The number on the property listing is not the number you actually pay. By the time the transfer fee, the trustee office, the agent, the bank and the movers are all paid, a buyer purchasing an AED 1,000,000 apartment with a mortgage can end up needing close to AED 290,000 in cash before ever touching the down payment on a sofa. Most of that gap is predictable. Almost none of it is on the listing page.
Related : The Top Guide to Buying vs. Renting in Dubai
What follows is a full cost breakdown for buying and owning a Dubai apartment through the first year, built around real numbers for AED 500,000, AED 1,000,000, AED 1,500,000 and AED 2,000,000 properties. Every figure is labelled as an official government fee, a market-standard charge, a bank-specific cost, or an estimate, because those four categories behave very differently when you try to negotiate them.
It helps to separate the questions early. There’s the transaction cost — what it takes to get the title deed or Oqood contract into your name. There’s the financing cost — what a bank charges on top if you’re borrowing rather than paying cash. And there’s the ownership cost — what it takes to actually move in and live there for a year. Most online guides answer the first question and stop. Buyers usually get surprised by the second and third.
Related : Dubai Apartment Move-In Cost Calculator
Disclaimer : This guide is for general information only. Fees, requirements and costs may change based on your property, buyer profile and current regulations. Always verify the latest details with the relevant UAE authorities or a licensed professional before making a purchase.
The Real Formula: Price Plus Everything Else
Dubai has no property purchase tax and no annual property tax, which genuinely does make it cheaper to own real estate here than in London, New York or Singapore. But the one-time cost of getting the keys is heavier than most overseas buyers expect, and it lands all at once, in cash, before the deal closes.
Four categories of cost apply to almost every purchase, and a fifth applies only if you’re financing:
- Government and registration fees — fixed by the Dubai Land Department, non-negotiable
- Agent commission — a market standard, but genuinely negotiable
- Bank and mortgage costs — only if you finance, and these vary by lender
- Move-in costs — utilities, insurance, snagging, first-year service charges
- Furnishing and settling-in — the most variable line of all, and easy to underestimate
Add them up and cash buyers typically pay 6.5–7.5% above the purchase price to close. Mortgage buyers pay a smaller cash outlay at closing but a much larger percentage overall once the down payment is included, usually landing between 28% and 32% of the property price in total cash required.
Government Fees You Cannot Avoid
These charges come from the Dubai Land Department and its authorised trustee offices. They apply the same way whether you’re a UAE national, a resident expat or an overseas investor, and no amount of negotiating with your agent will move them.
| Fee | Amount | Status | Notes |
| DLD transfer fee | 4% of purchase price | Official — fixed | Legally split 2%/2% buyer-seller, but market convention has the buyer pay the full 4% |
| Trustee / registration fee | AED 4,200 (AED 4,000 + 5% VAT) | Official — fixed | Properties AED 500,000 and above. Below that threshold it’s AED 2,100 |
| Title deed issuance | AED 580 | Official — fixed | Ready apartments and offices. Off-plan Oqood contracts are AED 40 instead |
| Knowledge + innovation fees | AED 20 | Official — fixed | AED 10 each, added to almost every DLD transaction |
| Mortgage registration | 0.25% of loan + AED 290 | Official — fixed | Only applies if you’re financing the purchase |
None of this is speculative — it’s published fee schedule material from the Dubai Land Department, and it’s worth checking the current schedule directly before you budget, since fixed administrative charges do get revised from time to time even when the headline 4% stays put.
Trustee Offices and the Paperwork Nobody Warns You About
Every ownership transfer in Dubai has to go through a DLD-registered trustee office rather than the Land Department counter itself. The trustee handles document verification, biometric ID checks, payment processing and the actual registration entry. Their fee is the AED 4,200 line above — it isn’t a separate optional add-on, it’s baked into the process.
Booking your trustee appointment is usually your agent’s or conveyancer’s job, but it’s worth confirming which office you’re using and what documents they’ll ask for on the day: passport, Emirates ID (if you have one), the signed Memorandum of Understanding, and a manager’s cheque or card for the payment. Walking in without the right cheque is the single most common reason a same-day transfer slips to the next week.
