Dubai Property Fees and Taxes: The Real Buying Costs
What buying off-plan property in Dubai actually costs: DLD 4%, Oqood registration, trustee fees, service charges, VAT rules and the taxes Dubai does not charge.
By Dune Estates Editorial · Updated August 23, 2026 · 12 min read
What does it actually cost to buy off-plan property in Dubai?
Total closing costs on an off-plan purchase in Dubai come to roughly 4% to 6% of the purchase price. The 4% Dubai Land Department transfer fee is the bulk of it. The rest is registration and trustee admin, which is charged in fixed dirham amounts rather than as a percentage, so it weighs more heavily on smaller units.
That is the whole picture on the buy side. There is no annual property tax to plan around, no stamp duty on top of the DLD fee, and no capital gains tax for individuals selling residential property. The costs that actually shape your return over a ten year hold are service charges and, if you let the unit short term, VAT.
This guide walks through each line, then puts them together in a worked example. Every figure below comes from published fee schedules and market data. Where a number varies by project or by bank, we say so rather than inventing a precise figure.
The DLD transfer fee: 4% of the purchase price
The Dubai Land Department charges a transfer fee of 4% of the purchase price. It has been 4% since September 2013, when it was raised from 2%, and it applies to all sales including off-plan.
Two points matter for off-plan buyers specifically.
First, the 4% is calculated on the contract price, and it is normally payable up front when the sale is registered, not spread across your payment plan. A buyer on a 60/40 plan who has paid only a 10% booking deposit still owes the full 4% at registration. This catches people who budget the down payment and forget the fee.
Second, some developers run promotions where they absorb the DLD fee as a sales incentive. That is a commercial decision, not a rule, and it changes launch to launch. Confirm in writing which party pays the fee before you sign anything, because “DLD waived” in a brochure and “DLD waived” in the sale and purchase agreement are not the same document.
Oqood registration: how off-plan title works before handover
Off-plan property in Dubai is registered in an interim registry called Oqood. You receive an Oqood certificate rather than a title deed, and that certificate is the legal record of your interest in the unit until the building is handed over.
The Oqood admin fee is roughly AED 1,000 to AED 5,000 depending on the project, and it is paid alongside the 4% DLD fee. The exact amount varies, so ask the developer for the figure on your specific project rather than working from a general number.
The important part is what happens at handover. When the building completes and the Oqood is converted into a full title deed, there is no second 4% charge. You pay the DLD fee once, at the start. Buyers coming from markets with staged registration costs often assume there is a sting at completion, and there is not.
The Oqood registration also sits inside a wider protective structure. Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007, every off-plan project must have a dedicated RERA-approved escrow account, and your payments go straight into it rather than to the developer’s operating account. Funds are released only against construction milestones certified by the escrow trustee or engineer. RERA audits those accounts and can freeze withdrawals, fine a developer, or suspend a project. Under Law No. 9 of 2007, a developer must also deposit at least 20% of the estimated construction cost, or provide a bank guarantee, before it is allowed to start selling. The mechanics are covered in more depth in our Dubai off-plan buying guide.
Trustee office and other transaction admin
Registration is executed through a DLD-approved trustee office, which charges roughly AED 4,000 to AED 5,000. This is a fixed fee, so it barely registers on an AED 3 million villa and is noticeable on an AED 700,000 studio.
Together with the DLD fee and Oqood admin, this is what takes total off-plan closing costs into the 4% to 6% band.
| Cost item | Amount | When it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| DLD transfer fee | 4% of purchase price | At registration |
| Oqood registration (admin) | ~AED 1,000 to 5,000, varies by project | Alongside the DLD fee |
| Trustee office fee | ~AED 4,000 to 5,000 | At registration |
| Conversion to title deed at handover | No second 4% | Handover |
| Total off-plan closing costs | ~4% to 6% of price | Mostly up front |
What about agent commission on off-plan?
On off-plan launches the developer usually pays the broker, so a buyer commission is often not charged at all. That is the market convention rather than a regulated rule, and it does vary.
We do not publish a commission percentage here because there is no single official rate to quote. Ask your broker, in writing, three questions before you reserve: whether any commission is payable by you, at what rate, and whether VAT is added on top. Any broker who cannot answer that in a sentence is not the broker you want handling a seven figure transaction.
