40 definitions of every term you'll encounter on Daar — data methodology, market structure, regulation, tax, and finance.
Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge. The regulator for private schools in the emirate, responsible for the curriculum ratings (Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Acceptable, Weak) that Daar uses in its school-proximity lifestyle analysis. ADEK publishes a public directory of registered schools with location coordinates.
Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre. The government body regulating the emirate's real estate sector and publishing official transaction records. Every recorded property sale, lease, mortgage, and transfer in Abu Dhabi passes through ADREC. Daar uses data from the official ADREC platform as its sole source of transaction data — no listings, no third-party estimates, no broker-reported figures.
A total return expressed as a constant yearly rate. For a property that gained 30% over three years, the annualised return is approximately 9.1% (because (1.091)^3 ≈ 1.30). Daar's repeat-sales index uses annualised returns when chaining quarterly medians so that the output is comparable across different holding periods.
The central estimate in Daar's price forecast model, produced by linear regression on the district's quarterly median price/sqm series. It is displayed alongside an optimistic scenario (base + empirical MAPE) and conservative scenario (base − empirical MAPE). The MAPE band is derived from walk-forward back-testing, not theoretical assumptions.
Capitalisation rate — the net operating income of a property divided by its purchase price, expressed as a percentage. Institutional investors use cap rate where retail investors use gross yield. In Daar, 'gross yield' and 'net yield (after 7% opex)' are published per district; cap rate equals the net yield figure.
A repeat-sales price index methodology developed by Karl Case and Robert Shiller, used by S&P to publish the US home price indices. Daar's Abu Dhabi repeat-sales index follows the same concept: match each property to its prior sale, compute the per-unit return, and chain quarterly medians. This isolates true price change from compositional shift in the market.
When the mix of transacted properties shifts, a simple average or median price can rise or fall without any underlying property actually changing in value. If 500 Al Saadiyat villas sell in Q4 and 500 Al Reef apartments sell in Q1, the Q1 'average' drops even if both markets were flat. Daar's repeat-sales methodology corrects for this by matching each sale to its own prior sale.
Daar's honesty layer on yield and valuation figures: High (at least 100 comparable sales and 30 comparable rents), Medium (30 and 10 respectively), Low (below those thresholds). Every district page displays its tier prominently. Low-confidence figures are computed but should be treated as directional rather than precise.
DomainKeys Identified Mail — a DNS-level email authentication standard. Daar publishes a DKIM record so the Daar Weekly Briefing lands in subscriber inboxes rather than spam. Not a real estate term per se, but relevant to subscribers wondering why their briefing didn't arrive.
A regulated bank account into which off-plan buyers pay instalments, controlled by ADREC and released to the developer only as construction milestones are verified. Abu Dhabi's escrow system is mandatory for all registered off-plan projects and is why defaults on project completion are rare. Buyers are protected because the developer cannot access instalment funds without hitting ADREC-verified milestones.
Capital flowing into Abu Dhabi real estate from non-UAE buyers. ADREC publishes monthly FDI totals aggregated across all residential transactions. Daar shows FDI alongside total market volume so you can see the foreign share — currently around 26% of residential transactions as of Q1 2026, up from ~10% two years prior.
Buying a property (typically off-plan) and reselling it before ever handing over to an end-user, aiming to profit from developer pricing appreciation during the construction window. Daar tracks a 'flipping index' — the percentage of resales that occur within two years of original purchase — as a market-maturity signal. Currently around 15% in Abu Dhabi.
Full ownership of both the building and the land it sits on, in perpetuity, with rights to sell, lease, mortgage, and bequeath. In Abu Dhabi, foreigners can freehold-own only in designated investment zones — Al Reem, Yas, Al Saadiyat, Al Raha Beach, Al Maryah, Al Reef, Al Hidayriyyat, Fahid, Jubail, Ramhan and a few others. Outside these zones, foreigners are typically limited to leasehold (time-limited) ownership.
A 10-year UAE residency visa granted to property owners holding a single qualifying asset valued at AED 2 million or more in the owner's personal name. The qualifying property must be in a freehold zone and cannot be more than 50% mortgaged. The visa is renewed as long as the qualifying property is retained. Multiple smaller properties do not combine to meet the threshold.
Annual rent divided by sale price, expressed as a percentage. Abu Dhabi apartments currently range from 3% (premium island districts like Saadiyat) to 10% (emerging districts like Mazyad and Al Reef). Gross yield is computed from median sale and median rent of comparable units; Daar computes it per layout where sample allows and pools district-wide otherwise.
Designated areas in Abu Dhabi where foreigners can purchase freehold property. The list has expanded over time and now includes most of the island districts plus select mainland communities. Properties outside investment zones are typically only available to GCC/Emirati nationals or via 99-year leasehold to non-nationals.
A way to split year-on-year change in total market value into three components: Volume effect (what more or fewer deals contribute at last-year's prices), Price effect (what price appreciation contributes at last-year's deal count), and Mix effect (the interaction term). Daar's 'Growth Drivers' chart on the Dashboard uses this decomposition. In 2024→2025, Abu Dhabi's +77% YoY value growth decomposed to 77% volume, 15% price, and 8% mix.
Time-limited ownership of a property, typically 99 years in Abu Dhabi, with the land title remaining with a master developer or the government. Leasehold units generally trade 15-25% below comparable freehold units because the title diminishes over time. At the end of the lease, the right of possession reverts to the freeholder unless the lease is renewed.
Mean absolute percentage error — the standard accuracy metric for forecasts. If a forecast says AED 2M and actuals print AED 2.4M, the percentage error is 20%. MAPE averages these across many predictions. Daar's 1-year price forecasts show empirical MAPE of 25-40%; 2-year 40-60%; 3-year 55-80%. Every forecast on Daar is accompanied by its MAPE band, not a false-precision single number.
Daar's summary signal combining inventory, transaction velocity, and listing-to-transaction spread into one label: HOT, WARM, or COLD. HOT means listings clear quickly and premium is tight. COLD means listings sit and premium is wide. Computed and updated weekly per district.
The middle value of all transaction prices in a district or property type, chosen over the arithmetic mean because it is less influenced by a single huge penthouse sale. When Daar says 'median price per sqm in Al Reem Island is AED 12,679' it means exactly half of transactions there priced above that and half below.
Gross yield minus operating expenses. Daar's net yield assumes 7% opex which captures typical service charges, property management fees, and a vacancy allowance. Net yield is the more honest return figure because it reflects actual cash in pocket. A 7% gross yield typically translates to around 6.3-6.5% net.
A property sold before (or during) construction. Buyers pay instalments into escrow as milestones are completed. At handover the buyer receives the keys. Off-plan in Abu Dhabi is protected by mandatory escrow (see Escrow) so principal risk is low, but resale pricing after handover often falls below purchase price because the developer premium fades.
Sale price divided by annual rent, expressed as a multiple (e.g. 20x). It tells you how many years of rent would equal the purchase price. In Abu Dhabi apartments, under 15x is undervalued, 15-20x is fair, 20-25x is premium, above 25x is expensive. P/R is the cleanest valuation signal because it ignores appreciation assumptions.
The first-sale transaction from a developer directly to an end-buyer, either off-plan (before/during construction) or newly ready at handover. Primary prices typically carry a premium over comparable secondary units because of developer marketing costs, payment plans, and brand equity.
The percentage gap between median primary (first-sale) price and median secondary (resale) price in a market. Currently around -42% in Abu Dhabi apartments: a resale trades about 42% below a comparable primary sale. A widening spread means new-build launches outpace secondary demand — often a supply-shock warning.
Quarter-on-quarter — the percentage change from one calendar quarter to the next. Daar uses QoQ change in median price and deal volume as a near-term momentum signal. A +15% QoQ price with +40% QoQ volume is classic market acceleration; a -5% QoQ price with -20% QoQ volume is the early signal of a cooling market.
A price index built from properties that sold twice — each pair yields a true per-unit return, which is then aggregated into a time series. Daar's Abu Dhabi repeat-sales index uses 15,488 matched pairs and follows the Case-Shiller methodology. It differs from ADREC's published index because it corrects for composition bias from new-build launches.
A property sold by an existing owner (not a developer). Also called secondary market. Resale prices reflect the mature, after-handover market and are typically 20-40% below comparable primary sales in Abu Dhabi.
ADREC's label distinguishing Primary (first sale from developer) from Secondary (resale of a previously owned unit). Daar uses sale sequence to compute the primary-secondary spread, the flipping index, and the Primary/Secondary mix shown on every district page.
Property transactions where an existing owner sells to a new buyer. Also called resale. Secondary pricing reveals the real after-handover market value, unaffected by developer marketing costs. In a healthy maturing market, primary and secondary should converge.
Annual fees paid by property owners for building maintenance, security, cleaning, chiller cooling, shared amenities, and master-community upkeep. In Abu Dhabi, apartment service charges typically run AED 10-25 per sqft; villa communities AED 5-15 per sqft. Service charges are the main reason net yield is 0.5-1.0 percentage points below gross yield.
A DNS-level email authentication standard published alongside DKIM. Daar's SPF record tells recipient mail servers which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of daarintel.com. Present because we run weekly subscriber briefings at scale.
The headline figure Daar reports alongside deal count — the sum of all recorded sale prices in a district or period. Since 2019, Abu Dhabi has recorded over AED 357 billion in total residential transaction value across 102,900+ deals.
ADREC's 2% one-off fee payable on every Abu Dhabi property transaction, typically split 50/50 between buyer and seller but in practice almost always paid by the buyer. Added to broker commission (~0.5-1%), trustee fees, and any mortgage registration fee, total transaction costs run 4-5% of purchase price.
The portion of the year a rental property is expected to be empty between tenants. Daar assumes 5% (about 18 days/year) as part of the 7% opex deduction when computing net yield. Actual vacancy varies by district and property type; luxury villas typically run higher (10-15%) than mid-market apartments (3-5%).
Daar's categorical label for a district's price-to-rent ratio: Undervalued (<15x), Fair (15-20x), Premium (20-25x), Expensive (>25x). Displayed on every district page next to the gross yield figure, so investors can weigh income vs growth without doing their own arithmetic.
A forecast validation technique where the model is trained only on data before each forecast date, then evaluated against data after. This mimics how the forecast would have performed in real time. Daar uses walk-forward back-testing to measure MAPE on every forecast horizon, rather than assuming theoretical error bands.
Year-on-year — the percentage change from the same period one year earlier. Removes seasonality (summer slumps, Ramadan slowdowns) and reveals the underlying trend. Daar displays YoY change in price/sqm on every district page as the cleanest single momentum signal.