Some transactions also run through the Dubai REST or Dubai Now digital channels rather than an in-person trustee visit. These carry their own service-partner fee, typically AED 1,000 plus VAT for transactions above AED 500,000 or AED 500 plus VAT below that threshold, on top of the core DLD schedule. It’s a convenience cost, not an additional government levy, and whether it’s worth paying depends on how much you value not taking a morning off work to sit in a trustee office.
Agent Commission: What’s Standard, What’s Negotiable
The market standard for a resale (secondary market) apartment is 2% of the purchase price plus 5% VAT on that commission, paid by the buyer. On an AED 1,000,000 apartment that’s AED 21,000. It is not set by law — RERA requires the commission to be documented in writing on Form F, but it doesn’t fix the percentage — which means 2% is convention, not regulation.
Off-plan is different. Buying directly from a developer almost always carries zero commission for the buyer, because the developer pays the selling agent a fee of its own, typically 3–7% of the unit price. If an agent tries to charge you a commission on a straight developer purchase, that’s worth questioning.
A handful of newer brokerages in Dubai are now advertising reduced buyer commissions of 0.2–0.5% instead of the traditional 2%, in exchange for a leaner, more self-service process. It’s a legitimate model and worth asking about if you’re comfortable doing more of the legwork yourself, but confirm exactly what’s included before assuming it matches full-service support.
If You’re Financing: The Mortgage Cost Layer
Everything above applies whether you pay cash or borrow. Financing adds a second layer on top, governed partly by the UAE Central Bank and partly by whichever bank you choose.
Down Payment: What the Central Bank Actually Requires
Maximum loan-to-value ratios are set centrally under the Central Bank’s mortgage loan regulation, and every UAE bank has to work within them. They’re the real starting point for how much cash you’ll need on closing day.
| Buyer profile | Property value | Max LTV | Min down payment |
| Expat resident, first property | AED 5 million or less | 80% | 20% |
| Expat resident, first property | Above AED 5 million | 70% | 30% |
| Expat resident, second / investment property | Any value | Up to 60% | 40% or more |
| UAE national, first property | AED 5 million or less | 85% | 15% |
| UAE national, first property | Above AED 5 million | 75% | 25% |
| Non-resident buyer (any nationality) | Typically under AED 5 million | 50–60% (bank-set) | 40–50% |
| Off-plan purchase, any buyer | Any value | Up to 50% | 50% minimum |
Non-resident and off-plan figures are set by individual banks rather than mandated at a fixed Central Bank percentage, so they vary more between lenders — treat them as typical ranges, not guarantees.
Always confirm the applicable LTV, down payment, and eligibility requirements directly with your bank before purchasing.
Bank and Mortgage-Related Costs
| Cost | Typical range | Status | Notes |
| Bank arrangement / processing fee | 0.5%–1% of loan + 5% VAT | Bank-specific | The single most negotiable mortgage cost — ask, especially through a mortgage broker |
| Property valuation fee | AED 2,500–3,500 | Bank-specific | Paid to the bank’s approved valuer, non-refundable even if the loan doesn’t proceed |
| Life insurance (mortgage-linked) | Roughly AED 5,000–12,000 in year one | Bank-specific / mandatory | Required by the bank, cost scales with loan size, age and health |
| Property (fire) insurance | Often bundled with life cover | Bank-specific / mandatory | Some banks quote a combined life-plus-property premium of AED 1,500–4,000/year |
| Mortgage registration (DLD) | 0.25% of loan + AED 290 | Official — fixed | Same fee regardless of bank |
Debt Burden Ratio matters as much as LTV. Banks cap your total monthly obligations, including the new mortgage, at 50% of your net income. On a high LTV approval, DBR — not the deposit — is usually what actually limits how much you can borrow, particularly if you already carry a car loan or credit card balances.
