Both cities have marvelous and luxurious property sector offerings for buyers and investors but people who now examine carefully and look deeply regarding comparing real estate sector of both the cities, see that Abu Dhabi has more long term investment appeal than Dubai nowadays.
Many people are now suggesting that Dubai’s market is costly and are confident that the Abu Dhabi market has considerable room for optimistic price expansion.
I'd go for Abu Dhabi if we are talking about short term gains for the reason that both property prices and rentals are growing at a faster rate than Dubai, also there's room for more growth, unlike Dubai where proceedings are already slowing down.
There has always been a hint of competition between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two of the biggest and most important of the seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates. So, it would be a better approach to invest in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi.