Damac Hills 2: what the number in the name means

When a community carries a number, it almost always means a second site under the same brand — further from the city and cheaper. The discount is genuine, and it is worth knowing precisely what you are not paying for.

What you are not paying for

• Distance. A second site goes where land is cheaper, which means further out. This is the main component of the discount and the only one that cannot be changed.
• Maturity. In the first community the landscaping has grown, amenities have operated for years, and you can see what survived. Here that is still ahead.
• Market depth. The first site trades more often, so there are more transactions and more reliable comparables for valuation.

What you do get

• Space and a plot for money that would not buy either closer in.
• The same product type — a house or townhouse with the community's own amenities.
• A better rent-to-price ratio than the first site, because price falls further than rent does.

The comparison trap

The name invites you to compare the second site with the first, as though it were the same product at a discount. They are different districts. Compare it instead with other communities at the same distance from the city — that is where you find out whether it is a good buy.

Four numbers that decide it

• The commute at peak, driven, both ways.
• What is open today — operating shops, schools and clinics, not planned ones.
• Achieved rents and void periods in the community itself, from live listings.
• Days on market for resale — longer in outer communities than people expect.

What else to check

• Community charge and what it funds: themed features and water elements cost money every year, and the residents pay it.
• Plot area separately from built-up area.
• What is being built around you and for how long.
• Escrow, Oqood, the contractor and the delay remedy on anything off-plan.

Based on the Dubai Land Department register and live listings for the community.