Conveyancing and Legal Costs: When You Actually Need a Lawyer
Dubai’s transfer process is more standardised than the UK or US equivalent, and a large share of buyers complete a resale purchase using only their agent and the trustee office, without a separate conveyancer. That’s normal here, not reckless.
Where independent legal advice earns its fee: buying through a company structure, buying with a joint-ownership or inheritance dimension, resolving a dispute with a developer over handover delays, or any transaction that isn’t a straightforward one-buyer-one-seller resale. Expect AED 3,000–7,000 for a Dubai property lawyer or conveyancing firm to review contracts and represent you at transfer, more for anything contested.
Who Pays What: The Negotiation Layer
A surprising amount of this cost structure is convention rather than law, which means it’s negotiable in a way many buyers don’t realise until after they’ve signed the MOU. The 4% DLD fee is legally split 2% buyer, 2% seller — market practice has shifted the full 4% onto the buyer almost everywhere, but in a slower market, or where a seller is motivated, splitting it back to 2/2 is a completely normal ask.
The same applies to the NOC fee, which conventionally sits with the seller but occasionally gets negotiated into the buyer’s column as part of a wider price discussion.
None of this is aggressive or unusual — Dubai’s resale market runs on the MOU (Form F), and every cost allocation in this article is the default position, not a fixed rule. If a number matters to your budget, put it on the table before you sign, not after.
Developer NOC Fees and Off-Plan Oqood Costs
Before a resale transfer can go through, the developer has to confirm — in writing — that all service charges on the unit are paid up. That document is the No Objection Certificate, and developers set their own price for issuing it, typically AED 500–5,000. By convention the seller arranges and pays for the NOC, but it’s worth confirming in the MOU rather than assuming.
Off-plan purchases run on a parallel system called Oqood instead of a full title deed. The DLD fee structure is functionally the same 4% at registration, but the trustee and title deed fees are replaced by smaller Oqood-specific charges until the unit is handed over, at which point Oqood converts into a full title deed without a second 4% payment.
Developers sometimes absorb or discount the DLD fee as a sales incentive on off-plan launches — always ask whether that’s baked into the advertised price or a genuine saving.
The Buying Cost Calculator: Work Out Your Own Numbers
Every fee above scales in one of three ways: as a percentage of the property price, as a percentage of the loan amount, or as a flat charge. That means you can build your own estimate with a calculator and six numbers. Use the worksheet below with your own property price, then check it against the four worked examples in the next section.
| Line item | Formula | Your figure |
| Property price | Enter your number | |
| DLD transfer fee | Price × 4% | |
| Trustee + title deed + knowledge/innovation | Flat AED 4,800 (AED 4,200 + 580 + 20) | |
| Agent commission (resale only) | Price × 2% × 1.05 (VAT) | |
| Down payment (if financing) | Price × 20–50% depending on profile | |
| Loan amount (if financing) | Price minus down payment | |
| Mortgage registration (if financing) | Loan × 0.25% + AED 290 | |
| Bank processing fee (if financing) | Loan × 0.5–1% × 1.05 (VAT) | |
| Valuation fee (if financing) | Flat AED 2,500–3,500 | |
| Mortgage life/property insurance (if financing) | Roughly AED 5,000–12,000, year one | |
| DEWA deposit + activation | Flat approx. AED 2,150 | |
| First-year service charge | Size in sq ft × AED 3–30/sq ft | |
| Snagging inspection (optional) | Approx. AED 1/sq ft + VAT |
Add the government and agent lines together for your baseline cash cost as a cash buyer. Add the mortgage lines and the down payment instead of the full price if you’re financing. The four worked budgets below run this exact formula for real Dubai price points, so you can sanity-check your own total against a comparable one.
Four Real Budgets: AED 500K, AED 1M, AED 1.5M and AED 2M
These examples assume a ready (completed) resale apartment, an expat resident buyer purchasing their first UAE property, and standard market-rate fees rather than promotional discounts. Sizes are illustrative of what those budgets typically buy in the wider Dubai market — smaller in central, high-demand districts, larger further out.
