Dubai Marina rent: what tenants actually pay
A portal shows what a landlord wants. This page shows what a tenant signed. Every figure below comes from registered new tenancy contracts in the Ejari register of the Dubai Land Department, as of September 2026. In the cadastre Dubai Marina runs under the register name Marsa Dubai, which covers Princess Tower, Elite Residence, Bay Central and the towers around the Jumeirah Beach Residency metro station.
The short answer: a one-bedroom flat in Dubai Marina has a median contract rent of AED 7,083 a month, from 755 registered contracts. A studio sits at AED 5,000 from 172 contracts, two bedrooms at AED 10,416 from 590.
Contract rents by bedroom count
| Unit type | n | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 172 | AED 4,416 | AED 5,000 | AED 5,833 |
| 1 bedroom | 755 | AED 6,000 | AED 7,083 | AED 9,142 |
| 2 bedrooms | 590 | AED 8,333 | AED 10,416 | AED 13,750 |
| 3 bedrooms | 316 | AED 12,500 | AED 15,000 | AED 22,500 |
| 4 bedrooms | 55 | AED 17,500 | AED 21,666 | AED 27,500 |
The letter n in every table on this page is the case count: the number of registered contracts the figure in that row is calculated from. A median without its n is not a statement, it is a guess.
Read the middle row like this: a quarter of the 755 one-bedroom contracts were signed below AED 6,000 a month and a quarter above AED 9,142. The normal price of the area lives between those two numbers, and the median in between is the single figure worth quoting. Over twelve months that median is AED 84,996. A studio comes to AED 60,000 a year, two bedrooms to AED 124,992.
The four-bedroom class rests on 55 contracts only. Its upper quartile of AED 27,500 is therefore an order of magnitude, not a negotiating anchor. The spread inside the three-bedroom class is the widest on the page: across 316 contracts the lowest single record is AED 1,000 a month and the highest AED 166,666. Both ends are single contracts, which is precisely why the median and the quartiles are the numbers to work with and the extremes are not.
Asked against signed
An asking rent and a contract rent measure different things, so they get their own columns and are never added together. One is a demand printed in a listing, the other is a sum both parties put their names to.
| Unit type | Contract median (n) | Asking median (n) | Difference | Asking above contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | AED 5,000 (n = 172) | AED 5,833 (n = 75) | AED 833 | 16.7 percent |
| 1 bedroom | AED 7,083 (n = 755) | AED 7,917 (n = 78) | AED 834 | 11.8 percent |
| 2 bedrooms | AED 10,416 (n = 590) | AED 11,667 (n = 77) | AED 1,251 | 12.0 percent |
| 3 bedrooms | AED 15,000 (n = 316) | AED 20,000 (n = 76) | AED 5,000 | 33.3 percent |
| 4 bedrooms | AED 21,666 (n = 55) | AED 33,333 (n = 75) | AED 11,667 | 53.8 percent |
At the small end the distance is around AED 833 a month, which is 16.7 percent on a studio and 11.8 percent on a one-bedroom. From three bedrooms upwards it opens right up: AED 20,000 asked against AED 15,000 signed. Large units sit in the shop window for longer, and what actually gets signed is the more modest one. Anyone hunting for a three or four-bedroom flat should read the portal price as a ceiling, not a floor.
Where the bedroom count comes from
The tenancy register leaves the bedroom field empty in almost every record, so the class is derived from the floor area. The cut-offs are: studio up to 57 square metres, one bedroom 58 to 95, two bedrooms 96 to 146, three bedrooms 147 to 260, four bedrooms from 261 square metres upwards. They were calibrated on 2,177 of our own portal listings that state bedrooms and floor area together, then checked against the sale register, where the bedroom count is recorded outright: studio 37 against 42 square metres at the median, one bedroom 75 against 74, two bedrooms 120 against 117, three bedrooms 172 against 177. Two independent sources, less than five square metres apart.
The honest part: the classes overlap in reality. Ten to 90 percent of two-bedroom flats sit between 92 and 149 square metres, so a generous one-bedroom layout can land in the two-bedroom class and a tight two-bedroom in the one-bedroom class. Studios are a separate object type in the register and are not derived at all. Sale contracts do not have this problem: there the bedroom count is filled in 96 percent of records.
New contracts only, no renewals
Only new tenancy contracts are counted. Renewals are held down by the rent cap and sit systematically lower; they describe a sitting tenant, not the price a mover is quoted. Bulk contracts covering several units at once are excluded, because a building owner letting forty flats in a single document would drag the median down.
This matters in Dubai Marina more than in a young area. A great deal of the stock here has been let continuously for years, and a renewal in a 2007 tower can sit far below what the flat next door fetches today. If a figure you were quoted elsewhere is much lower than the table above, the likely reason is that renewals were mixed in.
Frequently asked questions
What does a one-bedroom flat cost in Dubai Marina?
A median of AED 7,083 a month, from 755 registered new contracts. The middle half runs from AED 6,000 to AED 9,142, and the annual figure is AED 84,996.
Why is the portal figure higher than yours?
Because a portal prints the demand and the register records the deal. For two bedrooms the gap is AED 1,251 a month, for three bedrooms AED 5,000. That gap is the room you have to negotiate in.
Is Marsa Dubai the same place as Dubai Marina?
Yes. Marsa Dubai is the cadastral name the register uses for the area. Princess Tower, Elite Residence and Bay Central all file under it.
What counts as a studio here?
A unit of up to 57 square metres, which the tenancy register carries as its own object type. Dubai Marina has 172 such new contracts with a median of AED 5,000 a month.
Are renewals included?
No. New contracts only, because renewals are capped and describe sitting tenants rather than the price a mover is quoted.
Source: Dubai Land Department, Ejari tenancy contract register, as of September 2026. The figures are reproduced with attribution; they are not a DXB Radar survey.
Asking rents: our own reading of listings on propertyfinder.ae, as of September 2026. An asking rent is a demand, not a deal, and never shares a column with a contract rent on this page.
New readings from the Dubai Land Department registers go out on the DXB Radar Telegram channel: t.me/dxbradar.