Last year, Kennedy Towers Co-Founder and CEO Simon Kennedy wrote an article for Propertyfinder which explored short term rental investments, and we just wanted to revisit that because we believe that short term is a really good way to maximize your income on an investment.
There is a huge amount of choice when you are looking to buy real estate in Dubai, but we would argue that if your objective is purely to maximise the yield i.e. the rent versus the amount you pay, short term is the best way of doing this.
Following the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) regulation introduced in 2015, property owners in Dubai can now license their residential properties as holiday homes and lease them on a short-term basis.
And we believe that prime studio and small one-bedroom apartments are the best type of short-term rental investment you can make.
They should be in buildings with good facilities, well furnished, have a good view (e.g. water, park or golf course), located close to areas of significant employment, and have typical net yields between 8.00% – 10.00%.
Recommended locations include Dubai Marina, Greens & Views, JLT, DIFC, and Downtown.

The view from one of our Downtown Villas
Why? Lower service charges, which means a higher yield, higher comparative rental of a small unit versus a large unit, liquidity is high for these type of assets and for studios in particular in the marina for example, supply is relatively low.
In addition to a higher yield, other benefits of short-term rentals include keeping your property ‘vacant on transfer’ in case of a sale, and having the ability to use it yourself for part of the year.
Are you looking to invest soon or do you have any properties that you’re looking to rent out in the short-term? Kennedy Towers can help. As a property management company specifically for short-term rentals, our objective is the deliver exceptional value for landlords by advising them on the the best investments in this sharing economy.