AED 500,000 — Studio or compact 1-bedroom
Typical size: roughly 450–550 sq ft in areas like International City, Dubai South or the more affordable pockets of Dubailand.
| Cash-buyer closing costs | Amount |
| DLD transfer fee (4%) | AED 20,000 |
| Trustee + title deed + admin | AED 4,800 |
| Agent commission (2% + VAT) | AED 10,500 |
| Move-in extras (DEWA, insurance, snagging, service charge, moving) | AED 11,170 |
| Total cash needed above the price | AED 46,470 |
| Mortgage-buyer cash requirement | Amount |
| Down payment (20%) | AED 100,000 |
| Loan amount | AED 400,000 |
| DLD transfer + trustee + agent commission | AED 35,300 |
| Mortgage registration, bank fee, valuation, insurance | AED 13,490 |
| Move-in extras | AED 11,170 |
| Total cash needed before handover | AED 159,960 |
AED 1,000,000 — 1-bedroom or entry 2-bedroom
Typical size: roughly 750–900 sq ft in areas like Jumeirah Village Circle, Business Bay’s outer edge, or Dubai South.
| Cash-buyer closing costs | Amount |
| DLD transfer fee (4%) | AED 40,000 |
| Trustee + title deed + admin | AED 4,800 |
| Agent commission (2% + VAT) | AED 21,000 |
| Move-in extras (DEWA, insurance, snagging, service charge, moving) | AED 17,990 |
| Total cash needed above the price | AED 83,790 |
| Mortgage-buyer cash requirement | Amount |
| Down payment (20%) | AED 200,000 |
| Loan amount | AED 800,000 |
| DLD transfer + trustee + agent commission | AED 65,800 |
| Mortgage registration, bank fee, valuation, insurance | AED 20,690 |
| Move-in extras | AED 17,990 |
| Total cash needed before handover | AED 304,480 |
AED 1,500,000 — 2-bedroom
Typical size: roughly 1,100–1,300 sq ft in areas like Business Bay, Downtown’s outer edge, or Dubai Marina’s older towers.
| Cash-buyer closing costs | Amount |
| DLD transfer fee (4%) | AED 60,000 |
| Trustee + title deed + admin | AED 4,800 |
| Agent commission (2% + VAT) | AED 31,500 |
| Move-in extras (DEWA, insurance, snagging, service charge, moving) | AED 24,700 |
| Total cash needed above the price | AED 121,000 |
| Mortgage-buyer cash requirement | Amount |
| Down payment (20%) | AED 300,000 |
| Loan amount | AED 1,200,000 |
| DLD transfer + trustee + agent commission | AED 96,300 |
| Mortgage registration, bank fee, valuation, insurance | AED 28,090 |
| Move-in extras | AED 24,700 |
| Total cash needed before handover | AED 449,090 |
AED 2,000,000 — Larger 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom
Typical size: roughly 1,400–1,600 sq ft in areas like Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers, or Downtown Dubai.
| Cash-buyer closing costs | Amount |
| DLD transfer fee (4%) | AED 80,000 |
| Trustee + title deed + admin | AED 4,800 |
| Agent commission (2% + VAT) | AED 42,000 |
| Move-in extras (DEWA, insurance, snagging, service charge, moving) | AED 31,725 |
| Total cash needed above the price | AED 158,525 |
| Mortgage-buyer cash requirement | Amount |
| Down payment (20%) | AED 400,000 |
| Loan amount | AED 1,600,000 |
| DLD transfer + trustee + agent commission | AED 126,800 |
| Mortgage registration, bank fee, valuation, insurance | AED 35,590 |
| Move-in extras | AED 31,725 |
| Total cash needed before handover | AED 594,115 |
Two patterns hold across all four price points. First, the fixed costs — trustee fee, title deed, valuation — matter proportionally more on cheaper properties, which is why the AED 500,000 example runs a slightly higher percentage overall than the AED 2,000,000 one. Second, the mortgage route roughly doubles your cash requirement relative to price compared with the government-and-agent costs alone, because the down payment dwarfs every fee combined.
