WHAT DAMAC HILLS 2 IS

Damac Hills 2 — formerly Akoya Oxygen — is a 55 million square foot master-planned villa and townhouse community in southern Dubailand, developed by Damac Properties since 2014 and rebranded under the current name in 2019.

 It sits south of Studio City and Al Maktoum International, bordered by Jebel Ali–Lehbab Road (E77) and Al Ain Road (E66). The community was conceived as an affordability play within the Damac portfolio — where the original Damac Hills targets the upper-mid and premium villa buyer, Damac Hills 2 targets the family buyer and yield investor who wants freehold villa or townhouse ownership at a fraction of the entry cost of comparable product elsewhere in Dubai.

The masterplan is organised into themed sub-districts rather than a single uniform layout — Water Town, Sports Town, and an equestrian-oriented cluster each integrate specific lifestyle amenities directly into the surrounding residential clusters. This is a deliberate design choice: rather than one central amenity hub serving the entire 55 million square feet, residents in each town have a dedicated set of facilities within walking distance of their home.

THE SIGNATURE AMENITY

Malibu Beach is the community’s primary differentiator and the single most-cited reason buyers choose Damac Hills 2 over comparable affordable villa communities. It is a man-made wave pool and lazy river facility built directly into Water Town, giving residents beach-club access without leaving the community.

 An outdoor cinema, hydroponic café, and extensive parks and lake features round out the lifestyle proposition. For a community built on an affordability thesis, the amenity programming punches well above the price point — this is the detail that converts a buyer comparing Damac Hills 2 against a more generic Dubailand villa cluster.

UNIT TYPOLOGY AND LAYOUT

The dominant inventory is 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom townhouses, supplemented by larger 5- and 6-bedroom standalone villas and a smaller stock of studio and 1-bedroom apartments in select clusters.

Townhouse clusters are typically arranged in rows with mid-units and corner-units — corner units carry a larger L-shaped garden and command a resale premium over mid-row stock due to the additional plot width and dual-aspect light. 

Successive launch phases — Violet, Natura, Park Greens, Albizia among others — have each introduced incremental design and specification upgrades, meaning later phases generally carry higher entry pricing than the community’s earliest stock.

APARTMENT PRODUCT

Damac Hills 2 launched its first apartment stock more recently than the villa and townhouse inventory that defines the community’s core identity. 

Fiora, Elo, Elo 3, and Evergreens represent the apartment line — 1- and 2-bedroom product positioned for the buyer who wants Damac Hills 2’s lifestyle infrastructure and pricing without the larger commitment of a villa or townhouse. 

Entry pricing for this segment starts as low as AED 547,000 for Elo studios, scaling to approximately AED 1.3 million for larger 1- and 2-bedroom units in Fiora and Evergreens.

This shifts the community’s buyer profile meaningfully. Where the villa and townhouse stock targets families and mid-tier yield investors, the apartment product opens the community to entry-level investors and single-occupant tenants — a segment Damac Hills 2 did not previously serve at scale.

Gross yields on this apartment stock should track closer to the 6.5–7.5% range typical of Damac’s apartment product community-wide, rather than the 6–8% villa benchmark, though limited transaction history on the newest launches (Elo 3, Evergreens) means yield data will firm up only after the first wave of handovers in late 2026 and early 2027.

THE NUMBERS

Average villa price across the community sits at approximately AED 1.9–2.3 million, with average price per square foot around AED 1,200–1,500 depending on cluster and launch phase. Entry-level studio and 1-bedroom apartment stock (where available) starts from approximately AED 400,000. 

Townhouses and 3- to 4-bedroom villas typically range AED 1.3–3 million. Larger 5- to 6-bedroom villas command AED 4–14 million, with select Cavalli-branded units reaching the top of that range.

Gross rental yields run 6–8% depending on unit type and cluster age, among the strongest yield profiles for villa product anywhere in Dubai. Net yield typically runs 200–300 basis points lower after service charges, which sit in the AED 3–6 per square foot range — modest relative to apartment communities.

 Villa prices appreciated approximately 22% between 2021 and 2023, with 2023–2024 representing the strongest absolute appreciation window and 2025 showing moderation consistent with the broader Dubai market cycle.

WHO BUYS AND RENTS HERE

The buyer profile splits cleanly into two groups. End-user families are drawn to the affordability of freehold villa ownership combined with genuine lifestyle infrastructure — Malibu Beach, parks, schools, and a quieter, greener environment than central Dubai offers at a comparable price point. Yield investors are drawn to the 6–8% gross return profile, which is difficult to match in villa product anywhere closer to central Dubai.

The tenant base mirrors the buyer base — families seeking villa-style living without the premium address pricing of Arabian Ranches or Damac Hills proper. Secondary market depth has been improving as the 2021–2022 launch cohort completes handover and feeds into resale and rental supply, giving the community more comparable transaction data than it had even two years ago.

THE HONEST CONSTRAINTS

Distance from central Dubai is the primary trade-off. This is a community for residents who are comfortable with a longer commute in exchange for space and price. The E77 and E66 corridors provide reasonable arterial access, but there is no metro connection and none planned — this is fully car-dependent territory, consistent with most large-format villa communities in outer Dubailand.

Construction is ongoing across multiple phases simultaneously. Buyers purchasing in newer clusters should expect a live construction environment in adjacent parts of the masterplan for the foreseeable future — a reasonable trade-off for early pricing, but a real day-to-day factor for end-users moving in before the surrounding phases complete.

DAMAC HILLS 2 DISTRESS DEALS ON BELOWMARKETDEALS.AE

The listings below include assignment positions and resale townhouses and villas in Damac Hills 2 sourced from sellers exiting before handover or within the early post-handover window. 

Each listing includes the seller’s cost basis, asking price, and verified discount calculation.