Reference · Updated as the method changes
Published in full so you can see what a project is measured against before you look at the projects.
1. Developer reputation, first and hardest. I look at who owns the company. Ownership tells you whether the financial strength is there to complete the project on time.
2. Location fundamentals before location marketing. Infrastructure that exists now, not in the masterplan render. Schools, retail and employment already within reach. Metro access as built, or a station confirmed for the future. Distance from the city's main business and entertainment districts.
3. Supply of units in the area. How many units complete nearby within twelve months either side. This decides what your unit rents for on day one.
4. Net yield, never gross. Service charge per square foot, DLD transfer fees and management cost are all taken into consideration before I quote a number. Dubai property is routinely marketed on gross yields of seven to ten percent; the figure that reaches an owner's account is usually nearer four to five.
5. Payment plan vs pricing. A generous payment plan, a DLD fee waiver or a launch discount is rarely free — most of the time it is already priced into the unit. An attractive plan usually means a higher price in return for easier instalments.
The most common bad outcome. A project marketed for 2027 completing in 2029 is unremarkable. Most sale agreements grant the developer a grace period of six to twelve months beyond the stated date before you have any remedy at all — read that clause before you read the brochure.
Several developers launch in the same community, everything completes inside the same year, and rental supply floods a market that has not grown its tenant base to match. The eight percent modelled at launch can be five at handover for reasons that have nothing to do with your unit.
Charges are estimated at launch and billed at reality. In high-density communities they often end up disproportionate to achievable rent, which is where a promised yield quietly dies. You can check this for a completed building, which is a reason to look at the developer's existing towers.
If you plan to sell at handover, so does everyone who bought for the same reason, in the same window. Pricing goes soft precisely when you need it firm. Concentrated investor ownership in a tower is a risk to your exit.
Reselling an off-plan unit mid-construction is often possible but rarely quick, and developer consent and transfer fees apply. It is better to treat the money as committed for the full term.
Two things to confirm before you sign. The payment threshold for resale: some developers require 30 percent or more to be paid before you are allowed to sell. And whether the payment plan transfers to the buyer — some developers do not allow it, which narrows your pool of buyers.
No paid placement. No developer has any influence over what appears on these lists, and none is invoiced for appearing.
No project without a named drawback. If I cannot state what is wrong with something, I have not looked at it closely enough to recommend it.
No gross yield quoted without the net beside it.
Why this method exists. My most valuable assets are my clients who repeat transactions with me. A buyer steered into the wrong unit does not return and does not refer anyone, so over any horizon longer than a single transaction, honest filtering is simply the better business. The drawbacks on these pages are there for that reason, not as a courtesy.
Every number quoted on this site is listed here with its origin.
898 projects launched since January 2025. The sum of 648 project launches recorded in 2025 and 250 DLD-registered launches in the first half of 2026, reported by W Capital from Dubai Land Department registrations. Deliberately conservative: it stops at June 2026, so the true figure today is higher.
258 developers. The number credited with the 2025 launches in the same reporting.
Close to 470,000 units in the pipeline. From market reporting on Dubai's development pipeline, current to mid-2026.
Starting prices, payment plans, unit mixes and handover dates come from developer price lists current at each shortlist's stated review date. Service charges are the developer's estimate for off-plan stock and the actual billed rate where a comparable completed building exists — the two are not the same thing and I say which is which.
Net yields are my own calculation, after service charge, DLD transfer fees and management cost. I work on worst-case assumptions — when estimating rental income I use the lowest rent a comparable unit is currently achieving, not the average.
I use the narrower figure and note that a higher one exists.
Tell me which criterion you would drop or add. I update this page when the argument is good.