Cash vs Mortgage: Which Actually Costs Less
Cash buyers close faster, skip every bank-related fee, and never pay mortgage interest — a meaningful saving when UAE fixed rates in 2026 have been running in the 4% region for the first few years before reverting to a variable, EIBOR-linked rate. On a straight cost-of-closing basis, cash is cheaper: no processing fee, no valuation fee, no insurance premium, no registration percentage on a loan that doesn’t exist.
But cash also means AED 1,000,000 sitting in one asset instead of a 20% down payment plus the same amount spread across other investments, savings, or additional property.
For many buyers, especially investors, the mortgage route isn’t about affordability — it’s about not tying up capital that could be working elsewhere. That’s a personal finance decision more than a Dubai-specific one, and it’s worth running against your own opportunity cost rather than treating either option as automatically correct.
One thing worth knowing: as of 2026, banks are not permitted to fold the upfront transaction costs — DLD fees, agent commission, admin charges — into the mortgage itself. Those have to be paid in cash regardless of how much you’re financing, which is exactly why the mortgage-buyer tables above still carry five- and six-figure cash requirements even at 80% LTV.
A middle path some buyers overlook: financing a smaller share of the purchase than the maximum LTV allows.
A buyer who can comfortably put down 35–40% instead of the 20% minimum reduces the loan amount, which shrinks the mortgage registration fee, the bank processing fee and the insurance premium in the same move, since all three scale with the loan rather than the property price. It won’t beat a full cash purchase, but it narrows the gap while keeping some capital free.
Ready vs Off-Plan: The Cost Timeline Is Completely Different
| Ready (resale/secondary) | Off-plan | |
| DLD fee timing | Paid in full at transfer | Paid in full at Oqood registration, sometimes discounted by developer |
| Agent commission | Typically 2% + VAT, buyer pays | Usually 0% for buyer — developer pays the agent |
| Mortgage availability | Up to 80% LTV, first property | Capped at 50% LTV, and usually only available closer to handover |
| Payment structure | Full price or full down payment at transfer | Staged payment plan tied to construction milestones |
| Service charges | Start immediately on transfer | Start at handover, not at booking |
| Snagging | Optional, seller-dependent condition | Strongly recommended before accepting handover |
| NOC requirement | Yes, from developer, before resale transfer | Not applicable until the buyer resells |
Off-plan’s lower entry cost is real, but it’s a cash-flow advantage, not a total-cost advantage — you’re paying the same 4% DLD fee eventually, just staged differently, and the 50% LTV cap on off-plan mortgages means most off-plan buyers are effectively cash-and-installment buyers rather than mortgage buyers until well after handover.
Moving In: Service Charges, DEWA, Cooling and Insurance
Service Charges
This is the recurring cost most first-time buyers underestimate. Dubai apartments carry an annual service charge covering building maintenance, security, common-area utilities, elevators, landscaping and amenities like pools and gyms.
Rates run from roughly AED 3 to AED 30 per square foot per year depending on the building and community, with most mid-market towers landing somewhere around AED 12–18. On a 900 sq ft apartment, that’s the difference between AED 2,700 and AED 27,000 a year — check the actual Mollak-registered rate for the specific building before you commit, not just the community average.
DEWA and District Cooling
Setting up electricity and water costs a refundable AED 2,000 deposit for an apartment, plus roughly AED 130–155 in activation, registration, knowledge and innovation charges — call it about AED 2,150 all-in, most of which you get back when you eventually move out.
If the building runs on district cooling — common across Dubai Marina, Downtown, Business Bay and most newer towers — air conditioning is billed separately by a provider such as Empower, Tabreed or Emicool, with its own deposit (roughly AED 1,500–2,500) and its own monthly bill, which can run AED 400–1,500 in summer regardless of how much you actually use the AC, since capacity charges apply whether the unit is occupied or not.
