Methodology & sources

This guide exists to make a move inside the UAE a decision based on data rather than on an agent’s pitch. Every figure on the site carries three things: a source, an “as of” date, and a reliability kind.

The four kinds of figures

• Official — a government or open-data source: statistics centres (via Wikidata, which records the point in time), DLD/ADREC transaction data, KHDA/ADEK school inspections, RTA network maps, NCM climate normals.
• Report — a public market report by a portal or consultancy (Bayut, Property Finder). We cite the figure and the period; we do not scrape listing sites.
• Estimate — our own estimate from several public figures when no single citable number exists. Treat as ±15%. These are the figures we work hardest to replace.
• Editorial — an assessment on a fixed 0–5 or 1–5 scale (beach access, parks, noise, density, walkability, safety, humidity, commute, traffic), made by the editor from site visits, maps and resident interviews. Subjective by design, but consistent across places and revised quarterly.

What is official today, what is estimated

63 places, 28 metric types. Population is official for 10 of 63 places (Wikidata, latest statistics-centre point). Rents and prices are cited reports for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and RAK and estimates for the smaller emirates. Service charges for Dubai districts come from the DLD service-charge index (Mollak); elsewhere they are typical listing values. Everything qualitative is editorial.

Sources

Refresh: “script” sources are pulled by pnpm data:refresh in the repository (Wikidata population and timeline; DLD aggregation from a downloaded CSV). “manual” sources are read from the publisher’s report and typed into the place file with the report date. “static” sources change rarely (metro map, climate normals, ownership law).

Metric definitions

• Rents — average asking rent for the period, AED per year, for a studio, 1BR, 2BR apartment and a 3BR villa or townhouse. Villa-only communities have no apartment rents.
• Sale price — average price per sqft for apartments (villas in villa-only communities). Price trend — change over the previous 12 months. Gross yield — annual rent ÷ price.
• Service charge — AED per sqft per year, typical for the area.
• Cost of living — monthly basket for a single person excluding rent (food, transport, utilities, leisure); city value from Numbeo, districts adjusted editorially.
• Metro — “yes” = metro or tram station inside the district; “nearby” = within ~10 min by car or bus; “no” = no rail. Commute — weekday 8:00 drive to the emirate’s hub (Downtown Dubai, Abu Dhabi Corniche, or the city centre). Traffic — 1 free-flowing to 5 congested. Jobs access — 1 few jobs locally to 5 inside or next to a major employment centre (CBDs, free zones, airports); this is what keeps a cheap, quiet town from outranking the places where most readers actually work.
• Schools — count within ~10 min; top-rated = Outstanding/Very Good (KHDA) or A/B (ADEK) in the latest cycle. Hospitals — licensed hospitals within ~15 min.
• Beach 0 none … 5 own beach; Parks 0–5; Noise 1 quiet … 5 loud; Density 1 villas … 5 high-rise; Safety 1–5 (crime in the UAE is very low everywhere; 4 marks dense areas with petty theft and traffic risk); Walkability 1–5.
• August high — mean daily maximum at the nearest NCM station; Humidity 1 dry inland … 5 humid coast.
• Ownership — freehold (foreigners can own), leasehold, mixed (freehold in designated projects or zones), nationals (UAE/GCC only).

The editorial rating

Ten categories, each scored 0–10 from the metrics with the formulas below, then combined as a weighted mean. Categories with missing inputs are excluded from the mean rather than counted as zero. Default weights (out of 100): Cost of renting 12, Buying value 8, Transport & jobs 15, Schools 12, Healthcare 8, Walkability & life 15, Beach & parks 10, Peace & space 5, Safety 3, Investment 12. On the My rating page you set your own weights; they are encoded in the URL so a ranking can be shared.

• Cost of renting — Rent for a 1BR (AED/yr) mapped linearly: 160,000 → 0, 20,000 → 10. Villa-only areas use the 3BR villa rent with 1,200,000 → 0, 80,000 → 10.
• Buying value — 60% price per sqft (3,500 → 0, 450 → 10) + 40% gross yield (3% → 0, 9% → 10).
• Transport & jobs — 30% jobs access (1–5) + 30% metro (yes 10, nearby 5, no 0) + 25% commute (60 min → 0, 10 min → 10) + 15% traffic (5 → 0, 1 → 10).
• Schools — Top-rated schools nearby: 0 → 0, 5+ → 10 (square-root curve so the first two count most).
• Healthcare — Hospitals within ~15 min: 0 → 0, 4+ → 10 (square-root curve).
• Walkability & life — 70% walkability (1–5) + 30% density (denser = more cafés and shops).
• Beach & parks — 60% beach access (0–5) + 40% parks (0–5).
• Peace & space — 50% low noise (5 → 0, 1 → 10) + 50% low density.
• Safety — Editorial safety score 1–5 mapped to 0–10.
• Investment — 45% price trend (−5% → 0, +25% → 10) + 35% gross yield (3% → 0, 9% → 10) + 20% ownership (freehold 10, mixed 5, else 0).

The mappings are linear between two anchor points chosen to span the UAE market in 2025 (for example a 1BR at AED 20k scores 10 and at AED 160k scores 0). They are not percentiles, so adding places does not move existing scores.

Stretch. A weighted mean of ten categories never reaches 10 (no place is best at everything) and never falls to 0, so raw means cluster between 4.5 and 7. The overall score is stretched linearly: a raw mean of 2.5 shows as 0 and 7.5 as 10, clamped at both ends. Category bars are shown unstretched. Badges are green from 8, gold from 6, amber below.

About the estimates

Where we show an estimate, we have looked at several public figures (portal reports for neighbouring areas, DLD aggregates, resident interviews) and picked a central value. We would rather show a labelled estimate than nothing, because the comparison still works; but we never present an estimate as official, and the compare table shows the kind next to every number.

Residents’ notes

The “Residents say” section is currently an editorial summary of feedback commonly reported for the area. We are collecting first-hand notes from residents (first name and tenure only); they will replace the summaries as they come in.

Not advice

Figures are for orientation. Rents and prices move 10–30% a year in some districts; check the current RERA rental index, the DLD transaction record and the building’s service-charge history before signing or buying. This site is part of the United Estate family and carries no listings.