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Dubai off-plan advisory

The net number,not the headline one.

Real yield after service charges. Real cash needed at signing. Real handover dates. Every figure sourced and dated, including the ones that argue against buying.

Elham Mirzaapour

What this is

Most Dubai property sites quote the record year. These are the same market, measured three ways.

  • What it costs once it's itemised

    The DLD transfer fee, trustee fee, agency commission with its VAT, mortgage registration, and the schedule they fall due on. Itemised against your own figures rather than a rounded estimate, so the number you budget is the number you pay.

  • What you keep, not what's quoted

    Gross yield is the brochure number. Service charges, management, voids and — for short lets — VAT above the registration threshold come out of it first.

  • Payment plans, compared honestly

    Plans are not comparable across developers. Sixty-forty, eighty-twenty and post-handover schedules are set against each other in cash terms.

  • Handover dates as they stand

    The date in the contract, the date the project is tracking to, and the holding cost of the gap between them.

  • The residency threshold

    Where a purchase sits against the property investment thresholds, and what the current rules require rather than what they required last year.

  • Building, then community

    Service charges vary tenfold between communities and yields vary within a single tower. Both are read at building level, not city level.

−29%
Dubai residential transactions, Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025Source: CBRE
−6.2%
Dubai rents, quarter on quarter, Q2 2026Source: CBRE
73.8%
of H1 2026 residential volume was off-planSource: DLD

Work the numbers yourself

What it actually costs to buy off-plan

DLD fee, admin, trustee, VAT, mortgage registration — and the payment schedule month by month.

Gross yield versus what you keep

Service charges, management, voids and VAT, so you see the net figure rather than the brochure one.

Elham Mirzaapour

A name behind every figure.

Elham Mirzaapour is based in Dubai. Every number published on this site is sourced, dated, and shown even when it argues against buying.

More about the approach

The questions that come first. Answered before you ask them.

Each answer stands on its own, and every figure in one carries the source it came from and the quarter it describes.

  • What does buying property in Dubai cost beyond the price?

    The Dubai Land Department registration fee is 4% of the price. On top of it sit trustee office fees, agency commission, and mortgage registration at 0.25% of the loan plus AED 290. VAT at 5% applies to those services, not to the residential property itself. The off-plan calculator itemises all of them against your own figures.Source: DLD fee schedule; UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017

  • Is the Dubai property market still rising in 2026?

    No. Dubai residential transactions fell 29% in Q2 2026 against Q2 2025, and rents fell 6.2% quarter on quarter. Most property sites still quote the record year instead. Every figure on this site carries its source and the quarter it describes, so you can see for yourself how current it is.Source: CBRE, Q2 2026

  • What is the difference between gross yield and what I keep?

    Gross yield is the rent divided by the price. Net yield is what survives service charges, management fees, void periods, and, on short lets, VAT once turnover passes AED 375,000. Service charges alone run from roughly 3 AED per square foot in JVC to 25 and above in branded towers, which is most of the gap.Source: UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 (VAT registration threshold)

  • Why are so many Dubai purchases off-plan?

    Off-plan was 73.8% of residential transaction volume in the first half of 2026. Payment plans spread the cost across construction rather than demanding it at handover. Those plans are not comparable across developers, which is why the calculator sets 60/40, 80/20 and post-handover schedules against each other in cash terms.Source: Dubai Land Department, H1 2026

  • Does buying property in Dubai get you a residency visa?

    Property investment above a published threshold can support a residency application, and those rules have changed more than once. This site does not print a threshold figure it cannot cite to a current official source. What it will do is show where a purchase sits against the rules as they stand when you check.

  • Why are there no property listings on this site?

    Every property advertisement in Dubai needs a Trakheesi permit number and a scannable Madmoun QR code, and permits are issued to licensed companies rather than to individuals. Until that is in place this site publishes market figures and cost models and no adverts at all. The gate is in the code, not the copy.Source: DLD Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide

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