Home Insurance
The building itself is typically insured through your service charge. What isn’t covered is your contents, fixtures you’ve added, and personal liability inside the unit — that’s a separate contents and liability policy, usually AED 500–2,500 a year depending on the level of cover and the value of what you’re insuring. It’s inexpensive relative to the exposure, and most Dubai insurers can quote it in a same-day online process.
Snagging, Repairs and the Stuff Nobody Budgets For
Snagging is a professional inspection that lists every defect — cracked tiles, paint runs, plumbing leaks, electrical faults — before you accept a handover.
It’s not legally required, but it’s the single highest-return step in the whole process: a AED 1,000–2,000 inspection routinely uncovers defects worth many times that in developer-covered repairs, especially within the standard one-year defects liability period on new builds. Expect roughly AED 1/sq ft plus VAT, so somewhere between AED 500 and AED 3,000 for most apartments.
On a resale unit, budget separately for a move-in refresh — repainting, deep cleaning, servicing the AC units, checking the water heater — even on a well-kept apartment. A few thousand dirhams for a studio, up to AED 15,000–25,000 for a larger unit that needs real work, is a realistic range. It’s the line most buyers forget because it isn’t billed by anyone official; it just quietly appears on your own credit card in the first month.
Furnished vs Unfurnished: The Real Price Difference
Most Dubai apartments — even ones marketed as unfurnished — come with fitted wardrobes and kitchen cabinetry as standard. What varies is white goods, sofas, beds, dining furniture and the rest of a livable home. Fully unfurnished, budget-to-mid-range furnishing runs roughly as follows:
| Apartment size | Unfurnished top-up (mid-range furniture + appliances) |
| Studio / small 1-bed | AED 35,000–70,000 |
| 1-bed / entry 2-bed | AED 55,000–100,000 |
| 2-bed | AED 85,000–140,000 |
| Larger 2-bed / 3-bed | AED 110,000–180,000 |
Furnished resale units usually carry a higher purchase price than an equivalent unfurnished one — but that premium is rarely a full one-for-one match with what furnishing from scratch would cost, particularly if the existing furniture is decent quality.
For investors, furnished units also command meaningfully higher rents in short-let and mid-let markets, which changes the calculation from a straight cost comparison into a yield one.
Investor vs Owner-Occupier: Different Costs, Different Math
The biggest structural difference isn’t a fee — it’s the mortgage. An owner-occupier buying their first UAE property gets up to 80% LTV. The moment that same buyer is purchasing a second property, even a modest one, they drop to a maximum of roughly 60% LTV, meaning a 40%+ down payment instead of 20%. That single rule reshapes the entire cash-needed calculation more than any other line item in this article.
Investors also carry ongoing costs an owner-occupier doesn’t: Ejari registration for each tenancy contract (AED 155 online, more through a trustee centre), property management if you’re not self-managing (typically 5–10% of annual rent), a vacancy allowance between tenants, and — eventually, on exit — a fresh NOC and agent commission on the sale. Owner-occupiers instead carry personal moving, furnishing and settling-in costs that an investor renting the unit out furnished may recover faster through rent.
There’s also a tax dimension worth flagging without overstating it: Dubai has no personal income tax on rental income and no capital gains tax on property sales for individuals, which is a genuine structural advantage for investors compared with most Western markets.
It doesn’t offset the higher down payment on a second property, but it does change the long-run yield math in an investor’s favour once the unit is actually let out.
Other Commonly Overlooked Expenses
Beyond the categories above, a handful of smaller costs catch buyers off guard often enough to be worth flagging on their own:
- Mortgage early-settlement fees — capped at 1% of the outstanding balance or AED 10,000, whichever is lower, if you refinance or pay off the loan early
- Manager’s cheque and bank transfer charges — small, but real, when moving down payments and fee payments between accounts, especially from an overseas account
- Community or building move-in deposits — some buildings charge a refundable AED 500–2,000 move-in/move-out deposit separate from DEWA, to cover lift protection and access control
- Parking allocation fees — not universal, but some towers charge separately for a second parking bay or covered parking upgrade
- VAT on services — commission, bank fees, legal fees and insurance premiums typically carry 5% VAT on top of the headline number, which is easy to forget when comparing quotes
- Currency conversion costs — for overseas buyers wiring funds in another currency, the spread on a large transfer can run into thousands of dirhams if done through a retail bank rather than a specialist FX provider
None of these are large individually. Together, across a single transaction, they can add another AED 3,000–10,000 that doesn’t appear on any of the fee schedules above.
