The questions I actually get asked

Not the 11–13% you will see advertised. That figure is gross short-let yield at high occupancy, on stock that is almost entirely undelivered, so it is a projection stacked on a projection.

My own underwriting on the entry one-bed comes out at 3.7% net long-let, after a AED 24 per sq.ft service charge, six weeks vacancy, 2% agency and 5% management. Larger units do a little better. Short-let may well beat that once the hotels open and the beach clubs are running, but I treat it as upside, not as the plan.

If someone quotes you double digits, ask them one question: which building on Dubai Islands achieved it, and for how many months? There is one delivered residential project on the whole archipelago. One building, one letting cycle, is not evidence of a yield.

Long-let. Always, on this island, today.

Short-let needs a Holiday Homes permit, 18–22% management rather than 5%, cleaning and platform fees, and an occupancy rate nobody on Dubai Islands can evidence yet because the hotels and beach clubs that would drive it have not opened. Run it honestly and short-let comes out around 1.4 percentage points behind long-let once real costs are in.

That may well flip once Rixos hands over and the promenades are running. Treat it as upside you might get, not as the number you buy on.

Yes. Dubai Islands is a designated freehold zone, so you get full ownership rights with no local partner and no residency requirement. There is no minimum spend to buy. The AED 2M figure people quote is the Golden Visa threshold, not a purchase floor.

No annual property tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax. The 4% DLD transfer fee applies once, at registration.

No. The SPA is signed between you and the developer, and it can be signed remotely with a power of attorney or notarised copies. Plenty of my clients have never set foot on the island before handover.

I would still rather you came and walked the plot before you commit. Renders flatter everything, and the difference between row one and "sea view from the eighth floor" is obvious on the ground and invisible on paper.

Usually, but at 50–60% loan-to-value rather than the 80% a resident might see, so plan for roughly half the purchase price in cash plus the fees on top.

I stress-test every deal at two percentage points above the offered rate. If it only works at today's rate, it does not work.

On a AED 2,000,000 unit: AED 80,000 DLD transfer fee at 4%, about AED 10,200 in trustee and admin, roughly AED 21,768 for the first year of service charge, and around AED 20,000 for snagging and handover. That is AED 2,131,968 all in, about 6.6% above the price you were quoted.

Agency commission is 2% on off-plan and the developer pays it, not you.

Most buildings here have not published theirs, so anyone quoting you a firm number is guessing. I model AED 22–26 per sq.ft rather than the 16 that gets quoted verbally.

The reason is the record. On the last three comparable Dubai waterfront completions, the first-year charge came in 18–34% above the figure quoted at reservation. Budget for the top of my range and you will rarely be unpleasantly surprised.

Yes. AED 2,000,000 or above at DLD-registered value gets the 10-year visa for you and immediate family. Off-plan counts, and mortgaged properties qualify on registered value rather than the equity you have paid in.

The registered value at the DLD, which is the figure on the title deed or Oqood, not what you happen to have transferred so far.

It matters most on a mortgage. Put down AED 1M on a AED 2.2M unit and you still qualify, because the registered value is 2.2M. It also means a negotiated discount can quietly drop you under the line, so check that before you celebrate one.

The developer pays the commission on every off-plan sale, whether a buyer uses an advisor or walks in alone. That fee is already in the price. Using me does not raise what you pay by a dirham.

The fair follow-up is whether that biases me toward the unit with the biggest fee. It would, if this site let me get away with it. That is why every project carries a public verdict with a reason attached, including the ones I tell you to skip.

I tell you, and I tell you where to look instead. It happens more often than you would expect, usually because the horizon is too short. If you need the money back inside four years, Dubai Islands is the wrong trade and no amount of beachfront changes that.

A third of the launches I track carry a watch or a skip. Those verdicts are on the site in public, which is the only way to make the buy verdicts worth anything.

Assume they will be. The dedicated island bridges are dated 2027–29 and I plan for 2028; the Metro Blue Line is targeted 2029. Read the RTA tender papers and you would plan the same way.

Until they land, Deira-side traffic is the honest risk and short-let occupancy will sit under Palm Jumeirah numbers. This is the single biggest reason to wait, and it is why I underwrite long-let.

Your instalments go into a project escrow account regulated by the DLD, not into the developer's working capital, and the project is registered under an Oqood in your name. That is the protection, and it is real. But it is protection against total loss, not against delay.