Worked example: total cost on an AED 1.5 million off-plan apartment
The table below applies the published fee schedule to a single purchase. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar at 1 USD = AED 3.6725, so the dollar column is arithmetic, not an estimate.
| Line item | AED | USD (at peg) |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | 1,500,000 | ~408,400 |
| DLD transfer fee (4%) | 60,000 | ~16,340 |
| Oqood admin (mid of range) | ~3,000 | ~820 |
| Trustee office fee | ~4,500 | ~1,230 |
| Total fees | ~67,500 | ~18,380 |
| Fees as share of price | ~4.5% | ~4.5% |
On a smaller unit the percentage rises because the fixed fees do not shrink. On an AED 700,000 studio the same fixed items land at roughly 5.1% of price. On an AED 4 million villa they fall towards 4.2%. That is the whole reason the market quotes a 4% to 6% band rather than a single number.
Note what is not in this table: no stamp duty, no annual property tax, no notary tax, no capital gains provision. In many European and Asian markets those lines would add several percent more.
Service charges: the real ongoing cost
Service charges are the recurring cost that decides whether a Dubai yield holds up. For apartments they typically run about AED 10 to AED 30 per square foot per year, depending on location and amenities, with the broader market range spanning AED 3 to AED 30.
Premium buildings sit well above that. Towers in DIFC, on Palm Jumeirah and in Downtown Dubai can exceed AED 60 per sqft per year, with Burj Khalifa at roughly AED 67.9 per sqft.
| Building type | Service charge (per sqft/year) | Annual cost on 800 sqft |
|---|---|---|
| Broader market low end | ~AED 3 | ~AED 2,400 |
| Typical apartment | ~AED 10 to 30 | ~AED 8,000 to 24,000 |
| Premium tower (DIFC, Palm, Downtown) | Can exceed AED 60 | AED 48,000+ |
| Burj Khalifa (reference point) | ~AED 67.9 | ~AED 54,300 |
Service charge budgets are not set arbitrarily. They are approved annually through the RERA and DLD Mollak system against the official Service Charge Index, and DLD publishes a calculator on its website. Before you commit to a building, look up the current index figure for that specific tower or community rather than accepting a projection from a sales brochure.
The arithmetic matters. A gross yield of 8% on a unit with AED 30 per sqft charges is a very different investment from 8% on a unit at AED 12. This is one of the reasons mid-market communities tend to outperform premium ones on net yield, a pattern we cover in the JVC area guide.
Taxes: what Dubai charges and what it does not
Dubai charges no annual property tax and no capital gains tax on residential property held by individuals. There is also no personal income tax, so rental income from residential property owned personally is not taxed, and it does not fall under UAE corporate tax either.
That is the headline that brings most international buyers to the market, and it is accurate. The qualifier is that it describes UAE treatment only. Your own country of tax residence may still tax the income, the gain, or the asset itself. That is a question for a tax adviser in your home jurisdiction, not for a Dubai broker.
VAT on residential property
VAT in the UAE is 5%, and how it applies depends on what kind of supply the property is.
| Supply type | VAT treatment |
|---|---|
| First supply of new residential property | Zero-rated (0%) |
| Resale of residential property | Exempt |
| Long-term residential rent | Exempt |
| Short-term and holiday lets, serviced apartments | 5% as a hospitality supply |
The practical consequence for an off-plan buyer: buying a new unit from a developer is zero-rated, so VAT is not an added cost at purchase. But if you plan to run the finished unit as a holiday let, you are moving into a taxed category. VAT registration becomes mandatory once taxable turnover exceeds AED 375,000 per year.
Buyers modelling short-let returns on gross nightly rates without deducting 5% VAT and the service charge are overstating their yield by a meaningful margin.
Mortgage costs for non-residents
Off-plan mortgage financing is capped at 50% loan to value for all buyers under the Central Bank of the UAE mortgage regime, with a maximum tenor of 25 years and a maximum debt burden ratio of 50%.
For non-residents specifically, banks typically cap lending at around 50% LTV, with some going to 60% to 65%. Rates run roughly 0.5 to 1 percentage point above resident loans, and documentation requirements are stricter. In practice the binding constraint is usually individual bank policy rather than the central bank rule.
A mortgage for a non-resident is achievable, but the choice of lenders is narrow and the conditions are tougher than for residents. Get an indicative offer from a broker or bank before you commit to a payment plan you would need financing to complete. If you are relying on leverage, read our payment plans guide alongside this one, because the interaction between a construction-linked plan and a 50% LTV cap determines how much cash you actually need.
Costs buyers underestimate
Four items account for most of the gaps between a buyer’s budget and their actual outlay.
The DLD fee timing. The 4% is due at registration, not spread across the payment plan. If your cash plan assumes it follows the instalment schedule, you will be short in month one.
Service charges from handover, not from occupancy. The charge starts when the unit is handed over, whether or not you have a tenant in place. On a building completing in a soft leasing month, that is real money before the first rent cheque.
Fit-out and furnishing. Off-plan units are handed over in the developer’s specification. If your rental strategy depends on a furnished product, that is a separate budget line.
