CBRE reports that Dubai’s average residential rent fell 6.2% on the quarter and 2.6% on the year in Q2 2026. Because the service charge does not fall with the rent, net yield drops by a larger share than gross yield: in our worked example below (our arithmetic), net income falls 7.32% when rent falls 6.2%.
Key figures
- 6.2% · 2.6%
Average residential rent, down on the previous quarter and on the year
Q2 2026
CBRE via Gulf News - 6.81%
Rent versus a year earlier (apartments 6.93%, villas 5.66%)
September 2026
REIDIN - 55,600
Homes due in Dubai in 2026 (about 32,000 in the second half)
2026
Khaleej Times - 4.28% to 3.97%
Net yield, illustrative unit at a 6.2% lower rent (our arithmetic, not a forecast)
Jalili Real Estate yield calculator
- CBRE, Q2 2026: average residential rents down 6.2% on the previous quarter and 2.6% on the year, while sale prices were still 1.9% higher on the year — Gulf News, 29 July 2026.
- Since Q2: REIDIN’s September 2026 index has Dubai rents 6.81% below a year earlier (apartments 6.93% lower, villas 5.66%) — REIDIN, 12 October 2026; Property Finder’s Q3 asking rents were below Q3 2025 in six of the seven apartment communities Gulf News lists (one was flat) — Gulf News, 18 October 2026.
- Other houses, other sizes: Cushman & Wakefield Core has average rents down about 6% on the quarter (Khaleej Times, 9 August 2026); Colliers has apartment rents down 4% and villa rents down 2% (Gulf Construction Online, 26 August 2026).
- Apartment rents by area, Q2 2026: Downtown Dubai down 14%, Dubai Hills Estate and Dubai Marina down 10% each, Palm Jumeirah down 9% — Cushman & Wakefield Core via Khaleej Times, 9 August 2026.
- Supply on the way: about 55,600 homes due in Dubai in 2026, around 32,000 of them in the second half, and 60,000-plus projected for 2027 — Khaleej Times, 20 August 2026.
- Our worked example (arithmetic, not a forecast): on an illustrative unit, a 6.2% lower rent takes net yield from 4.28% to 3.97%, using the method of our yield calculator.
Have Dubai rents fallen in 2026?
CBRE’s Q2 review, reported by Gulf News, has average residential rents falling 6.2% from the previous three months and standing 2.6% lower than a year earlier. Those are two different windows: 6.2% is one quarter’s move, 2.6% is the twelve-month one.
Other houses measure it differently. Cushman & Wakefield Core puts the quarterly fall in average rents at about 6%, close to CBRE, while its citywide sale-price figure is a 4% fall on the quarter. Colliers reports apartment rents down 4% and villa rents down 2% in Q2; the excerpt we read does not say whether that is on the quarter or the year. betterhomes says rents held above year-earlier levels, without giving a figure.
In Q2, then, the sources agreed that rents had eased and disagreed on how far and on whether they were below last year. That is why the example below uses three rents, not one.
Later data points the same way. REIDIN’s September 2026 index, published on 12 October, has Dubai rents 1.47% down on the month and 6.81% below a year earlier: apartments 6.93% lower, villas 5.66%. Property Finder’s asking rents for Q3 2026 were below Q3 2025 in six of the seven apartment communities Gulf News lists (one was flat), led by Downtown Dubai (21.74% lower) and Dubai Marina (16.13%), with Dubai Hills Estate flat, while the number of apartments listed for rent each day in September ran 55.1% above a year earlier (Gulf News, 18 October 2026). Asking rents are advertised prices, not signed leases, and a citywide index is not your building.
The supply schedule explains the pressure. Cushman & Wakefield counts more than 13,200 completions in Q2 and expects about 32,000 more in the second half, inside a 2026 total of about 55,600 homes, the highest since 2008. Those are schedules, not deliveries.
Why does a rent fall hit net yield harder than gross yield?
The definition used here: gross yield is annual rent divided by purchase price. Net yield is the rent actually collected, less service charge, management and maintenance, divided by the price plus the transfer, agency and trustee fees — the method of our yield calculator, so you can reproduce every figure below on it.
Most of those costs move with the rent: management and maintenance are percentages of it, and vacancy is a share of the year’s rent. One does not. The service charge is billed per square foot of the unit, so the building asks for the same amount whatever the tenant pays. When rent falls, the same cost sits against less income, and net income falls by a larger share than the rent did.
We do not repeat how the two yields differ in general; that is in gross vs net rental yield, with the building-level cost evidence in gross yield is not your return and the charge itself in what owners actually pay. This page adds one thing: what a given fall in rent does to the result.
What does a Q2-sized rent fall do to one unit?
The unit is illustrative: not a listing and not a specific building. It uses the opening figures of the yield calculator: a price of AED 1,650,000, 900 sq ft and last year’s rent of AED 108,000. Open the tool and it shows this unit; change only the rent to reproduce a column.
