Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT)

Jumeirah Lake Towers is the Marina's plainer neighbour across the highway, and for many people the better deal. A free zone laid out its towers in lettered clusters around three lakes, mixing offices and homes in the same buildings and the same streets, and the result is a dense, walkable, slightly untidy district with two Metro stations, a great many restaurants, and flats that cost less than the same view on the other side of Sheikh Zayed Road. JLT stands for Jumeirah Lakes Towers, plural in the free zone's own usage though half the city writes Lake, and the district is named for the Jumeirah coast rather than on it.

The place

The district sits on the inland side of Sheikh Zayed Road opposite the Marina, with Jumeirah Islands and Jumeirah Park behind it. Its towers stand in clusters of three around the lakes, each cluster known by a letter, with a promenade around the water, parks at the lakes' ends and retail at the towers' feet. Some clusters are residential, some are offices, most are both, and the character of a cluster depends on its mix. The two Metro stations on its highway edge, which now carry sponsors' names, are the district's great practical asset.

The lakes and the park at the district's centre are where it lives: running, dog walking, the cafes along the water.

What you get

Apartments only, from studios to large penthouses, in towers that range from the district's first, plainly built, to newer ones of real quality. The differences between towers are large: in finish, in management, in whether the building is mostly homes or mostly offices, and in whether it faces the lake, the Marina skyline or the highway. Service charges vary widely and the register records the spread in what the towers' flats have fetched.

Who it suits

Professionals who work in the free zone or the Marina and want to walk to the desk and the train. Tenants who want the Marina's life at a lower rent. Investors, for whom the district's yields have long beaten its neighbour's. Families who want a large flat near the schools of the Meadows and the Springs.

It suits people less well who want a building that is only homes, quiet, or the polish of the newer districts.

Buying and renting here

The tower is the whole decision, and the register is the way to choose it: the tables on this page and the building pages beneath it show what each tower's layouts actually fetched, and the gap between the good towers and the rest is plain. Buyers should look at the owners' association, the service charge, the cooling arrangements and the office share of the building. Off-plan is small here and kept apart from resales. For tenants, the official index caps a renewal while a new lease follows the market.