INVEST
Yield you can check, not yield you are told.
Gross yield is the easy number. diroKEY shows the one that decides whether the purchase works: what is left after service charges, vacancy and what comparable units actually signed at.
Eight questions · No account · Answer within 24 hours
THE WORKED EXAMPLE
A 6.0% studio that is really a 4.1% studio
Jumeirah Village Circle, 1 bedroom, 812 sqft, bought at AED 1,200,000. Every line below is a number you can verify yourself.
Annual rent, as advertised
AED 72,000
6.0% gross
Service charge, 14 AED/sqft
– AED 11,368
Vacancy allowance, 3 weeks between tenants
– AED 4,154
Property management, 5%
– AED 3,600
Maintenance and minor repairs
– AED 3,000
Net operating income
AED 49,878
4.16% net
THE REPORT
What is in it
Signed rent band
What comparable units in that exact building and size actually signed at, with the contract count behind the band.
Service charge and its trend
AED per sqft today and across three years. A building whose charge climbs faster than its rent is a slow loss.
Supply pressure
How many units are being handed over within walking distance, and how many quarters of demand that represents.
Exit comparables
What units like yours sold for and how long they took — so you know the way out before you go in.
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Eight questions, and the report comes back
No account before the form — the email is the last question, not the first. Only three answers are required: what you are after, your budget, and how to reach you.
WHO IT IS FOR
First purchase in Dubai
You are being shown gross yield by someone who earns a commission on the sale. This is the second opinion.
Handover is coming
You bought off-plan and the keys arrive this year. What will the unit next to yours be let at, and how many of them are there.
Already a landlord
Your tenant is renewing and you do not know whether to hold the rent or push it. The band tells you.
INVEST · GUIDE
Rental yield in Dubai: gross, net, and the gap between them
What gross yield leaves out
Gross yield divides annual rent by purchase price and stops there. It ignores the service charge, the weeks between tenants, management, and maintenance. Across Dubai those four items routinely take a third of the rent.
Service charge per square foot
This is the single number that separates two apparently identical units. A charge of AED 14 per square foot on an 812 sqft apartment is AED 11,368 a year — more than two months of rent on a mid-market unit.
Supply and absorption
Yield is a forecast, and the forecast depends on how many comparable homes are handed over near yours in the same quarter. Expressed as months of demand, that number tells you whether you will be setting the rent or accepting it.
Reading 2026 correctly
After four years of rising values, parts of the Dubai market have begun to flatten while handover volumes stay high. That combination rewards buyers who check the band a building actually signs at, and punishes those who price from a brochure.