The assumptions are ours, not market data. The service charge is AED 15 per sq ft, or AED 13,500 a year, inside the AED 3 to AED 30 range in our guide and the AED 10 to AED 35 that Realty Hunting gives for apartments (updated 6 October 2026). The transfer fee is 4% and the agency fee 2%, as in our purchase-cost guide, plus the AED 4,200 trustee office fee that the calculator adds by default. Management and maintenance are 5% of rent each and vacancy 8% of the year, the calculator’s own opening values.
| Per year | Last year’s rent | Rent 2.6% lower | Rent 6.2% lower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual rent (AED) | 108,000 | 105,192 | 101,304 |
| Gross yield | 6.55% | 6.38% | 6.14% |
| Gross yield lost (percentage points) | — | 0.17 | 0.41 |
| Net income after costs (AED) | 75,060 | 72,757 | 69,569 |
| Net yield | 4.28% | 4.15% | 3.97% |
| Net yield lost (percentage points) | — | 0.13 | 0.31 |
| Fall in rent | — | 2.6% | 6.2% |
| Fall in net income | — | 3.07% | 7.32% |
Read these as sensitivities, not forecasts. The 2.6% is CBRE’s year-on-year move and the 6.2% its quarter-on-quarter move; the second is not an annual fall, although REIDIN’s September index puts the twelve-month fall at a similar 6.81%, and nothing here says your unit’s rent will move by either. The columns show what a re-set of that size would do.
From the table (our arithmetic): gross yield loses exactly what the rent loses. Net income loses more: 7.32% against 6.2%, which is AED 5,491 of AED 75,060. With no service charge in the same set-up, net income would fall 6.2% too; the fixed AED 13,500 accounts for the extra 1.12 points. In percentage points the net yield moves less than the gross (0.31 against 0.41), because it starts from a lower figure. In proportion it moves more.
Which apartment areas saw the steepest rent falls?
In the Cushman & Wakefield Core figures, apartment rents fell most in Downtown Dubai (14%), then Dubai Hills Estate and Dubai Marina (10% each) and Palm Jumeirah (9%), in a report whose citywide rent figure is quarter on quarter. For villas, the same report names Dubai Hills Estate as the sharpest quarterly decline, at 12%. It expects established end-user communities to stay “relatively resilient” — an expectation, not a measurement.
This is one quarter from one house, as reported by a newspaper. It is not a ranking of where to buy. Our area pages cover the communities themselves: Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina and Dubai Hills Estate. A district figure averages many buildings; your building’s rent and service charge decide your own sum. For the villa side of the question, see villa or apartment: price, yield and net cost.
What should you check before trusting a yield built on last year’s rent?
This section is the advisory view of Jalili Real Estate. Four checks follow from the arithmetic above.
First, replace last year’s rent with today’s. A lease signed last year shows what a tenant agreed then. For the next twelve months, the figure that matters is what a new tenant would sign or what a renewal would settle at. Ask for the lease date and for the evidence behind any rent you are shown.
Second, run three rents, not one. Use last year’s, a small step down and a larger one, as the table does. If the sum only works at last year’s rent, that is the finding, not a reason to prefer the friendlier column.
Third, keep the service charge as its own line, at the building’s rate. It is the one cost that does not give way when the rent does. An area average hides the building’s figure, so ask for the building’s current rate before you run the numbers. In a chiller-paid building, add the cooling bill as its own line: how chiller fees change net yield.
Fourth, do not read one quarter as a year. The 6.2% is a quarter’s move and the year-on-year figure at CBRE was the smaller 2.6%; by September, REIDIN’s twelve-month figure was 6.81%, and the houses above disagree. The trade-off runs both ways. A buyer who plans to hold for years need not change the decision over one soft quarter; a buyer relying on income in the first twelve months should stress the rent line hardest. Put your own unit through the yield calculator at three rents before you rely on any quoted yield.
Figures belong to the dates of the sources named, which disagree in places; the worked example is illustrative arithmetic, not a forecast or a promise of return.
Ask us to run your unit through the net-yield sum at today’s rents — in English or Farsi.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice; check every figure with your adviser before you act.
Have Dubai rents fallen in 2026?
CBRE reports Dubai's average residential rent down 6.2% on the quarter and 2.6% on the year in Q2 2026 (Gulf News, 29 July 2026). Cushman & Wakefield Core has about 6% on the quarter (Khaleej Times, 9 August 2026); betterhomes says rents held above year-earlier levels. The sources agree rents have eased, not on how far; by September, REIDIN's index had Dubai rents 6.81% below a year earlier.
Does a rent fall hit net yield harder than gross yield?
Yes, in proportion. The service charge is billed per square foot whatever the rent, so a lower rent leaves the same cost against less income. In our illustrative unit (AED 15 per sq ft), rent 6.2% lower cuts gross yield by 6.2% but net income by 7.32% (our arithmetic, using the method of the yield calculator).
Which Dubai apartment areas saw the steepest rent falls in Q2 2026?
Cushman & Wakefield Core, reported by Khaleej Times on 9 August 2026, has apartment rents down most in Downtown Dubai (14%), then Dubai Hills Estate and Dubai Marina (10% each) and Palm Jumeirah (9%). One quarter, one house, as reported by a newspaper: not a ranking of where to buy.
Sources
