
A ranking by gross yield is a description of the current rent-to-price ratio. It is not a ranking of how the property itself performed, and it is not a recommendation — see the history below.
JVC rental yield
Jumeirah Village Circle has the deepest data in the whole table: 2,478 sales and 15,358 Ejari contracts for one-bedrooms alone. Gross yields are 7.9% (studio, AED 610,000 / AED 48,000), 7.0% (one-bed, AED 1,000,000 / AED 70,000) and 6.4% (two-bed, AED 1,490,000 / AED 95,000). In dollars, the one-bed's AED 70,000 is roughly $19,100 a year before costs (70,000 / 3.6725).
Historically, JVC one-beds bought in any year from 2012 to 2024 show a positive price result today, and the rent collected on top roughly doubled the outcome for early buyers: entered in 2014 at AED 650,000 → +48% on price alone, +141% with gross rent; entered in 2020 at AED 565,000 → +70% and +123%. A 2025 buyer is at +1% on price and +8% with rent — the 4% DLD fee has barely been absorbed.
Dubai Marina rental yield
Dubai Marina runs from 5.4% to 6.4% gross: studio 6.0%, one-bed 5.9% (AED 1,525,000 / AED 90,000, about $24,500 a year), two-bed 5.6%, three-bed 5.4%, four-bed 6.4% on a thin sample. It sits in the middle of the table — well below the budget districts, above Palm Jumeirah and Downtown's two-beds.
Timing mattered more than yield here. A one-bed bought at the 2014 peak for AED 1,300,000 is +13% on price and +83% with rent; bought in 2020 for AED 855,000 it is +72% and +121%. A year-by-year breakdown of Marina transactions is in Dubai Marina: sale prices by year.
High yield today, weak price history: the 2014 test
Why do cheap districts yield more? Rent tracks what a tenant will pay for space and commute; price also carries what a buyer will pay for the address, the view and the brand. Palm Jumeirah and Downtown prices include that premium, which rent covers less. International City and Sports City have little of it.
But a high rent-to-price ratio today does not tell you what happened to the capital. According to the REIDIN index (BIS), Dubai prices fell for six years, from the October 2014 peak to November 2020, by 33% in total. Here is what the game's calculation shows for buyers who entered at each end of that slide. "Price only" = today's median minus purchase price minus the 4% DLD fee; "with rent" adds gross rent collected over the holding period.
| unit | bought 2014: price only | bought 2014: with rent | bought 2020: price only | bought 2020: with rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports City studio | −17% | +54% | +51% | +105% |
| International City studio | −16% | +64% | +52% | +117% |
| JVC 1-bed | +48% | +141% | +70% | +123% |
| Dubai Marina 1-bed | +13% | +83% | +72% | +121% |
| Downtown 1-bed | +10% | +70% | +67% | +112% |
| Palm Jumeirah 2-bed | +36% | +94% | +148% | +203% |
| Burj Khalifa 1-bed | −26% | +2% | +68% | +98% |
Read it plainly. The Sports City studio bought in 2014 for AED 541,612 is worth a median AED 470,000 today: −17% after the fee. Gross rent over those years added AED 399,400 and turned the result into +54%. The highest-yield districts carried the weakest price results from the 2014 peak; rent did the work. From the 2020 trough, every row is positive and the prime Palm two-bed leads on price. Across all 539 market cards in the game, the "let it out" move ends negative in only 7 cases, mostly 2025 purchases where one year of rent has not yet covered the DLD fee.
For the full entry-year picture see Was buying in Dubai worth it? Best and worst years and the hub Dubai property prices by year.
Gross is not net
Every percentage on this page is gross. Before you compare districts on what reaches your account, deduct building service charges — set per building and charged on floor area, so two towers with the same rent can differ materially (see Service charges in Dubai) — plus management, vacancy, maintenance, insurance and tax in your country of residence. On the cost side, add the 4% DLD fee and transaction costs to the price; our purchase costs calculator does the arithmetic. The full step-by-step method is in Rental Yield in Dubai: gross to net, and we do not repeat it here.
Limits of this data
- An area median is not your unit. Towers inside JVC or Marina trade well above and below the district median. Check Ejari contracts and sales in the specific building.
- Past rent is modelled, not observed. For earlier years we take today's rent and scale it by the district's rent index — median AED per m² on that year's Ejari contracts relative to now (DLD rent contract aggregates). Years with fewer than 300 contracts in the district are held at the first reliable year — an assumption. The "with rent" column is therefore an estimate, especially for early entries.
- Burj Khalifa is a small sample (43 sales in the year; the game accepts 10+ per year and flags it). Its rent figure is the same as Downtown's one-bed median — AED 115,000 on the same 4,104 contracts — because the data set has no separate tower-level rent. Treat 3.8% as an approximation; details in Buying an apartment in Burj Khalifa.
- "Today" is a rolling 12 months to 23.09.2026, and rents are not free-floating at renewal: increases follow the scale in Decree No. 43 of 2013, tied to the RERA rental index (DLD launched its Smart Rental Index on 02.01.2025).
FAQ
What is the average rental yield in Dubai?
There is no single number. Across our 33 unit types, gross yield on Ejari contracts runs from 3.8% to 9.0%; most Marina, Business Bay, JBR and Downtown apartments fall between 5.3% and 6.4%.
Which areas have the highest rental yield in Dubai?
In this data set: International City, Dubai Sports City and the studio segments of JLT and JVC, all at 7.9–9.0% gross. That is a description, not advice — the same districts were negative on price for 2014 buyers.
Why do listing portals show higher yields?
Listings show asking rents and asking prices. Ejari contracts show agreed rents, and DLD medians show agreed prices. Verify any quoted yield against registered contracts in the same building and unit type.
Can I try a district myself?
Yes. In the Dubai property game, pick an entry year and a unit and choose the rental move to see accumulated rent and the result — for example the JVC one-bed from 2014.
Before you buy for rental income
The table describes districts; you buy one unit, with its own service charges, building rules and paperwork. Under our real estate service, LAWERA's lawyers check title, the seller and encumbrances, and for a tenanted unit the lease and its Ejari registration. If you already own and a tenant stops paying or a renewal turns into a dispute, the route runs through the Rental Dispute Centre — see Rental disputes at the RDC.