Registered rents and sale transfers from Dubai Land Department open data, apartments only, for the 90 days to 2 August 2026. Asking rates are live listings observed in the week to 1 August. Every figure below carries the count it was built from, because a median means nothing without knowing how many contracts sit under it.
The one-bedroom read
The one-bedroom is the deepest segment in every area we track, so it is the cleanest weekly signal.
Dubai Marina registered a median annual rent of AED 87,000 across 1,720 contracts — the largest single body of evidence in this week's pull. Landlords there are currently advertising AED 101,988 across 157 listings, some 17% above what tenants have actually been signing. On the buy side, 221 transfers at a median AED 1,460,000 give a gross yield of 5.97%, the second-strongest of the eight.
JBR shares Dubai Marina's registered figures — the land registry district covers both and cannot separate them, so the same 1,720 contracts and 221 transfers apply. What is JBR-specific is the asking side, and it is this week's most interesting line: AED 92,004 across 51 listings, roughly 10% below what is being asked in Dubai Marina off an identical rent base. Two adjacent markets, one registry, and a visible gap in what landlords think they can get.
Business Bay registered AED 85,000 across 1,528 contracts, with asking rents at AED 90,000 on 103 listings — a gap of under 6%, one of the tightest we see. That is a market close to clearing, where a tenant has little room to push. Its 377 transfers at a median AED 1,715,508 produce a 4.81% yield.
Downtown Dubai registered AED 110,000 across 892 contracts, on 162 transfers at AED 1,957,512, for a 5.76% yield — strong for an area with Downtown's price tag.
DIFC matched Downtown's rent at AED 110,000, but on only 91 contracts. Asking rents there run AED 129,996 across 91 listings, and 54 transfers at a median AED 2,460,000 give 4.90%. The rent figure and the listing figure resting on the same number — 91 each — is coincidence, but it is a reminder that DIFC is a thin market next to Marina or Business Bay.
Dubai Creek Harbour and Creek Beach registered AED 90,000 on 554 contracts, with asking rents at AED 114,996 across 156 listings — a gap of nearly 28%, one of the widest, and on a healthy listing count rather than a handful. 192 transfers at AED 1,839,991 give exactly 5.00%.
JLT registered the lowest one-bedroom rent of the eight, AED 80,000 across 945 contracts, and returns the lowest yield, 4.05%, off 472 transfers at a median AED 1,911,328.
Palm Jumeirah sits at the other end: AED 155,000 registered across 295 contracts, 36 transfers at a median AED 3,004,400, and a 4.73% yield.
Three things worth noticing
JLT's yield is a price problem, not a rent problem. At AED 80,000 the rent is in line with the cheaper end of the market. What drags the yield to 4.05% is the other side of the sum — and specifically that 83.1% of JLT's 472 one-bedroom transfers were off-plan. The calculation is putting a completed-stock rent over a largely forward-sale price. Treat it as a flag to check the completed-stock price in the specific building, not as a verdict on the area.
Business Bay carries the deepest flexible-stay market. 43 one-bedroom flexible listings and 26 studio listings, against 103 and 53 on the long-let side — proportionally the largest presence of any area we track. One caveat that matters: every flexible-stay listing observed across all eight areas this week was a monthly listing. No daily, no weekly. So that side of the data is a monthly-let read and cannot be treated as a nightly short-let benchmark.
Downtown, JLT and Palm Jumeirah have no current long-let asking figure in this week's pull. That is a coverage gap on our side, not a market event, and we would rather say so than fill it in. Their registered rents and sale transfers are unaffected.
The wider picture
Across the eight areas, gross yield on the segments we can calculate runs from 7.40% down to 2.84% — a JLT studio at the top, a Palm Jumeirah three-bedroom at the bottom. That spread is wider than most owners assume, and almost all of it is explained by unit size rather than by area: yield falls with every bedroom added, in every area.
The asking-versus-registered gap is running positive nearly everywhere. Dubai Marina two-beds are advertised at AED 182,004 against a registered median of AED 135,000 across 1,749 contracts — 34.8% above, on 119 listings, which makes it a serious signal rather than a thin one. Asking rents lead and registered rents lag, so a persistent positive gap is the market pulling upward. It is not evidence that anyone is signing at the asking price.
How to read these figures
Registered rents are signed contracts. They are the most reliable number here and the slowest to move. Asking rents are what landlords are advertising this week — they move first, and they are not agreed rents. Sale transfers are completed Land Department transfers, and where the off-plan share is high the median reflects forward sales rather than completed apartments.
Gross yield is median annual rent per square foot divided by median sale price per square foot, in the same segment and the same window. It is signed rent over paid price, not a projection, and it does not account for service charges, voids or turnover cost.
Where a segment had no registered contracts or no listings in the window, we say so rather than estimating.
All eight areas, all bedroom counts from studio to three-bed, with every count and observation date, update weekly on our Market Gauge.
Sources, checked 2 August 2026
- Registered rents and property sale transfers — Dubai Land Department open data, apartments only (flat, studio, penthouse), 90 days to 2 August 2026.
- Long-let asking rates — live listings observed week to 1 August 2026 (DIFC, Business Bay and Creek Harbour/Beach: week to 29 July 2026).
- Flexible-stay asking rates — live listings observed week to 31 July 2026, annualised per listing.
- All via the Solayra Market Gauge feed, generated 2 August 2026.
Solayra Holiday Homes Management runs short and mid-term letting for owners and investors across some of Dubai’s most sought-after areas — including Dubai Marina, JBR, Downtown, DIFC, and Dubai Creek Beach. Every apartment is DTCM registered and priced against extensive market data, and you see the occupancy and every dirham as it earns. See what your apartment could be doing on the Market Gauge, read what we do for owners, investors, investment companies and agents & partners, or write to us at owners@solayra.com.