How Much Cash Do I Actually Need?
Pulling every section together, here’s the full first-year cash requirement — purchase price, closing costs and the first year of ownership — for cash and mortgage buyers across all four price points. Furniture is deliberately excluded from these totals since it varies so widely by choice, not by rule; add the furnishing table above on top if you’re starting from an empty apartment.
| Property price | Cash buyer — total outlay | Mortgage buyer — cash needed before handover |
| AED 500,000 | AED 546,470 | AED 159,960 (≈32% of price) |
| AED 1,000,000 | AED 1,083,790 | AED 304,480 (≈30% of price) |
| AED 1,500,000 | AED 1,621,000 | AED 449,090 (≈30% of price) |
| AED 2,000,000 | AED 2,158,525 | AED 594,115 (≈30% of price) |
The cash-buyer column is the full amount that leaves your account, price included. The mortgage-buyer column is the cash you need before the bank releases a single dirham of the loan — the down payment, every government and agent fee, every bank fee, and the first year of move-in costs.
In both cases, treat the figure as a floor, not a ceiling: a fixer-upper resale, a premium building with high service charges, or a non-resident LTV closer to 50% will all push the real number higher.
Before You Sign Anything!
Pre-Purchase Cash Checklist
- Property price and 20–50% down payment (if financing), confirmed against your actual bank pre-approval
- 4% DLD transfer fee, plus AED 4,800 in trustee, title deed and admin charges
- Agent commission, if buying resale — usually 2% + VAT
- Mortgage registration, bank processing fee, valuation fee and insurance, if financing
- NOC fee (confirm who’s paying — usually the seller, but verify)
- DEWA deposit and activation, plus district cooling deposit if applicable
- First year’s service charge, based on the actual per-sq-ft rate for that building
- Snagging inspection, especially for off-plan handovers and older resale units
- Contents and liability insurance
- Move-in repairs, cleaning and any immediate maintenance
- Furniture and appliances, if buying unfurnished
- Moving costs — AED 800 to AED 5,000 depending on apartment size and distance
Quick Answers
How much cash do I need to buy an apartment in Dubai?
As a rough floor: 6.5–7.5% of the price above the purchase price if paying cash, or roughly 28–32% of the price in total cash if financing at 80% LTV, once the down payment, government fees, agent commission, bank costs and first-year move-in expenses are all included. The exact figure depends heavily on the building’s service charge rate and whether you’re furnishing from empty.
Is the 4% DLD fee paid by the buyer or the seller in Dubai?
Legally it’s split 2% and 2%. In practice, the buyer covers the full 4% in the large majority of Dubai transactions, though this remains negotiable and shifts somewhat with market conditions.
Do banks finance the closing costs along with the mortgage?
No. As of 2026, UAE banks cannot fold DLD fees, agent commission or other transaction costs into the mortgage amount. Those have to be paid separately, in cash, alongside the down payment.
Are there ongoing property taxes in Dubai?
No annual property tax and no capital gains tax for individual owners. The main recurring costs are the service charge, utilities, insurance and, for investors, Ejari registration on each tenancy.
Sum Up
Buying an apartment in Dubai is rarely just about the price on the listing. The real number comes from putting the purchase price, upfront fees, financing costs and other expenses together.
for Dubai Apartment Buying Cost Calculator Guide to estimate your down payment, DLD fees, mortgage costs, agent fees and total upfront buying costs.Use the calculator as a starting point, keep a buffer for unexpected costs, and verify the final figures before signing anything. A little homework upfront can save you from a very expensive surprise later.
Dubai Apartment Buying Cost Calculator
See how much cash you may actually need to buy your Dubai apartment.
