Zaafaran 3, Downtown Dubai
Zaafaran 3 is a seven-storey residential building in the Zaafaran cluster of Old Town, the Arabian-style district Emaar Properties built around Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. It holds a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments, directly on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard and a short drive from Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. Royale Stays manages the setup, pricing and guest side of running a short-term rental in the building for a fee from 15%.
Storeys
7 (+2 basement levels)
Developer
Emaar Properties
Completed
Old Town masterplan, mid-2000s
Unit Mix
1, 2 & 3-bedroom apartments
Area
Zaafaran Quarter, Old Town, Downtown Dubai
About Zaafaran 3
Zaafaran 3 is one of the numbered buildings in the Zaafaran cluster, part of Old Town, the Arabian-style sub-community Emaar Properties built around Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. It is a seven-storey building with two basement parking levels, built in the sandstone-clad, arched style the district is known for, and sits directly on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard.
The building holds a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments only, with no studios, confirmed by Bayut's building guide. One-bedroom units run from around 760 to 819 sq ft, two-bedroom units average around 1,507 sq ft, and three-bedroom units average around 1,344 sq ft. Recent Dubai Land Department-tracked transactions recorded by propsearch.ae show two-bedroom units trading between roughly AED 2.37 million and AED 3.65 million (AED 1,713 to AED 2,716 per sq ft), with a one-bedroom unit recorded at AED 1.9 million.
Zaafaran 3 is part of a genuine numbered series inside Old Town's Zaafaran cluster: Bayut's own building guide lists Zaafaran 1 and Zaafaran 2 as separate, directly neighbouring buildings a few minutes' walk away, distinct structures rather than phases of one tower. Zaafaran 3 itself is seven storeys, notably taller than the three-storey Zaafaran 2 covered separately on this site. This guide covers Zaafaran 3 only.
Location & Nearby Landmarks
Zaafaran 3 sits within the Zaafaran quarter of Old Town, one of six themed quarters inside Emaar's Downtown Dubai masterplan, close to Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Dubai Ice Rink. The nearest bus stop, Burj Khalifa/The Palace Hotel, is about a 2-minute walk, and Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall and Business Bay Metro stations are both roughly a 9-minute drive. Nearby dining includes Tribes Restaurant, My Square Restaurant and Texas De Brazil, with Spinneys, West Zone Fresh Supermarket and Grandiose Supermarket all a short walk or drive away.
Other numbered buildings in the same wider Old Town masterplan are covered separately on royalestays.com: Zaafaran 2, Zaafaran 4, Miska 2 and Reehan 7, each with its own layout and unit mix. For a wider view of the area's short-term rental market, Royale Stays' Airbnb management guide for Downtown Dubai covers licensing and demand across the community.
Unit Types
Zaafaran 3 offers one, two and three-bedroom apartments only, with no studios. One-bedroom layouts run from around 760 to 819 sq ft, two-bedroom layouts average around 1,507 sq ft with a spacious living hall and closed kitchen, and three-bedroom layouts average around 1,344 sq ft with a large balcony overlooking the surrounding community, per Bayut's building guide.
Amenities
Residents have access to a swimming pool, a fitness centre, basement parking, high-speed elevators, round-the-clock security and on-site maintenance, plus a kids' play area and a squash court, per Bayut's building guide.
Transportation & Access
The nearest bus stop, Burj Khalifa/The Palace Hotel, is about a 2-minute walk from the building, with Lake Central Tower and South Ridge Tower bus stops around 8 minutes on foot. Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station and Business Bay Metro Station are both roughly a 9-minute drive, typical of most Old Town addresses tucked just behind the Downtown Dubai skyline.
Rental & Price Trends
Downtown Dubai rents rose roughly 4 to 7% through 2025, according to Bayut's Dubai Rental Market Report, with H1 2026 figures putting a one-bedroom apartment in the area at around AED 133,000 a year and a two-bedroom at around AED 223,000, two of the three unit types Zaafaran 3 offers. No separate Downtown Dubai-wide three-bedroom benchmark was found in that report, so three-bedroom owners here should treat these figures as directional only.
On the sale side, Bayut estimates recent two-bedroom asking prices in Zaafaran 3 at roughly AED 2.9 million to AED 3.2 million, broadly in line with the AED 2.37 million to AED 3.65 million range recorded in actual Dubai Land Department transactions tracked by propsearch.ae. No verified Zaafaran 3-specific rent figure is available at the time of writing, so these reflect the wider Downtown Dubai trend and Zaafaran 3's own recorded sale transactions rather than a confirmed rental number for this specific building. Owners weighing a specific unit's numbers can run their own scenario through Royale Stays' ROI calculator.
STR Income Potential
Unlike its sibling Zaafaran 2 and neighbouring Miska 2, no specific third-party short-term rental listing for Zaafaran 3 itself was found during this research: the search results for "Zaafaran 3" return predominantly sales and rental portal pages (Bayut, PropertyFinder, Propsearch, FazWaz), not short-term-rental listings. That means genuine STR demand for this exact building is unproven from direct evidence, though nothing about the building itself, or Emaar's developer status, rules it out.
Because Zaafaran 3 is developed by Emaar rather than Vida, the site's only confirmed prohibited brand for short-term letting, there is no policy reason apartments here cannot be run as licensed holiday homes. Royale Stays' own managed Downtown Dubai portfolio shows gross annual income in the region of AED 130,000 to AED 175,000 for a one-bedroom and AED 190,000 to AED 280,000 for a two-bedroom, per the Downtown Dubai Airbnb rental income data; no comparable published figure exists for the three-bedroom layout Zaafaran 3 also offers.
Royale Stays runs the full operation for a fee starting from 15%, covering furnishing, photography, pricing, check-in and guest communications, with a single monthly statement covering revenue, fee, costs and net transfer. Owners ready to move forward can submit their property for a free earnings estimate.
No Royale Stays-managed unit currently exists at Zaafaran 3, and no independently operated short-term rental listing for this specific building was identified during this research (unlike Zaafaran 2 and Miska 2); this guide does not claim a specific short-term rental income figure or an existing external listing for Zaafaran 3. Income context reviewed by Chris Veinbaums, DTCM-licensed operator.
Questions