Portfolio mandate
Five apartments, two districts, one Dubai allocation.
A southern-German family office wanted to deploy AED 12M into Dubai as running diversification — with hard yield floors, defined tower-selection criteria and a realistic four-quarter build-out plan.
- Client
- Family Office · Munich
- Mandate duration
- 14 months
- Capital deployed
- €3,020,000
- Locations
- Dubai Marina · Business Bay
Strategy
The family office already held a Western-European residential portfolio with gross yields around 3.5 %, and wanted a deliberately non-euro-correlated yield class with running distributions. We defined a hard floor of 7 % net rental yield, diversification across at least two micro-locations, and a maximum 18-month build-out. Off-plan was excluded — cashflow had to flow from quarter one. From roughly 240 pre-filtered resale units we finalised five towers across Marina and Business Bay, each with a verifiable rental history, a clean service-charge ledger and a modelled rent reserve.
Ledger
Key metrics
- Capital deployed
- AED 12.0M≈ €3.02M
- Net rental yield
- 8.2 %portfolio-weighted average
- Build-out period
- 14 Mo.mandate to fifth handover
- Capital growth YTD
- +11.4 %DLD index vs. handover
Chronology
Mandate timeline
Month 1
Mandate definition and tower cluster
Initial workshop in Munich, agreed the yield floor (≥ 7 % net), the location clusters (Marina + Business Bay) and the hard exclusion criteria (no towers above AED 22/sqft service charges, no open DLD disputes).
Month 2
Long-list shortlist and first viewing trip
From 240 RERA-listed units we shortlisted 28 candidates. A three-day viewing trip in Dubai allowed the principal to physically inspect 14 apartments.
Month 3
First acquisition — Marina, 2BR view unit
First acquisition in an established Marina tower at AED 2.35M with a sitting tenant at AED 195k p.a. — gross yield 8.3 %, lease assignment effective on DLD transfer date.
Month 5
Second and third acquisition — Business Bay
Two studios in a serviced Business Bay tower (AED 1.10M and AED 1.15M) with active short-stay licences — modelled net yield 9.1 % at 78 % occupancy.
Month 8
Fourth acquisition — premium Marina tower
A 3BR corner unit in a premium Marina tower (AED 4.2M) for long-let to expat families. Net yield lower (6.8 %), but capital-growth profile markedly above the Marina average.
Month 11
Property-management roll-out
Leasing and management handed to a RERA-licensed manager under Heinzmann supervision. Quarterly reporting to the family office: occupancy, cashflow, service-charge movements.
Month 14
Fifth acquisition and portfolio close-out
Final acquisition (Business Bay 2BR, AED 2.2M) closes the portfolio. Weighted net yield calibrated to 8.2 %, cashflow distribution from quarter one of full occupancy.
Outcome
Outcome
After 14 months the portfolio is fully built, all five units leased, the calibrated net yield sits at 8.2 % — just above the 7 % floor and 130 basis points above original modelling. The DLD index has risen 11.4 % over the mandate window, lifting the book value of the allocation to roughly AED 13.4M. The family office has rolled the mandate into a standing portfolio-management retainer and is reviewing a second tranche for 2027.
Lessons
What we learned
A hard yield floor disciplined the entire search — we walked away from 12 otherwise attractive units because their modelled net yield landed below 7 %.
Diversifying between Marina (long-let) and Business Bay (short-let) smoothed cashflow and eliminated concentration risk on a single tenant profile.
Quarterly reporting calibrated to European family-office conventions was the decisive factor in converting the mandate into a multi-year retainer.
Client voice
Client voice
“We ran parallel acquisition mandates across four markets — Dubai was the only one where original modelling turned out to be conservative rather than optimistic.”
Managing Director, Family Office, Munich
Keep reading
More mandates
- Tech entrepreneur · Hamburg
One Palm Jumeirah off-plan, one Golden Visa, one 32 % partial exit.
Palm Jumeirah off-plan: AED 4.8M, 18-month build, Golden Visa issued, 32 % gross capital appreciation to handover — partial exit realised.
Open mandate - Investor couple · Zurich
Seven properties, three generations, one standing family-office retainer.
Family-office retainer: 7 properties across Downtown, Dubai Hills and Emirates Hills, tax and succession structure, ongoing mandate since 2023.
Open mandate
Closing
Eight years. Twelve mandates. One call.
An initial conversation in German or English — personal, confidential, no sales pressure. Usually within 48 hours.
- Phone
- +971 4 123 4567
- +971 50 123 4567
- Office
- DIFC · Gate Village · Dubai