Dubai: gross or net?

An expert clears up the confusion over the two ways of buying property in Dubai.

Oliver Hickey UK Sales Director of Profile Europe (UK) Ltd explains: “There are two ways of purchasing property in Dubai; net or gross.

"With net properties, investors achieve the square footage as originally marketed and are not subject to any variation on living space.

“Investors buying ‘gross’ property, need to be aware that ultimately their square footage will be lower because communal areas (lift areas, corridors and walk ways) have been factored in.

“The overall square footage of these communal areas is then divided by the number of apartments within the building. So although your sales details may specify an apartment of say 1000sqft, in actual fact you are only looking to achieve living space of around 850sqft.”

Investors need to take care

Oliver continued, “Although ‘gross’ property sales are far removed in comparison to the UK marketplace, this is a perfectly common way of marketing in Dubai, but it is perhaps not common knowledge to many overseas investors.

“Investors, who have done their market research and have compared numerous properties by the price per sqft before purchase, need to take particular care, as obviously such a variation on the overall square footage could have a considerable impact on their realised profit when they come to sell.”