The hidden risks UAE property buyers still overlook

Anyone living in the UAE today can sense the energy around real estate.

- Shweta Soni

New launches fill up within hours, entire communities seem to appear almost overnight, and conversations across cafés and office corridors often drift into rents, returns, and which neighbourhood might be “the next big thing.”

It is a strong market, and people feel the momentum.

However, strength creates its own blind spots. What many buyers do not realise is that even in one of the most stable, well-regulated, and fast-growing markets in the world, there are risks that do not always appear on the surface. These are not dramatic risks, but quieter ones that reveal themselves months or years after the purchase, when the excitement of the transaction has faded and the realities of ownership begin.

One of the biggest of these overlooked risks is the gap between projected rental yields and the returns that materialise. Buyers often hear figures of eight, 10, or even 12 per cent. These numbers sound compelling, and in some cases, they are possible, but only under very specific conditions. In most real-world scenarios, yields shrink once furniture, vacancy cycles, maintenance expenses, service charges, agency commissions, and mortgage payments are accounted for. A property that appears to promise double-digit returns may produce five to six per cent.