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Dubai Areas: Price, Yield and Where to Live
Each shape is a real community boundary, drawn from OpenStreetMap. The shading is gross rental yield: rust is the high-yield band, sand is the middle, green is the low-yield prime end. Read it against the price column and the trade-off the Dubai market runs on becomes visible - the prime coastal communities cost the most per square foot and return the least, while the inland mid-market ones invert that. Hover any area for its numbers, click to jump to the detail. Six communities are shown, the ones we hold verified figures for; the rest of Dubai follows once the data pipeline is connected.
Base map tiles are CARTO Positron, rendered from OpenStreetMap data with English labelling. Community boundaries are OpenStreetMap, drawn in Web Mercator so they sit exactly where they belong. The six shaded areas are the ones we hold verified price and yield figures for; the dashed outlines are the other 29 communities, shown for context until their data lands. Shapes are simplified for file size and indicate extent, not cadastral limits.
The six areas, compared
Prices are indicative averages across property types from DLD transaction data for 1 January to 6 June 2026. Yields are gross, before service charges, voids and management, so net returns land materially lower.
| Area | Price/sq ft | Gross yield | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| JVC | ~AED 1,510 | 7-9% | Yield hunters, first-time investors, budget entry |
| Dubai Marina | ~AED 2,058 | 5.5-7% | Renters' favourite, liquid resale, waterfront lifestyle |
| Business Bay | ~AED 2,547 | 6-8% | Central location, branded residences, mixed use |
| Dubai Hills Estate | ~AED 2,381 | 5-7% (apts) | Families, villas, greenery, schools, golf |
| Downtown Dubai | ~AED 3,011 | 4-6% | Prestige address, capital growth, short-let demand |
| Palm Jumeirah | ~AED 3,100-4,000 | 4-6% | Luxury, trophy assets, strong long-run appreciation |
Read the yields as gross. After service charges, voids and management, a 9% gross yield in a mid-market area typically settles around 5.5% to 6.5% net, while a 6% gross yield in a prime area nets closer to 4.8% to 5.5%. These are market figures rather than government-published rates, and they move: we re-check them quarterly and date the page accordingly.
What this map does not show yet
Three things belong here and are not on it, because we will not publish numbers we cannot source. Schools with their KHDA inspection rating, curriculum, grade range and fee band. Commute times from each community to a work building or district, split peak and off-peak. And the remaining communities, roughly sixty of them, with the same price and yield discipline applied. We already hold the coordinates of 298 Dubai schools from OpenStreetMap, so the distance work is not the blocker; the quality layer depends on the KHDA and DLD open-data feeds. When those are connected, they appear here dated and attributed like everything else.
For the reasoning behind each area rather than the numbers, see best areas to buy, by goal. If residency is the driver, start with the Golden Visa guide and check the AED 2 million rule.
How we verified this
Indicative prices per square foot are drawn from DLD transaction data for 1 January to 6 June 2026. Gross yield ranges are drawn from Dubai portal market data for 2026. Both are market figures rather than government-published rates and both move with the cycle, so this page carries a data-as-at date and a quarterly review cycle. Community boundaries are from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
This is general information, not investment advice. Area averages hide wide variation between individual buildings and units. Confirm current pricing and yield for a specific property before relying on any figure here.