The property
Running costs & capital — settings
The three yields
Where the rent goes
Want the real service charge for a specific building?
Send Ali the tower or community you are looking at. He will pull the actual service charge, the current achievable rent, and what comparable units are really letting for.
Why there are three numbers, not one
Gross yield is rent divided by price. It is the number in the advert, and it ignores every cost of owning the asset. It is useful only for comparing two properties at the same glance.
Net yield on price subtracts what it costs to run the property: the service charge, management, a maintenance allowance, insurance, and the rent you lose while the unit sits empty between tenants. In Dubai the service charge is the one that surprises people, because it is billed per square foot regardless of what the unit rents for.
It is also the line most calculators get wrong. Service charges are levied on chargeable area, not the gross size in the listing: the internal area is billed in full, and the balcony at 25 percent of its area. On a 920 square foot unit with a 120 square foot balcony you are billed on 830, not 920. Enter the two areas separately above and the calculator handles it.
Net yield on total invested is the honest number. It divides the same net income by everything you actually put in — price plus the DLD fee, agency commission, trustee fee and any furnishing. That money is gone whether the property performs or not, so leaving it out simply flatters the result.
On a typical Dubai apartment the distance between the first number and the third is two to three percentage points. That is the difference between a good investment and an average one, and it is entirely invisible in the advert.
Related reading
- Rental yield in Dubai, explained — the full method behind this calculator.
- Dubai service charges explained — what you are paying for and why it varies so much.
- Short-term rentals in Dubai — when holiday letting beats a standard tenancy.
- Property management in Dubai — what a manager does for the fee.
- Transfer cost calculator — the exact acquisition cost to feed into this tool.
Common questions
What is a good rental yield in Dubai?
Advertised gross yields in Dubai commonly sit between 6 and 9 percent, but gross yield ignores every cost of ownership. Once service charges, management, maintenance and void periods are deducted, and the return is measured against what you actually invested including purchase fees, a realistic net figure is typically two to three percentage points lower. Judge a property on the net number, not the advertised one.
What is the difference between gross and net rental yield?
Gross yield is annual rent divided by the purchase price, with no costs deducted. Net yield subtracts the running costs of ownership, principally service charges, property management, maintenance and lost rent during vacant periods. The most honest measure divides net income by total capital invested, which includes the DLD fee, agency commission and other purchase costs, since that is the money genuinely tied up in the asset.
How much are service charges in Dubai?
Service charges in Dubai are billed per square foot per year, and crucially they are levied on chargeable area, not on the gross size quoted in a listing. Chargeable area is 100 percent of the internal suite area plus 25 percent of the balcony area, so a unit advertised at 920 square feet with a 120 square foot balcony is billed on 830. Rates vary widely by building, from roughly 10 dirhams per square foot in simpler developments to well over 30 in premium towers. Applying the rate to gross area overstates the cost and understates the yield.
Should I include purchase costs when calculating yield?
Yes, if you want the number to reflect reality. The DLD registration fee, agency commission, trustee office fee and any furnishing are real capital you committed to acquire the asset, and they are not recoverable. Measuring net income against price alone flatters the return by roughly the size of those costs, commonly six to seven percent of the price in Dubai.