How this is put together, and where it comes from
The whole site rests on being able to trust the numbers. So here is exactly where each one comes from, how often it is updated, and where a figure is a recorded fact rather than my estimate.
It is the method behind the Dubai Islands off-plan figures, priced unit by unit.
What this site is
Every off-plan project on Dubai Islands at the developer list price, with the projected yield after service charge, the true cost of buying, and a verdict on each, including the ones I would not buy. It is a record of facts, kept current, not a set of adverts. I am paid by the developer on completion, never by you, and you should read everything here with that in mind.
Where the numbers come from
Prices, sizes, handover dates and RERA numbers come from the developers and are cross-checked against the Dubai Land Department register and the project Oqood. Recorded transaction prices and price per square foot come from DLD data. Rent comparables come from what is actually listed and let in Deira and the surrounding areas, through PropertyFinder and Bayut, because almost nothing on the islands has been let yet. Where a figure is my own estimate rather than a recorded number, the page says so.
How prices are tracked
I hold both the developer list price and the DLD-recorded price where one exists, and I record the list price weekly so the history is kept rather than overwritten. When a discount appears or a price moves, the change stays on the record. That is the price history you see on a listing, and nobody else on Dubai Islands publishes it.
How yields are calculated
Every yield here is net long-let: rent after the service charge, a realistic vacancy and management, not the gross short-let figure you will see quoted elsewhere. The 11 to 13% numbers in other listings are gross short-let at high occupancy, on stock that has not been let. My calculators show every assumption on screen and let you change it, because a yield you cannot interrogate is a yield you should not trust.
The delivery record
On the developer pages, completions are sorted by whether they landed on or before the promised date, ran three to twelve months late, ran over a year late, or were cancelled. It is compiled from DLD completion records against the handover dates the developers published at launch. A handover date you cannot rely on changes what the deal is worth, so this is the number I lead with rather than the awards.
The verdicts
Buy, watch or skip is my call, written per project and never automated. A listing goes live on its facts, so a project can be published while its verdict is still being written. Where I would not put a client in, I say so and I say why. That is the opposite of what a developer-paid site is supposed to do, and it is the point.
Corrections
If a number here is wrong, tell me and I will fix it and note the change. I would rather be corrected than quoted confidently and be off. RERA ORN 44416, Totality Real Estate, Dubai.