Verify the escrow account number before you transfer anything. I publish it on the project page where the developer has given it to me, which almost no other site does. If a developer will not give you one, that is your answer.

Five man-made islands off the Deira coast, 17 sq.km in total, built by Nakheel and lettered A to E. Reclamation is finished, so the land you see on the map is land that exists.

The plan runs to roughly 38,000 homes, 21 km of new beach and 80-plus hotels at full build-out, aligned to the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. That is the brochure. What is standing today is one delivered residential project, two operating hotels and a mall shell.

It matters that this is the old Deira Islands scheme restarted rather than a fresh idea. The reclamation was paid for years ago, which is why what is drawn here tends to get built, and why I rate it above projects still selling sand.

Yes. Same land, same developer, new name. Nakheel rebranded Deira Islands to Dubai Islands in 2023.

You will still find the old name on planning documents, on older listings and in the DLD records, so do not assume two projects when you see both. If a broker uses them as if they are different places, that tells you something about the broker.

Nakheel is the master developer. It reclaimed the land, owns the master plan and builds the infrastructure. It is government-backed, which is the single most reassuring fact about this address.

The buildings are mostly not Nakheel. I track 113 launches from 77 separate developers, and the spread runs from Nakheel and Ellington down to companies formed in the last two years with nothing delivered anywhere. Imtiaz is the busiest with 15 projects. Nakheel itself has 6.

So "built by Nakheel" is doing a lot of work in most sales pitches. Ask who is building the actual tower, then ask what else they have finished and handed over. That answer is the one that decides whether your money arrives back.

Central Island (A) is the urban core: towers, marinas, the mall, roughly 28,500 homes. Shore Island (B) is the beachfront resort island, 45 planned hotels, anchored by Rixos. Oasis Island (C) is wellness and parkland with the 18-hole golf course. Golf Island (D) is a sports country club with golf-front villas. Elite Island (E) is around 80 estate villas and nothing commercial at all.

They are not interchangeable and they will not perform alike. A has the only real resale depth, because most of the stock is there. E has genuine scarcity and almost no liquidity, which is the same fact viewed from two ends.

If you are buying an apartment, you are choosing between A and B. C, D and E are villa and land plays with different timelines and a different buyer.

The land is finished. The buildings mostly are not.

Standing and operating today: two hotels, RIU since 2020 and a second resort, one delivered and let residential project, and the Dubai Islands Mall shell, which broke ground in 2024 and is targeted to open in Q4 2027. Roads and services are in on the main islands.

Everything else is a render. Handovers across the launches I track run from Q1 2025 to Q4 2029, and most of the volume lands 2027 and 2028. Buy here and you are buying a construction site with a very good deed attached.

Off the Deira coastline in old northern Dubai, directly opposite the Gold Souk and the Corniche. Not near the Palm, not near Marina. The other end of the city.

People assume "island in Dubai" means Jumeirah and price it accordingly in their heads. This is Deira, which is the historic trading half of the city and, for a lot of buyers, the more interesting half. It is also the reason the price per square foot is what it is.

By road over the Infinity Bridge, which is open and working. That is currently the only way on and off.

Dedicated island bridges are contracted and dated 2027 to 2029. I plan for the late end of that range, and I would suggest you do too. Read the RTA tender papers on any Dubai infrastructure project and you will find the same instinct.

One bridge serving an island that eventually holds 38,000 homes is the constraint worth thinking hardest about. It is fine now because almost nobody lives there. It will not be fine in 2029 if the new crossings slip.

Around 20 minutes to Dubai International, 25 to Downtown and DIFC, 30 to 40 to Business Bay and the Palm. Deira Corniche and the Gold Souk are 5 minutes.

Those are today, over the Infinity Bridge, in normal traffic. They are genuinely good numbers, and closer to DXB than most of the addresses people compare this to. The airport run in particular is the quiet argument for the whole location.

The Blue Line extension is dated 2029 and serves Deira. It is the single largest re-rating event on the horizon for this address.

It is also the one I would put least weight on when deciding. It is announced, not built, and 2029 is far enough out that a slip costs you nothing if you did not price it in and costs you a lot if you did.

Underwrite the deal without it. If it lands on time, you got a gift. That is the only sane way to treat infrastructure that has not broken ground.

Studios start around AED 750,000, one-beds around AED 1M, villas around AED 2.6M. Average across the archipelago is about AED 2,514 per sq.ft on DLD twelve-month data.

