01
Decide the job of the property
Live in it, rent it, or hold it. Those three produce different buildings. A Marina hotel-branded studio that never sleeps is a yield toy, not a home. A townhouse in the Springs is a school run, not a 12% brochure.
Real estate · DLD
Buy the building, not the brochure
Foreigners can buy freehold. The expensive lines are DLD’s 4%, service charges, and a developer who misses handover. Golden Visa starts at AED 2 million on the live DLD investor service — confirm there, not on Instagram.
DLD transfer
4% of price
Trustee
≈ AED 4,200
Golden Visa
AED 2 million
VAT on resale
Usually none*
How to start
02
Only RERA-registered brokers and listed developers
Ask for the broker’s RERA card. Off-plan only from a developer on the DLD / RERA lists. WhatsApp ‘guaranteed 20% ROI’ and ‘pay me on Binance to reserve’ are the same scam in a new jacket.
03
Offer, MOU, deposit
Ready property: Form F / MOU, usually 10% in a trustee or developer account — not the broker’s cousin. Off-plan: a sales agreement and Oqood registration at DLD, with a payment plan tied to construction milestones.
04
NOC and transfer
Ready: seller gets a developer NOC, both sides meet a DLD Registration Trustee, you pay the 4% DLD fee (often the buyer, sometimes split), trustee fee, title issuance. Off-plan: you follow the plan until handover, then title.
05
Service charges, Ejari if you let it
Owners pay service charges to the building manager. If you rent it out, register Ejari. Holiday-home use needs a tourism permit — a long-let visa home is not an Airbnb by default.
*VAT: used residential resale is usually out of scope. New and some commercial can be in. Ask the trustee.
What it costs besides the price
DLD registration (sale)
4% of the registered price. The portal still describes a 2% + 2% split; in practice buyers often pay all 4% unless the contract says otherwise.
Registration trustee
About AED 2,000 + VAT under AED 500k; about AED 4,000–4,200 + VAT above that. Plus knowledge / innovation dirhams and a title map fee in the low hundreds.
Agency (buyer side)
Often 2% + VAT if you hired one. Not mandatory. Do not pay cash to a ‘marketing executive’ with no RERA card.
Mortgage registration
If you borrow: DLD mortgage registration (commonly 0.25% of the loan, plus bank arrangement 0.5–1%). Non-resident LTV is tighter than resident — ask the bank, not the brochure.
Service charges
Annual, per sq ft, set by the building. Branded residences and the Palm sit higher than older JVC walk-ups. This is the yield killer nobody puts on Instagram.
Off-plan DLD (Oqood)
A smaller DLD registration on the off-plan contract, then the balance at title. Confirm the current DLD schedule for that developer — do not trust a 2022 PDF.
Where people actually buy
Linked to the area pages on this site so you can see rent feel and metro truth — a sales deck will not.
Hold / trophy / short-let (with permit)
Downtown / Burj area
Liquidity is the feature. Yield is not. Service charges and tourist noise are the cost.
Long-let apartments, some offices
Business Bay
Closer to ‘a city that works’ than Downtown prices. Canal views are a premium, not a plan.
Long-let and holiday homes
Dubai Marina
Deep tenant pool, deep supply. Walk the building at night before you buy a ‘sea view’.
Long-let, end-user
JLT
Lakes, schools-adjacent, DMCC offices. Older towers vary from excellent to tired. Inspect.
Hold / end-user
Dubai Creek Harbour
Master-plan bet. You are underwriting Emaar’s timetable, not last year’s rent.
Trophy, holiday home
Palm Jumeirah
Beach is real. Yield after service charges is often thinner than the story. Confirm holiday-home rules.
Family end-user, some long-let
Dubai Hills
Park, mall, villas and apartments. School run more than nightlife.
Entry yield, first investment
JVC
Numbers look friendly. Quality is a building-by-building sport. New clusters are not all equal.
Entry apartments
Arjan
Same warning as JVC: yield on paper, inspect the service-charge history.
Villas, end-user
Arabian Ranches
Family, car, school. Not a studio-yield play.
Long hold next to airport / rail
Dubai South
You are buying a master plan and the 30 Sep 2026 rail story. Price that as a bet.
Villas and new apartments
Meydan / Nad Al Sheba
Racecourse side of the city. End-user first. Check service charges on new blocks.
Straight answers
Can a foreigner buy property in Dubai?
Yes, in designated freehold areas. Most of the towers and villa communities people mean — Downtown, Marina, JVC, Palm, Hills, Creek Harbour — are freehold. Some neighbourhoods are leasehold for non-nationals. The title at DLD is the source, not a sales deck.
How much for a Golden Visa via property?
Dubai Land Department’s investor service is built around property bought for AED 2 million or more (one or several, in the applicant’s name). Confirm the live DLD page for off-plan, mortgage and joint-ownership rules before you wire a holding deposit — they do change.
Is there property tax?
There is no annual residential property tax like council tax. You pay DLD fees when you buy, service charges every year, and 5% VAT on some new / commercial products. Resale of a used residential unit is usually outside VAT — confirm with the trustee for your case.
Off-plan or ready?
Ready: you can see the building, the neighbours, the DEWA bill shape. Off-plan: a payment plan and a developer timetable. Register Oqood. Never pay a ‘reservation’ to a personal account. Handover delay is a risk you price, not a surprise.
Related: Golden Visa.
Official desks
Talk to a human
Ask a Dubai specialist
Jobs, visas, where to live, a company, or a property file. A person replies. The mailbox is not published here, and your note is not listed or sold.
We will never ask you to transfer money, share OTP codes, or send passport scans to “process a visa” or a licence. Confirm filings on DET, the free-zone authority, DLD and FTA.