Zaafaran 4, Downtown Dubai
Zaafaran 4 is a low-rise residential building in the Zaafaran cluster of Old Town, the Arabian-style district of Downtown Dubai developed by Emaar Properties around 2006, a short walk from Burj Khalifa, The Dubai Fountain and Souk Al Bahar. It is one of five numbered Zaafaran buildings, and holds a narrower mix than some of its siblings: one and two-bedroom apartments only, across a compact three-storey building. Short-term rental listings already operate inside Zaafaran 4 today, and Royale Stays manages the setup, pricing and guest side of listing a unit here for a fee from 15%.
Storeys
3
Developer
Emaar Properties
Completed
Around 2006 (Old Town)
Units
1BR & 2BR only
Area
Zaafaran, Old Town, Downtown Dubai
About Zaafaran 4
Zaafaran 4 is one of five numbered buildings in the Zaafaran cluster, part of Old Town, the Arabian-style sub-community Emaar Properties built around Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. Old Town as a whole dates to around 2006, and Zaafaran 4 itself is a compact, low-rise building of 3 storeys, in keeping with the sandstone, courtyard-style architecture Old Town is known for.
The building holds only one and two-bedroom apartments, with no studios and no larger units, a narrower mix than some of the other Zaafaran-numbered buildings in the same cluster (Zaafaran 1, for example, also has three-bedroom units). Short-term rental activity is already visible here across several independent platforms: Agoda lists a "Dubai Stay – Zaafaran 4 Apartment," Booking.com carries at least two separate listings naming the building directly (Frank Porter's "Zaafaran 4, Old town, Downtown Dubai" and AirDXB's "2-bedroom in Zaafaran 4 with a Stunning Burj Khalifa View"), and a further Airbnb listing, "1001 Nights Oasis," is named as sitting inside the Zaafaran 4 building, independently of anything Royale Stays has done. Royale Stays manages the day-to-day side of turning an apartment here into a working short-term rental, from setup and pricing through to guest communication, as part of its wider Airbnb property management approach in Dubai, for a management fee from 15%.
Location & Nearby Landmarks
Zaafaran 4 sits within the Zaafaran zone of Old Town, one of six themed zones inside Emaar's Downtown Dubai masterplan, close to Souk Al Bahar and within walking distance of Burj Khalifa, The Dubai Fountain and Dubai Mall. Business Bay and Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro stations are both a short drive away.
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. Other Old Town buildings covered separately on royalestays.com include its closest confirmed neighbours, Zaafaran 2 and Zaafaran 3, plus Reehan 7, each with its own layout and unit mix.
Unit Types
Zaafaran 4 was built with one and two-bedroom apartments only. Recent DLD-recorded transactions put one-bedroom units at roughly 896 to 1,288 sq ft and two-bedroom units at roughly 1,295 to 1,329 sq ft, a genuine spread of sizes within the same two unit types rather than a single fixed layout.
Amenities
Residents have access to a gym, a swimming pool, reserved and visitor parking, high-speed elevators and round-the-clock security with CCTV monitoring.
Transportation & Access
Business Bay and Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro stations are both a short drive from the building, and Sheikh Zayed Road is close by for anyone driving, 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, the two unit types Zaafaran 4 actually offers. No verified Zaafaran 4-specific rent figure is available at the time of writing, so these reflect the wider Downtown Dubai trend rather than a building-specific number; recent DLD-recorded sale prices for the building itself run from around AED 1,500,000 to AED 3,370,000 depending on unit size. Owners weighing a specific unit's numbers can run their own scenario through Royale Stays' ROI calculator.
Airbnb / Short-Term Rental Income Potential
This is where the research lines up with something concrete: short-term listings already operate directly inside Zaafaran 4 across multiple independent platforms, including Agoda's "Dubai Stay – Zaafaran 4 Apartment," two separate Booking.com listings (Frank Porter and AirDXB), and an Airbnb listing named "1001 Nights Oasis." That is a genuine, external signal of live demand across several booking channels, not a hopeful assumption. Royale Stays' own managed Downtown Dubai portfolio shows a blended rate of around AED 1,179 a night at 88% occupancy, with one-bedroom apartments averaging around AED 654 a night (roughly AED 17,888 a month) and two-bedroom apartments around AED 1,093 a night (roughly AED 29,901 a month), per the Downtown Dubai Airbnb rental income data.
Because Zaafaran 4 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 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.
Income context reviewed by Chris Veinbaums, DTCM-licensed operator.
Questions