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Should we rent or buy in Dubai?

Compare renting with buying a home in Dubai over the years you expect to stay, with Dubai Land Department fees, mortgage limits and your own assumptions.

AED 1.5m
AED 100k
5 years
UAE Central Bank limits for residents buying their first home
4.50% a year
Use your bank’s offer. Ours is an example

Your results

Over 5 years, with your assumptionsBuying comes out AED 214,025 aheadabout £43,679 · buying pulls ahead after about 3 years
Cash needed to buyAED 402,570Deposit plus about AED 102,570 in fees
Mortgage paymentAED 6,670 a monthRent now: AED 8,333 a month

Buying: cost over 5 years

Deposit: 20% of the priceAED 300,000
Dubai Land Department transfer fee: 4%AED 60,000
Registration trustee fee (AED 4,000 plus VAT)AED 4,200
Title deedAED 580
Agency fee: 2% plus VAT EstimateAED 31,500
Mortgage registration: 0.25% of the loan, plus feesAED 3,290
Bank valuation EstimateAED 3,000
Mortgage payments (AED 6,670 a month)AED 400,199
Service chargesAED 75,000
Less: what the home is worth when you sell Your assumption− AED 1,738,911
Plus: agency fee when you sell (2% plus VAT) EstimateAED 36,517
Plus: mortgage still to repayAED 1,054,295
Net cost of buyingAED 229,670

Renting: cost over 5 years

Rent paid (changing 3% a year)AED 530,914
Less: what AED 402,570 could earn at 4% a year Your assumption− AED 87,218
Net cost of rentingAED 443,696

Fees: Dubai Land Department (4% transfer fee, which buyers usually pay in full, and 0.25% mortgage registration), Central Bank of the UAE limits (at least 20% down on a first home up to AED 5m, 30% above, and 25 years at most). Agency and valuation fees are typical amounts. It leaves out maintenance, insurance and any difference between your monthly mortgage and rent. Estimates to help you think it through, not financial advice: talk to a mortgage adviser before you buy.

Read: renewing your tenancy, or moving home

Estimates to help you plan, not financial advice. Nothing you enter is sent to us unless you ask for an email.

How this calculator works

  • Enter the price of the home, the rent for a similar one, and how long you expect to stay
  • It adds the up-front costs of buying (deposit, Dubai Land Department fee, trustee, agency and mortgage fees), your mortgage payments and service charges, then takes off what the home is worth when you sell
  • For renting, it adds the rent you’d pay and takes off what the cash you’d otherwise put down could earn
  • Every line is itemised. Change the growth, rent and interest assumptions to test different futures

It runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us unless you ask us to email you the results, and we don’t keep it. Results are estimates, not a quote or financial advice: check the official sources linked in each guide before you rely on them.

Guides that go with it

Should we renew our tenancy or move?

Notice dates, rent rises at renewal, and what a move really costs.New+ calculator

How do Ejari and rent cheques work?

Signing a lease, registering it and switching on the power, and renting a room.

Where should we live in Dubai?

Ten popular areas compared, by household and where you’ll work.

How do I leave the UAE, and in what order?

Your home, your car, money, visas and pets, in the order they need doing.