−25% Damac Hills 2
Formerly Akoya Oxygen: a very large, very affordable community a long way out, with amenity that surprises people.
30 units in stock. 25 with a confirmed status: 18 ready, 7 under construction. 71st most expensive of 91 districts by median price.
- highest villa yields
- lowest entry price for a house
- remote workers
Median price $626K AED 2,300,000
Entry price $180K AED 660,000 — cheapest unit
Per square foot $328 AED 1,205 / sq ft, median
Ready stock 72% 13 units discounted, up to −25%
What this area is actually like
What it is and where
Damac Hills 2, originally launched as Akoya Oxygen, is a large villa and townhouse community well beyond Damac Hills proper, out towards Al Ain Road on the far inland edge of the developed city.
It is one of the most affordable new-build villa communities in Dubai by a considerable margin, and the price reflects a single dominant factor: distance.
The community is substantially delivered and occupied, with a large resident population, community retail, and an unusually extensive amenity programme including water features, sports facilities and landscaped zones.
The distance, stated plainly
Roughly forty to fifty minutes to Downtown in normal traffic and considerably longer at peak. Marina and the coastal districts are further still.
That is the whole trade. You are buying a house with a garden at a price that would not buy a two-bedroom apartment in a central district, in exchange for a commute that most people find difficult over the long term.
The tenant pool follows: households for whom cost is the deciding factor, people who work from home, and people employed in the southern and inland parts of the emirate.
What you actually get
Townhouses and villas with private gardens, community pools, and an amenity provision that is genuinely generous for the price point — Damac invested heavily in the shared facilities here as the differentiator.
Build quality is entry-level. This is the most price-driven end of the Damac range and the specification reflects it. Walk a delivered unit before committing.
Community retail and schooling exist but are limited; for a substantial shop or a wider school choice, residents drive.
The investment maths
Gross yields here are among the highest in the Dubai villa market, because rents have held up better than the low purchase prices would suggest. For a pure cash-flow investor that is the argument.
Capital growth is the weak point. There is no land constraint at this distance from the city, supply responds immediately to any price increase, and the community itself is very large.
Liquidity is moderate. The buyer pool is other yield investors and price-driven owner-occupiers, both of whom negotiate hard.
What to check
The drive, at the time you or your tenant would actually make it. Do it once before you buy; it is the single most decisive fact about this community.
The specific sub-community and its completion status, since the masterplan is very large and parts are more finished than others.
The service charge relative to the rent. In a low-rent community a charge that would be unremarkable elsewhere consumes a large share of gross income.
The condition of the shared amenity, which requires ongoing maintenance funding and is where large affordable communities most often disappoint.
Who it suits
A yield-focused investor with a long horizon who wants a house-level asset at an apartment-level price and is not expecting capital appreciation.
A family on a constrained budget that values a garden over a short commute, and works remotely or nearby.
It suits poorly anyone commuting to the central or coastal business districts, anyone expecting capital growth, and anyone who has not driven the route.
The amenity, which is genuinely unusual
Damac invested heavily in shared facilities here as the differentiator against everything else at this price, and the result is a list that would look ambitious in a community costing three times as much: lagoons and water features, sports courts, a fishing lake, cinema, gyms, wave pools and extensive landscaped zones.
For a family on a constrained budget that is a real quality-of-life argument. Children have somewhere to go, and the community functions as a place rather than as rows of houses.
The question is maintenance. Amenity of this scale carries a permanent operating cost, funded entirely by the service charge across a very large number of relatively low-value units.
Ask what proportion of the amenity is actually operating today, and ask the owners association what the reserve position looks like. In large affordable communities this is where the story either holds or unravels.
Who lives out here
Households for whom a garden matters more than a commute: remote workers, people employed in the southern and eastern parts of the emirate, families where one earner drives and the other does not, and a substantial population who simply cannot buy a house anywhere closer.
That is a large and durable segment in a city where housing costs have risen faster than wages, and it is why occupancy here has held up despite the distance.
It is also entirely price-driven. These tenants compare Damac Hills 2 against Villanova, Town Square and The Valley on rent per bedroom, and they move for a small saving.
Which means presentation and pricing discipline decide your void periods far more than the community does.
Making the numbers work
This community produces some of the highest gross yields in the Dubai villa market, and the gap between gross and net is where the analysis actually happens.
Subtract the service charge, a realistic vacancy allowance for a price-sensitive tenant, the cost of re-letting, and a maintenance provision for a house on a low-cost specification. What remains is usually still good — but it is not the headline.
Do not underwrite capital growth. There is no land constraint at this distance and Damac continues to release, so the return is the rent.
And drive the route once, at the hour your tenant would drive it. Everything about this community follows from that single number.
More on Damac Hills 2
Written breakdowns of subjects the English channel has not filmed.
- Damac Hills 2: the highest villa yields in Dubai, and what they cost you
A house with a garden at the price of a small apartment, forty to fifty minutes from Downtown. The trade is entirely about the drive, and the analysis that matters happens between gross and net.
The market, per the Land Department
Residential price index 167.33 Q4 2025
Quarter on quarter +3.32% QoQ
Year on year +8.9% YoY
Full year 2025 +9.81% index 162.51
This is the official index for the whole emirate, not for Damac Hills 2: the Dubai Land Department does not publish a district breakdown publicly. Treat it as background — it tells you whether the market is rising or flat while you read the prices above. Transaction data for a specific building I pull separately, on request. Source: Dubai Land Department, read 15/08/2026.
The latest read: July 2026
The Land Department index above is quarterly and emirate-wide. The monthly price index splits villas from apartments — and in 2026 that matters: a single blended figure hides the fact that the two markets have pulled apart.
Villas and townhouses 292.5 flat YoY
Apartments 168.7 −4.2% YoY
All residential 219.2 −0.3% MoM
Price per sqft 2,039 villas · apartments 1,397 AED
The month split by completion status: 72.8% of deals were off-plan, 27.2% ready homes. Ready-home volume rose 11.4% on the month, while off-plan was the only segment down both on the month and on the year (−45.3%). The practical read: there is room to negotiate on apartments and on off-plan, far less on finished villas in established communities. Index base is January 2021 = 100 — a villa reading of 292.5 means growth of 192.5% from that mark, not a premium over a 2021 peak. Monthly ValuStrat market review for July 2026, checked 24/08/2026.
Questions about Damac Hills 2
Is Damac Hills 2 a good investment?
It produces some of the highest gross yields in the Dubai villa market at the lowest entry prices. Capital growth is weak because there is no land constraint at this distance, and the tenant pool is limited by a forty-to-fifty-minute commute to the centre.
What was Damac Hills 2 called before?
Akoya Oxygen. It was rebranded to Damac Hills 2, though it sits considerably further out than Damac Hills proper and is a distinct community with a different price point.
Other districts
All districts →Projects in Damac Hills 2
All projects in Damac Hills 2 →
Damac Hills 2 in the news
Damac Hills 2: what the number in the name means
A second site under the same brand, considerably further out and considerably cheaper. The discount is real, and it is a discount for specific things.
Damac Hills 2: who pays to maintain the community’s themed attractions
Beaches, sports courts and water attractions inside the community look like a gift. Each one has an owner, a budget and a service life.
Looking at Damac Hills 2 specifically?
Send me the building or the unit and I will pull the registered transaction history, the current service charge and what comparable units actually let for — before you make an offer, not after.
Ask on WhatsAppAsk a question
Telegram is the fastest way — I answer personally.
Message on Telegram