From a listing to a verdict
You give us a property. We set it against the register, work the sums, test them, and say what the figures support. This page shows each step and how every figure is worked out.
The film in words
- 0:00A YieldPulse report: Princess Tower, Dubai Marina. One property. Nine questions.
- 0:04Should you buy it?
- 0:06No, not on these numbers. The answer comes first.
- 0:10Is the price right? +7.3% over the registered median.
- 0:16Is the rent realistic? +13.3% over the registered median.
- 0:22What does the building really cost to hold? AED 15,460 a year, as registered.
- 0:28What does it cost to buy? AED 408,390 in cash, to complete.
- 0:34What does the loan do to it? AED 1,682 to add, each month.
- 0:40What if it goes wrong? AED 6,456 a month, in the worst of 20 cases.
- 0:47What do you walk away with? AED 124,143 lost, sold in year five, prices flat.
- 0:54How this was worked out. 5 tests behind the answer.
- 0:59Nine questions. One answer.
- 1:03Should you buy it? No, not on these numbers.
- 1:07YieldPulse. yieldpulse.io
What you enter
Five things decide the answer. Paste a listing link and most of them are filled in for you.
The price
What is asked, or what you expect to pay.The rent
What a tenant would pay today, for a year. Not what a listing hopes for.The size
In sq ft. The service charge and the maintenance are worked from it.Where it is
The emirate sets the fees. In Dubai the area and the building bring the registered evidence.How you pay
Cash, or a mortgage: the deposit, the rate and the term.
What the calculator assumes until you say otherwise
| For an apartment in Dubai | Starts at |
|---|---|
| Service charge, a sq ft a year | AED 17 |
| Maintenance inside the home, a sq ft a year | AED 4 |
| Letting and management, of the rent | 5% |
| Empty months, of the year | 5% |
| Insurance, a year | AED 2,000 |
| Prices, a year | 5% up |
| Rents, a year | 2% up |
Source: YieldPulse defaults, set from Bayut Market Reports, Property Finder Market Watch, ValuStrat Price Index, JLL UAE Real Estate Market Report and others, reviewed . Every one can be changed in the form. The two growth figures are assumptions, not forecasts: set them to zero to see the purchase stand on its rent alone.
What we set it against
Three records that Dubai publishes as open data. We call them bearings: each is a line of evidence, and the answer sits where they cross.
- Registered sales
- Every sale the Dubai Land Department registers: the day, the building, the size and the price. A report reads the sales of homes like yours over the last six or twelve months, and shows where the asking price sits among them.
- Registered rents
- Every tenancy contract registered in Dubai: when it starts, the yearly rent, the project it is in. New lettings say more about the rent you would get today than renewals do, so they are read first.
- Service charges
- The budget each building’s owners’ association files, year by year, a square foot. A report uses the building’s own figure, shows how it has moved, and sets it beside the rest of the community.
A figure reaches a report only if it rests on at least ten registered records, once the outliers are set aside, and those records agree closely enough to mean something. Where the register cannot support a figure, the report says so and leaves it out. The rules in full.
Published by the Dubai Land Department through Data Dubai, the emirate’s open-data portal. Registered evidence is for Dubai; for a property in another emirate the report works the sums on the figures you give it. We are not connected with either body and neither endorses a report.
How each figure is worked out
Worked on the flat in the sample report: a one-bedroom flat of 870 sq ft in Princess Tower, Dubai Marina, asked at AED 1,450,000, with a mortgage of 80% of the price.
- Gross yield
- A year’s rent, over the price.
- 5.86%
- Net income
- The rent, less the empty months and every cost of holding.
- AED 55,230
- Net yield
- Net income, over the price.
- 3.81%
- Cash flow, a year
- Net income, less the year’s mortgage payments.
- AED 20,180 out
- Cash you need
- The deposit and every buying cost.
- AED 408,390
- Cash-on-cash return
- A year’s cash flow, over the cash you put in.
- −4.94%
- After 5 years
- The sale, less the loan and the selling costs, plus every year’s cash flow, less the cash you put in.
- AED 124,143 out
A figure in brackets is money out. The rent is the AED 85,000 a year expected, and the service charge the AED 14,790assumed before the building’s own is read. The asking price and the rent expected are an example of ours, entered for the sample report. They are not a listing. The last row assumes prices stay where they are, and is the figure most worth testing. The same property, in full.
What comes out
The figures at once, on screen. Then, if you ask for it, the report.
The results give an answer on your own figures with its reasons, then net yield, monthly cash flow and the cash you need to complete, with every buying cost listed. They cost nothing and we do not ask for your email.
The premium report opens with its answer and then shows the working, a section to a question: whether the price is right against registered sales, whether the rent is realistic against registered tenancies, what the building really costs to hold, what it costs to buy, what the loan does to it, what happens if it goes wrong, and what you walk away with in each year to ten. A purchase off plan adds the payment schedule. The last section sets out every assumption, source and date.
The answer is yes, no, or only on a condition, by rules the report states. It is a reading of the numbers of one property, not advice about your circumstances. Read a sample report.