ROI analysis of apartment in The Pulse Boulevard Apartments – C3: DLD data and real deals

1. Definition of the area and data structure

Actual location:
According to DLD, the building The Pulse Boulevard Apartments – C3 belongs to the Madinat Al Mataar area and the Dubai South Residential District master project. All comparative metrics will be analysed against this area and master project.

Data structure:
For this building, under the parameter “2-bedroom apartments”, 136 sale transactions are registered in the database. No data on actual rental contracts (for the building, the master project, or even for units of this layout) has been found — not a single lease of a 2-bedroom apartment at The Pulse Boulevard Apartments – C3 or in Dubai South Residential District has been recorded in DLD. Across Madinat Al Mataar, more than 30,000 rental contracts have been registered in total, which allows for robust benchmarking at the area level.

2. Liquidity of the asset and the area

The building is actively traded on the market: over the past few years there has been a significant volume of 2-bedroom sale transactions (up to 136 deals — a very high figure for a single building). In Madinat Al Mataar, activity in the 2-bedroom segment is also high: the number of quarterly transactions in the area can reach several hundred.

In the rental market, the current absence of DLD-registered contracts for this building and its master project indicates either a low share of officially registered long-term leases or a shift in demand type (e.g. short-term or alternative rental formats). At the same time, Madinat Al Mataar as an area shows steady rental demand with a stable increase in the number of contracts, especially over the last 2–3 years.

3. Purchase price dynamics over 3–5 years

For The Pulse Boulevard Apartments – C3, average sale prices for 2-bedroom apartments over the past 3 years were as follows:
– In 2022: the quarterly average price range was 6,360–6,500 AED/m², with the transaction peak in Q2 2022.
– In 2023 there was growth: the average price in Q1 rose to 7,519 AED/m², in the middle of the year to 8,390 AED/m², followed by a decline to around 7,300 AED/m² by year-end.
– In 2024, quarterly average prices ranged from 6,545 to 8,129 AED/m². Over the last 12 months, including Q2 2024, the average purchase price stands at 8,917 AED/m².

For comparison, Madinat Al Mataar for 2-bedroom apartments shows a significantly higher trajectory of average prices per m² (even allowing for sharp spikes), especially from 2023 onwards — the area-wide average has been in the 10,000–14,000 AED/m² range. Over the last 12 months, the average purchase price in the area is 13,448 AED/m², which is almost 50% higher than for building C3.

4. Rental rate dynamics (area level)

For the building and the master project there is no rental data — an official calculation is only possible at the level of Madinat Al Mataar as a whole, across all apartment categories.
Dynamics of average annual rent per square metre in Madinat Al Mataar:
– 2021: 420–527 AED/m²
– 2022: 441–581 AED/m²
– 2023: steady growth — 582–725 AED/m² per year
– 2024: acceleration — as of now, the figure for the last 12 months is 847 AED/m².

Rental growth has been particularly pronounced over the last 18 months, with quarterly increases of tens of AED per m².

5. ROI and “fair price range”

Actual levels over the last 12 months:
– Average purchase price: 8,917 AED/m² for the building, 13,448 AED/m² for the area.
– Average annual rent: 847 AED/m² for the area. It is not possible to calculate ROI for the building or the master project — there is no confirmed rental data for the building/project.

Gross investment yield for the area:
ROI_brutto = 847/13,448 = 0.063 (6.3% per annum, gross)
Taking into account initial costs (approximately +7%), the potential yield decreases to ROI_net ≈ 5.9% per annum.

Fair price range for an investor targeting a 7–8% ROI at the current market rent:
– At the current area-level rent of 847 AED/m², the fair purchase price is approximately 10,600–12,100 AED/m².
– The actual market in the area today is slightly above this range (13,448 AED/m²), while building C3 is significantly below it (8,917 AED/m²). This makes C3 a relatively attractive option for investors, provided that the achievable rental rate is close to the area level.

6. Investor outlook

– Building C3 shows good liquidity in terms of transactions and a visible discount to the average levels of both the area and the master project (30–50% cheaper).
– Achieving yields above 6–7% per annum on long-term rentals based on official DLD data is currently possible only when buying below the area’s market level (i.e. in building C3).
– Based on current data, the building is attractive for acquisition at the growth stage of the area over a 2–4 year horizon, as the price differential remains substantial while both sales and rental demand in the area are high. However, the absence of official rental contracts for the building requires particular attention to the subsequent leasing strategy (it may take time to build up a trend of leasing with Ejari registration).

7. Brief summary

– High transaction liquidity for the building;
– Prices in the building are 30–50% below area levels;
– ROI at the area’s market rent is 5.9–6.3% per annum (can be higher with efficient leasing at area-level rates);
– There is no factual rental data for the building; ROI and “fair price” calculations are provided strictly for Madinat Al Mataar.