Currency. The dirham is pegged to the dollar at 3.6725, so dollar-based buyers carry no currency risk on the purchase. Buyers earning in euros, pounds or rupees do, across a payment plan that may run three years or more.
How Dubai’s costs compare with Abu Dhabi and Oman
Dubai is not the cheapest Gulf market to transact in, and buyers weighing more than one jurisdiction should see the fee schedules side by side.
| Market | Transfer fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dubai | 4% of price | Plus Oqood admin and trustee fee; total ~4% to 6% |
| Abu Dhabi | 2% of transaction value | Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2018, via ADREC and DARI; by convention often split 1% buyer and 1% seller, negotiable; plus a fixed admin fee of about AED 1,000 to 1,500 for the title deed |
| Oman | 3% for foreigners | Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning; 1% for Omani citizens, 0.5% on Islamic bank transactions; no separate stamp duty |
Abu Dhabi’s headline rate is half Dubai’s, and the buyer share can fall to 1% where the split convention applies, though that is negotiable rather than fixed. The trade-off is that foreign freehold there is restricted to roughly 30 designated investment zones, and the market is smaller: AED 142 billion across 42,814 transactions in 2025, against AED 917 billion and more than 270,000 transactions in Dubai.
Oman charges foreigners 3%, three times the Omani citizen rate of 1%, and foreign freehold is limited to Integrated Tourism Complexes. Oman also has a fixed date on the horizon that the UAE does not: from 1 January 2028 a 5% personal income tax applies on income above OMR 42,000 a year, and rental income is within scope.
The full comparisons are in our Dubai versus Abu Dhabi analysis and the UAE versus Oman comparison. For the mechanics in each jurisdiction, see the Abu Dhabi buying guide and the Oman ITC guide.
Do the fees change if you are buying for a Golden Visa?
No. The fee schedule is identical whether or not you are pursuing residency. What matters for the visa is the property value threshold: AED 2 million by DLD valuation, with the payment method no longer relevant since the federal circular of 20 February 2026. Total property value, not paid equity, must reach the threshold, and up to three properties may be combined. Full detail is in our Golden Visa guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
4% of the purchase price. It has been 4% since September 2013 and applies to off-plan sales as well as completed ones. It is normally paid up front at registration rather than spread across the payment plan.
No. The Oqood certificate converts to a full title deed at handover without a second 4% charge. The DLD transfer fee is paid once, at registration.
Roughly 4% to 6% of the purchase price. That covers the 4% DLD transfer fee, an Oqood registration admin fee of about AED 1,000 to 5,000 depending on the project, and a trustee office fee of about AED 4,000 to 5,000. The percentage sits at the higher end on smaller units because the admin fees are fixed amounts.
No. Dubai charges no annual property tax and no capital gains tax on residential property for individuals, and there is no personal income tax on rental income from personally owned residential property. Your own country of tax residence may still tax that income, so check with a local adviser.
The first supply of new residential property is zero-rated, so VAT is not an added purchase cost. Resales and long-term residential rent are exempt. Short-term and holiday lets and serviced apartments are taxed at 5% as a hospitality supply, and VAT registration is required once taxable turnover exceeds AED 375,000 a year.
Typically about AED 10 to 30 per square foot per year for apartments, with a broader market range of AED 3 to 30. Premium buildings in DIFC, Palm Jumeirah and Downtown can exceed AED 60 per sqft, with Burj Khalifa at roughly AED 67.9. Budgets are approved annually through the RERA and DLD Mollak system against the official Service Charge Index.
Yes, but off-plan financing is capped at 50% loan to value for all buyers under the Central Bank of the UAE regime, with a maximum 25 year tenor and a 50% debt burden ratio. Non-residents typically face a 50% cap, some banks go to 60% to 65%, and rates run about 0.5 to 1 percentage point above resident loans. Verify current terms with your broker or bank.
Next steps
Build your budget in this order. Take the unit price, add 4% for DLD, add roughly AED 8,000 for Oqood and trustee admin, and treat that total as due at registration rather than across the plan. Then model the holding cost: look up the actual service charge for the specific building on the DLD Service Charge Index, multiply by the unit size, and subtract it from your projected gross rent before you decide whether the yield works.
From here, three things are worth reading before you reserve anything. Our off-plan buying guide covers the full process from freehold zone selection through to handover. The off-plan versus ready comparison sets out where the price gap and payment plan advantage actually sit. And the 2026 market data review gives you the transaction context, including why off-plan held up far better than the secondary market through the Q2 2026 cooling.
For anything specific to your tax residence, or for confirmation that a particular plot is in a designated freehold area, speak to your own lawyer and to DLD directly before you transfer funds.
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