Dubai rents
Apartment rent
70,000AED a year
95 AED per sq ft a year
Studios
43,000AED a year
median, October 2026
1 bedroom
65,096AED a year
median, October 2026
2 bedrooms
95,000AED a year
median, October 2026
New annual Ejari contracts for August – October 2026, updated daily. YAFF calculation on DLD open data, not official statistics. DLD open data
Key points
- Apartment rent per sq ft: +5.4% over three months.
- Highest gross yield: Dubai Land Residence Complex at 8.6%; lowest: Palm Jumeirah at 4.9% (areas with 100+ contracts).
- Since the start of 2020, annual rent has grown: studios +52.4%, 1-bedroom +48.6%, 2-bedroom +47.6%.
Rents since 2020 by bedrooms
January 2020 — October 2026, median annual rent on new contracts, AED a year.
- Studios
- 1 bedroom
- 2 bedrooms
DLD “Rent Contracts” open dataset on data.dubai, by contract start month. A separate series from the tables below — see “Methodology”.
Apartments by size and villas
New annual contracts for August – October 2026. Change — rent per sq ft versus the same period earlier. Ejari contracts have no bedroom count, so apartments are grouped by size.
| Segment | Median per year, AED | Per sq ft a year, AED | Change, 3 mo | New contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartments, all | 70,000 | 95 | +5.4% | 89,234 |
| under 538 sq ft (usually studios) | 44,000 | 108 | +3.2% | 20,402 |
| 538–861 sq ft (usually 1 bedroom) | 65,000 | 93 | +3.6% | 30,155 |
| 861–1,292 sq ft (usually 2 bedrooms) | 90,000 | 88 | +6.3% | 23,671 |
| over 1,292 sq ft (3+ bedrooms) | 136,000 | 86 | +6.7% | 15,006 |
| Villas & townhouses | 180,000 | 72 | +3.7% | 8,867 |
Rents and yields by area
New annual contracts for May – October 2026. Areas with 30 or more apartment contracts.
| Area | Apartment, AED a year | Per sq ft a year, AED | Gross yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jumeirah Village Circle | 64,000 | 90 | 7.4% |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 110,446 | 119 | 5.3% |
| Downtown Dubai | 160,000 | 149 | 6.3% |
| Business Bay | 84,000 | 113 | 6.3% |
| Dubai Marina | 100,000 | 99 | 5.6% |
| Arjan | 59,839 | 94 | 6.9% |
| Meydan | 50,000 | 126 | 6.6% |
| Jumeirah Lake Towers | 80,000 | 102 | 7.3% |
| Dubai Silicon Oasis | 55,000 | 76 | 6.3% |
| Dubai Sports City | 52,000 | 80 | 8.2% |
Gross apartment yield by area
- Dubai Sports City8.2%
- Jumeirah Village Circle7.4%
- Jumeirah Lake Towers7.3%
- Arjan6.9%
- Meydan6.6%
- Business Bay6.3%
- Dubai Silicon Oasis6.3%
- Downtown Dubai6.3%
- Dubai Marina5.6%
- Dubai Creek Harbour5.3%
Rents by month
| Month | New contracts | Per sq ft a year, AED | Apartment, AED a year | Villa, AED a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 30,451 | 94 | 70,000 | 175,000 |
| September 2026 | 32,197 | 97 | 72,000 | 180,000 |
| August 2026 | 26,586 | 93 | 70,000 | 180,000 |
| July 2026 | 23,811 | 90 | 69,000 | 175,000 |
| June 2026 | 21,581 | 91 | 70,000 | 177,750 |
| May 2026 | 14,629 | 89 | 70,000 | 170,000 |
| April 2026 | 14,314 | 88 | 68,000 | 170,000 |
| March 2026 | 12,584 | 92 | 70,000 | 175,000 |
| February 2026 | 19,908 | 99 | 75,000 | 185,000 |
| January 2026 | 22,206 | 96 | 70,000 | 181,000 |
How we calculate
- Source: DLD open data on registered rental contracts (Ejari) at dubailand.gov.ae.
- Only new contracts for a single unit for about a year: renewals are usually below market.
- Trends use rent per sq ft: the annual median sticks to round amounts (AED 65k, 70k, 75k).
- Cells with fewer than 30 contracts are hidden.
- Area gross yield is the median annual apartment rent per sq ft divided by the median ready-apartment sale price per sq ft in the same area and period. Before costs, service charges and vacancy.
- The bedroom chart is a separate series from the DLD “Rent Contracts” dataset on data.dubai: contract start month, median from 100 contracts. Tables use registration date; levels may differ by a few percent.
FAQ
How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Dubai?
The median annual rent for an apartment on new Ejari contracts in October 2026 was AED 70,000, or AED 94 per sq ft a year (YAFF calculation on DLD open data contracts).
What is the rental yield in Dubai?
The gross market yield — annual rent against ready apartment prices — for May – October 2026 is highest in Dubai Sports City (8.2%) and lowest in Dubai Creek Harbour (5.3%). It is calculated before running costs and vacancy and is not the return of a specific property.