Skip to content
1. Definition of the area and data structure
Actual location: Sobha One belongs to the Ras Al Khor Industrial First area. In DLD, the building data is presented as multiple blocks (Sobha One – A/B/C/D/E/Podium), with all information aggregated at the project level SOBHA ONE. The master project is not specified in the dataset.
There are no explicitly marked studio/0BR apartment sales in the sample — there are transactions with an empty rooms_en value (treated as a possible lack of information on the apartment type). For such transactions, 12 sales are recorded, all relating to the latest available period. There are no current rental indicators for the building itself, so the Ras Al Khor Industrial First area benchmark was used for rental analysis.
2. Apartment sales in SOBHA ONE
Over the past 12 months, for Sobha One, based on transactions without an explicit room-count attribute, the average price per square metre amounted to 65,929 AED/m² (12 transactions, 2025 data). This is significantly higher than the area average.
The dynamics of the average price per m² for the building are available only for a single quarter (2025 Q4), which is related to the relative novelty of the asset and/or the specifics of off-plan handover. In the donor sub-areas, from 2020 to 2025 the average price per m² started from 2,000–5,000 AED/m² and only from 2024 increased to the 23,000–27,000 AED/m² range (864 transactions in the area per year, indicating high liquidity of the new stock).
3. Dynamics in Ras Al Khor Industrial First
The market shows strong growth in the average price per m² from 2023 to 2024 — rates increased almost fivefold (from ≈ 5,000 to over 24,000 AED/m²). This growth is likely linked to the launch of large new projects, including SOBHA ONE. At the moment, the average price in the area over the last 12 months is 24,831 AED/m².
4. Rentals: area-level analysis
For SOBHA ONE and its blocks, DLD has no registered data on actual rental contracts over the past 12 months. To estimate yields, area-wide figures for Ras Al Khor Industrial First were used. Over the past 12 months, the average annual rental rate in the area for residential apartments is 1,037 AED/m² (72 contracts). Distribution structure: the bulk of demand is for one-bedroom apartments with a hall (1bed room+Hall, average rate 1,049 AED/m², 52 contracts), studios — 835 AED/m² with a small number of deals.
Quarterly rental dynamics are stable — average rates have remained in the 950–1,200 AED/m² range over the past three years.
5. Price vs yield comparison, ROI calculation
• Average purchase price per m² in Sobha One over the last 12 months: 65,929 AED/m².
• Area average price: 24,831 AED/m².
• Area rental rate: 1,037 AED/m²/year.
Gross yield:
• For the building, it is not possible to calculate a valid ROI due to the absence of registered rental rates.
• For the area: 1,037 / 24,831 ≈ 4.2% per annum (gross ROI).
Expected net ROI, taking into account initial costs (≈7–8%): 4.2% / 1.07 ≈ 3.9% per annum (net ROI).
A fair price range for an investor targeting a 7–8% annual yield: 1,037 / 0.08 … 1,037 / 0.07 = 12,963 … 14,814 AED/m² (area benchmark). Actual price levels in the area are significantly higher, and in Sobha One the price per m² is almost three times above the “fair” investment level for a 7–8% target yield. Purchasing in Sobha One for subsequent leasing currently requires paying a substantial premium to the market, and the investment yield ends up at around 3.7–4.2% — below levels typically considered attractive for investment.
6. Liquidity and outlook: summary
Over the past two years, the Ras Al Khor Industrial First market has been characterised by extremely high activity: there is a growing flow of sales in new stock (over 2,500 transactions in 2024–2025), and rentals show stable demand, especially for 1-bedroom units. At the same time, price levels in Sobha One are noticeably ahead even of the new area-wide average.
Actual yield for an investor at current prices is low, with return on capital more than twice below the target range for the residential investment market. For an income-focused acquisition, it is reasonable to target a strong discount to current prices — or to factor in that the asset is more likely to appeal to an end-user/premium tenant rather than a mass-market tenant and a typical yield-driven investor.
Related Articles
- How to sell a home in Dubai in Santorini – analysis 2025
- How to sell a home in Dubai in Binghatti Skyrise Tower C – analysis 2025
- ROI analysis of apartment in Elitz 3 by Danube: DLD data and real deals
- How to sell a home in Dubai in Terraces Marasi Drive – analysis 2025
- ROI analysis of apartment in Royale Residence 1: DLD data and real deals