The entry price is real but it is also the smallest, highest-floor, worst-aspect unit in whichever building is quoting it. Cheap on this island usually means no sea view and a long walk to anything.

The other thing about the entry studio: it is the hardest unit to let and the hardest to sell on. If your budget is at that level I would rather show you a one-bed on Central Island than the cheapest thing available.

Between 50/50 and 80/20, with post-handover options on a lot of the newer launches. Most sit at 60/40 or 70/30 across a two to three year build.

A generous plan is a discount you pay for somewhere else, usually in the headline price. Compare the total, not the schedule. An 80/20 with two years post-handover on an overpriced unit is worse than 50/50 on a fairly priced one.

What I do look for is how much sits before handover. The lower that number, the less exposed you are if the developer stalls.

Usually yes, once you have paid a threshold set by the developer, typically 30 to 40 percent. The developer charges an NOC fee to release it and you assign the contract to the new buyer.

Check the assignment clause before you sign, not when you want out. Some developers set the threshold high, some charge a percentage rather than a flat NOC, and a couple restrict it entirely until handover.

And be honest about who you would be selling to. On an island with one delivered building, the exit before completion is another off-plan buyer taking the same view you took. That market thins fast when sentiment turns.

Oqood is the Dubai Land Department register for off-plan property. Your purchase is recorded there in your name, and it converts to a full title deed at handover.

Not registered on Oqood means not owned, whatever the sales contract says. Ask for the certificate. Any developer that hesitates has told you everything you need.

No. You can pay a developer directly from an overseas account, and plenty of my clients do.

You will want one eventually if you are letting the property, because rent, service charges and utilities are all easier locally. Opening one as a non-resident is slower than it should be, so start it early rather than at handover.

The payment that matters is the one into the project escrow account, not into any account belonging to a broker. Including mine.

Typically 5 to 10 percent of the price on reservation, paid to the developer, with the Sales and Purchase Agreement following within 14 to 30 days.

Reservation deposits are rarely refundable. Do the arithmetic before that payment, because after it your negotiating position is gone and your money is committed to a decision you have not finished thinking about.

Technically yes, in the one delivered residential project. Practically, you would be an early resident on a construction site with two hotels for company.

No mall until Q4 2027, no golf until 2029, most of the retail and F&B still unbuilt. If you want somewhere to live today, this is the wrong address. If you are buying for 2028 onwards, that is a different conversation and a reasonable one.

Dubai Islands Beach on the western side is public and open, with parking and facilities. The master plan runs to 21 km of coastline in total, including Blue Flag family zones.

Resort beaches on Shore Island will be hotel-controlled, as they are everywhere in Dubai. Buying an apartment does not give you a private stretch of sand, and no brochure that implies otherwise is telling you the truth.

Nothing on the islands yet. Everything you need is in Deira, five to fifteen minutes over the bridge, including Dubai Hospital and the established schools around Al Mamzar and Deira.

Community facilities are zoned into the master plan at roughly 239,000 sq.m, but zoned is not built and none of it is dated. If you are moving a family here rather than investing, that gap is the thing to plan around, and it is a real one.

It is designed to be. Nearly 2 million sq.m of parks and open space, Blue Flag beaches, family resort zones, low-rise districts on the outer islands.

It is not one yet. No schools, no clinics, one road on and off, and the amenities that make a family community are dated 2027 to 2029. Families buying now are buying the 2029 version of the place.

That is a perfectly sensible thing to do if your timeline matches. It is a mistake if you need it to work next September.

Yes, with a Holiday Homes permit from Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, around AED 1,500 a year per unit. Short-term letting is fully legal in Dubai and always has been.

Legal is not the same as profitable. Once the permit, 18 to 22 percent management, cleaning and platform fees and an honest occupancy assumption go in, short-let lands behind long-let on my numbers by about 1.4 percentage points.

That may change when the hotels and beach clubs open and there is actual footfall. Today there is nothing on this island to evidence a short-let occupancy rate, which is exactly why the 11 to 13 percent figures being advertised have nothing underneath them.

For a five to seven year hold, on the right island, at the right price, I think so. That is three conditions, and most of the pitches you will read drop all three.

The case is that reclamation is finished, Nakheel is government-backed, the price per square foot sits under comparable waterfront, and the infrastructure that would close that gap is contracted rather than imagined. The case against is that the yield today is roughly 3.7 percent net, one building has been delivered, and the resale market is thin enough that your exit depends on sentiment you cannot control.

