Letting a Dubai apartment and what it returns

Short let produces a higher gross return and turns the asset into a small operating business: cleaning, linen, guests, reviews, seasonality, plus an operator fee usually between 15 and 25% of revenue. Summer occupancy in Dubai drops, which pulls the annual figure closer to a long let than winter months suggest. Short let also needs an operator licence, and not every building allows it — check before you buy, not after.

In the mid-market a sensible furnishing package widens the tenant pool and shortens the void more than it raises the headline rate — and the void is what usually damages the model. In premium stock, furniture quality does move the rate, because the tenant is comparing against serviced alternatives. Over-specifying in a mid-market unit is the classic way to spend capital that never returns.

Almost always price against comparable stock in the same building, or a listing that competes with twenty identical units handed over the same quarter. Occasionally it is the unit itself: the wrong floor, the wrong orientation, a view into the next tower. The fix is the same either way — look at what actually let in that building in the last two months, not at what is currently advertised.

Gross yields of 5–8% are quoted before costs. Out of them come the service charge, letting commission, management if you are not here, void periods and maintenance. Net commonly lands 1.5–2.5 percentage points lower. That is why two buildings quoting the same gross figure can pay out very differently — the difference is usually the service charge.