Data Due Diligence Before Buying a Dubai Apartment

This guide covers the market-data side of due diligence only — it is not legal, financial or tax advice, and it is not a substitute for professional advice on the transaction itself. What it does cover is the set of data checks that are easy to run and expensive to skip.

1. 1

   Check the building, not just the community

   Pull the recorded sales history for the specific building over the last twelve to eighteen months, filtered to the same unit size. If the asking price sits well above what has recently been recorded in the same building for comparable units, that gap needs an explanation before you proceed.

2. 2

   Compare the building to its community

   Establish whether the building trades at a premium or a discount to the surrounding community. Both are fine; what matters is knowing which, because it tells you how the asset is positioned and what drives its price.

3. 3

   Verify the rental assumption independently

   If the purchase is for income, check median annual rent for the same unit type in the same community against recorded contracts — not against the rent quoted in the sales pitch. Advertised rents overstate achievable rent, and the gap varies.

4. 4

   Compute gross yield yourself, then discount it mentally

   Derive gross yield from the recorded rent and the actual price you would pay. Then remember what it excludes: service charges, vacancy, management, maintenance and financing. Ask the seller or agent for the building’s actual service charge — it is the single largest gap between gross and net, and it is knowable before you buy.

5. 5

   Check the delivery pipeline in the community

   Review registered projects and expected deliveries in the same community, weighted towards those under construction. A large volume of comparable units arriving inside your intended holding period is directly relevant to both rent and exit.

6. 6

   Check liquidity

   Look at transaction volume in the building and the community. A property in a segment where very little trades may take considerably longer to sell. This rarely features in a purchase decision and frequently features in a regretted one.

7. 7

   If it is off-plan, analyse it as off-plan

   Do not use ready-property comparables to assess an off-plan price, and vice versa. Review the developer’s registered development activity, and treat the expected delivery date as an expectation rather than a commitment.

This guide covers market-data checks only. It is not legal, financial, tax or investment advice, and it does not replace professional advice specific to your circumstances and the transaction.

Definitions used in this guide: data methodology