If you need income now, or need to be out inside four years, this is not your trade. I have told people that and lost the deal. I would rather do that than sell you something with a timeline you cannot survive.

Cheaper per square foot, younger, less finished, and a completely different half of the city. The Palm is a delivered address with twenty years of transaction history. This is not.

The honest version of the comparison is that you are paying less because there is less there. That gap should narrow as the island completes, which is the entire investment case, but a discount to a finished asset is not automatically a bargain. It is a payment for risk and time.

One thing to watch: villa pricing on Golf Island already matches Palm villas. The discount that makes apartments here interesting does not exist on those plots.

Nobody can tell you that, and anyone who does is selling. What I can tell you is what would have to happen for it to.

Three things: the dedicated bridges land, the Blue Line extension opens, and the mall and hotels create a reason to be there that is not a beach. All three are dated 2027 to 2029. If they arrive roughly on time, the discount to comparable waterfront should compress. If they slip, you are holding a well-located construction site for longer than you planned.

I model 4 percent annual growth as a base case. Set it to zero in the calculator and see whether the deal still works. If it only works on growth, you are not buying an asset, you are buying a forecast.

Thin, and concentrated almost entirely on Central Island, which is where most of the stock sits.

That is the single most underrated fact about buying here. Everywhere except Central Island, your exit price will be set by one or two buildings and whoever happens to be selling that month. On Elite Island it is eighty villas total, which means eighty possible comparables and a very quiet market.

It is why I keep pointing people at Central Island even though it is the least exciting of the five. Liquidity matters more than a render when you need to get out.

Different trade entirely. Marina and JBR are finished, liquid and let today at yields you can verify from actual tenancies. Dubai Islands is none of those things yet.

If you want rent landing in your account this quarter, buy in Marina. If you are prepared to wait three or four years for an address to build out and you think the gap closes, this is the more interesting bet. Both are defensible. They are not the same decision and they should not be compared on yield alone.

Delay, and too much stock arriving at once. Those are the two, and the second is the one nobody mentions.

Most of the 113 launches I track hand over in 2027 and 2028. If a meaningful share of those completes on schedule, a lot of very similar apartments hit the lettings market in the same eighteen months, on an island with one bridge and no mall yet. That is what puts pressure on rents, and rent is what your yield is made of.

It is not a reason to stay away. It is a reason to buy something differentiated rather than the cheapest unit in the eleventh identical tower, and to underwrite a longer void than feels comfortable.

Largely, by the escrow system. Every off-plan payment goes into a Dubai Land Department supervised account tied to that project, and the developer draws against construction milestones rather than freely.

That protects you from the money disappearing. It does not protect you from the project taking three years longer than promised, which is the far more common outcome and the one that actually costs people.

Never pay into anything that is not the project escrow account. If a developer or a broker suggests otherwise, walk, and report it.

No annual property tax, no capital gains tax, no tax on rental income in the UAE. The 4 percent DLD transfer fee is paid once, at registration.

What is genuinely worth checking is your own country. UK, Indian and most European residents are taxable on worldwide income and gains regardless of where the property sits, and the UAE has treaties that change how that works. Tax-free in Dubai does not mean tax-free for you.

I am a broker, not a tax adviser, and this is the one area where I will always tell you to go and pay someone properly for an answer.

Service charge is the big one, and I model AED 22 to 26 per sq.ft because most launches here have not published theirs. On a 907 sq.ft one-bed that is roughly AED 21,800 a year.

Then DEWA and cooling if you occupy it, 5 percent management and around 2 percent letting agency commission if you rent it out, plus Ejari registration. Budget six weeks of vacancy in year one on a new island and you will not be disappointed.

Be careful with service charge quotes given verbally. I have been told 16 per sq.ft on buildings where I would model 24. Nobody is lying exactly, they just have no idea yet, and the number lands after you own it.

Price is identical either way. The developer pays the same commission whether an advisor is involved or you walk into the sales office alone, so going direct saves you nothing and costs you the second opinion.

What you get from me is someone who tracks all 113 launches rather than the six in one showroom, who will tell you which of them I would not buy, and who has no reason to steer you toward any particular building. What you should hold against me is that I am paid on completion, so read everything I write knowing that.

If you would rather go direct, go direct. I would still spend twenty minutes on the phone telling you what to ask them.