The UAE short-term rental market is now one of the most dynamic in the world — yet the data behind it remains fragmented and opaque.
This inaugural edition arrives at a consequential moment: Q2 2026 is the first full quarter shaped by the regional conflict escalation of mid-March, even as the UAE doubled down on tourism with landmark commitments like Sphere Abu Dhabi. Our aim is to cut through the noise with first-party operating data, reconciled against market and official sources.
Built on managed-portfolio operations, validated against market and property datasets, and contextualised through Dubai's DET and Abu Dhabi's DCT.
Luis Santos & Rohollah Rohparwar · Co-Founders & Managing Directors
Holiday homes operate through a formal registration and unit-approval framework.
Source: Dubai DETPrimary residences may be rented as furnished tourist accommodation for up to 90 days annually.
Source: City of ParisEntire-home short letting is capped at 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission.
Source: Greater London AuthoritySub-30-day stays generally require host presence, registration, and a two-guest limit.
Source: NYC Office of Special EnforcementPrivate residential properties cannot be used for stays shorter than three consecutive months.
Source: Urban Redevelopment AuthorityTourist accommodation operators require a Ministry licence and supporting commercial, municipal and safety approvals.
Source: Saudi Ministry of TourismDubai's permit-led framework stands apart from hard night caps, host-presence rules and outright residential restrictions. Regulation is not a footnote to market performance; it defines the addressable supply.
Selected submarkets can overlap broader market boundaries and are therefore shown as observed listing counts, not as a 100% market share.
The stay mix is the March repositioning made visible: 69.4% of portfolio nights came from bookings lasting 29 nights or longer.
33.8K active short-term rental listings at quarter end.
2.9K active short-term rental listings at quarter end.
914 active short-term rental listings at quarter end.
Like-for-like one-bedroom comparison. Short-term rental income sums twelve observed monthly revenue values per active short-term rental listing from July 2025 through June 2026, preserving seasonality. Long-term rent is inferred from neighbourhood-calibrated one-bedroom size bands and adjusted as annual contract rent / 12 x 10 to allow two months to secure a suitable tenant. Each income stream is divided by the same median one-bedroom resale transaction price. Gross yields exclude operating and transaction costs.
| Submarket | Short-Term | Long-Term | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai Production City | 10.8% | 8.3% | +2.4% |
| JVC | 8.5% | 5.8% | +2.7% |
| JLT | 8.2% | 6.3% | +2.0% |
| DAMAC Hills | 7.6% | 6.5% | +1.1% |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 7.5% | 4.8% | +2.7% |
Q2’s catalyst stack points to a market being shaped by access, regulation, and destination depth before those signals fully appear in nightly rates. Fee relief supports operators now; Dubai South and the Blue Line widen the investable map; Yas Island strengthens the regional demand story.
First Class should keep Dubai’s core operating base tight while watching infrastructure-led corridors selectively: Dubai South for airport-linked stays, Blue Line submarkets for access-led demand, and Yas/Saadiyat for event-led UAE itinerary depth.
Risk to monitor: compressed booking windows leave less visibility if the conflict backdrop turns into cancellations or late demand shocks. The base case remains resilient demand, but pricing decisions need to stay closer to arrival.
Where opportunity sits: longer-stay furnished demand, infrastructure-led corridors, and professionally managed larger units where operational discipline can convert short booking windows into rate capture.
The Index combines first-party transactional operating data, aggregated short-term-rental market benchmarks, transactional and licensing data from official open-data sources, and tourism, macroeconomic, and visitor statistics from emirate and federal authorities. Headline metrics are reconciled across the relevant layers before publication.
ADR · Average daily rate; revenue divided by paid nights.
Occupancy · Paid nights divided by available rental nights; owner stays and non-rental blocks are excluded.
RevPAR · Revenue per available rental; ADR multiplied by occupancy.
Quarter-active listing · A unit active for at least one day during the reporting quarter.
Monthly stay · A reservation of 29 nights or longer.
Professionally managed · A portfolio operated with institutional pricing, service, and reporting discipline.
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Q3 2026
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