What does it cost to buy property in Dubai?

About 6.4 to 6.6 per cent on a ready home bought with cash, 4 per cent off-plan. On AED 2 million, AED 127,000 to 132,000: the 4 per cent Land Department fee, trustee, developer NOC and 2 per cent commission plus VAT (Dubai Land Department, 3 Sep 2026; Property Finder, 27 Apr 2026). Off-plan, where the developer usually pays the agent, about AED 81,000, or under AED 2,000 with a DLD fee waiver (Betterhomes, 11 Aug 2026).

Key facts

• Transfer fee: 4 per cent, split 2 per cent each in law, paid by the buyer by convention (Dubai Land Department, 3 Sep 2026; Property Finder, 27 Apr 2026).
• Agency commission: around 2 per cent plus VAT on a ready purchase, paid by the developer off-plan, no legal rate (Property Finder, 27 Apr 2026).
• No VAT on the home itself; 5 per cent on fees and services (Ministry of Finance, 7 Sep 2026).

What does a ready purchase cost in full?

An AED 2 million apartment bought for cash by a non-resident, with VAT at 5 per cent on the services and none on the home (Ministry of Finance, 7 Sep 2026):

The map fee is AED 250 for a unit or villa but AED 225 or AED 100 for land, and the trustee charges AED 2,000 plus VAT where the price is below AED 500,000 (Dubai Land Department, 3 Sep 2026). A non-resident completes with a valid passport and the developer's e-NOC in a freehold area (Dubai Land Department, 3 Sep 2026). A developer may not charge anything on a sale or resale beyond administrative costs the Land Department has approved (Government of Dubai, Law 13 of 2008). Conveyancing is optional, since the trustee handles the transfer; portals report AED 5,000 to 10,000 or more (Bayut, 12 Aug 2026).

What does an off-plan purchase cost?

Less, for two reasons. There is no trustee fee, because the developer registers the sale with the Land Department within 90 days of signing, and the developer normally pays the agent, so the buyer usually pays no commission (Dubai Land Department, 3 Sep 2026; Property Finder, 27 Apr 2026). The same AED 2 million apartment bought from the developer:

The waiver is a launch-market practice, not a rule. In August 2026 the 4 per cent waiver returned across new launches; on a median apartment it is worth about AED 77,645, on a median villa AED 271,655 (Betterhomes, 11 Aug 2026). Read the sale and purchase agreement to see whether the developer pays the fee or adjusts the price. The off-plan buyer instead carries construction and handover timing risk.

What does a mortgage add?

The Central Bank caps the loan at 80 per cent for an expatriate's first home below AED 5 million and 70 per cent above, 60 per cent for an investment property and 50 per cent for off-plan, over at most 25 years (Central Bank of the UAE, Mortgage Regulations, Art. 3). Borrowing AED 1.6 million against the ready apartment adds:

HSBC UAE publishes its tariff: 1 per cent of the loan for Personal Banking and Advance customers and 0.5 per cent for Premier and Private Bank, each with a minimum of AED 5,000 before VAT (HSBC UAE, 2026). At the Premier rate the add-on falls to about AED 19,500; other banks' fees vary. Emaar charges AED 5,000 to register a mortgage on its units, on top of the Land Department's fee (Emaar Properties, 2026). All in, the mortgaged purchase runs to about AED 155,000 to 160,000, roughly 7.8 to 8 per cent of the price.

What does it cost to own each year?

Service charges are approved by RERA for each building and year and published free in the Land Department's Service Charge Index (Dubai Land Department, 2026). Examples from the index, per square foot: Downtown Dubai apartments 24.09, JVC 17.05, Dubai Marina 12.04; villas from 9 on Palm Jumeirah to 1.05 in Arabian Ranches (Property Finder, 19 Jun 2026). Read the exact figure, and the period it covers, for the building before you offer, then multiply by the unit's area.

The municipality housing fee is 5 per cent of the annual rent, or of the RERA rental value for an owner, collected in 12 instalments on the DEWA bill; it applies to the occupier (Bayut, 13 Mar 2025). On Empower district cooling, the demand charge is AED 750 per refrigeration ton a year, billed monthly, plus consumption and AED 30 a month for the meter, all plus VAT (Bayut, 27 Aug 2026).

What is taxed and what is not?

VAT is 5 per cent. Residential property is exempt and a developer's first supply within three years of construction is zero-rated, so none is added to the price of a home; it does apply to the fees, commission and cooling charges above, and to commercial property (Ministry of Finance, 7 Sep 2026). There is no personal income tax (u.ae, 2026), and an individual's unlicensed real estate investment income falls outside corporate tax regardless of amount (Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Decision 49 of 2023). What you owe at home is a question for your own adviser.

What does residency cost if you want a visa?

Property worth AED 2 million or more, mortgaged or not, qualifies for a 10-year Golden Visa through the Land Department; fees total AED 9,884.75 and the process takes 7 to 10 business days (Dubai Land Department, 2026). Since 29 Apr 2026 there is no minimum value for a sole owner applying for the 2-year property investor visa, and a joint owner needs a share of AED 400,000; a new visa costs AED 10,545 and a renewal AED 8,215 (Khaleej Times, 29 Apr 2026; Khaleej Times, 1 May 2026).

Our view

In our experience the buyer who is surprised at completion has budgeted the 4 per cent and nothing else. We advise budgeting 7 per cent on a ready purchase and 8 per cent with a mortgage, asking the developer for its NOC fee and a service charge statement before you offer, and having the commission written into the broker's form. On off-plan, we advise reading the payment schedule and the DLD clause together: a waiver that is really a price adjustment is not a saving of AED 80,000. For our clients, these costs sit with the curated projects and documents in D+H Invest, our private investor platform.

To put these fees against a purchase of your own size, our free investment calculator applies them to the price, payment plan and holding period you choose.

Davies+Harrison is DAH Real Estate Brokerage L.L.C., RERA ORN 53447.