Off-plan apartments in Ajman, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Apartments dominate the list, from the emirate’s floor near $100K up to roughly $570K.

At the lower end a purchase costs a fraction of its equivalent across the border, and the tenant is often the same person who would otherwise rent there: somebody employed in Sharjah or Dubai who has decided a longer commute is worth a much smaller rent. That is the demand filling these buildings, and the commute is the variable to watch, since it is precisely what the tenant is trading.

Three things decide how a purchase performs here. Location within the emirate comes first, because waterfront and golf-side addresses hold their rent better than the inland clusters. Then the service charge, which on a cheap unit swallows a larger share of the rent than most buyers expect. Then the developer, because a delayed building earns nothing while the instalments carry on regardless.

Deposits of 5% or 10% mean a small sum commits the purchase, which is a genuine part of the appeal at this level. The figures for each launch appear above.