Total Purchase Cost Calculator

What you need

• The purchase price in AED. Example: AED 1,000,000.
• The type of purchase: off-plan from the developer, a ready property on resale, or an off-plan unit on resale.
• Whether you use a mortgage, and the loan amount.
• Whether the property is residential or commercial.
• On a resale: whether you pay the whole DLD fee or split it equally with the seller.
• Optional: a developer administration fee and, on a resale, a developer NOC fee and the broker commission as a share of the price.

Step 1: The DLD registration fee

Every sale registered with the Dubai Land Department carries a fee of 4% of the property value. Officially 2% seller and 2% buyer, but DLD says the 4% is paid according to the seller-buyer agreement. For an off-plan purchase from the developer, the calculator adds the whole fee. On a resale, you choose whether you pay all of it or half, as your agreement with the seller says. Every type of purchase also includes these fees: AED 10 knowledge fee + AED 10 innovation fee.

Step 2: Fees that depend on the type of purchase

Off-plan from the developer. The sale is registered in the interim register through the developer’s Oqood portal. DLD lists the charges as 4% of the sale value (2% from the seller and 2% from the buyer), an AED 10 knowledge fee and an AED 10 innovation fee, and AED 1,000 when the developer registers the sale in Oqood itself. The percentage fee is the registration fee from step 1, so the calculator does not count it twice. The developer’s own self-registration fee in that list is not added.

Ready property on resale. The calculator also adds the AED 250 title deed certificate issuance fee and the registration trustee fee, which depends on the sale value:

Off-plan unit on resale. The calculator adds the DLD registration fee from step 1, with the share you choose. A no objection certificate (NOC) from the developer is needed to resell an off-plan unit, and the developer sets its fee. Enter the NOC amount the developer quotes. Other DLD and service fees may apply depending on how and where the transfer is registered, so allow for any fee you are quoted.

Step 3: Mortgage costs

If you use a mortgage, registering it with DLD costs 0.25% of the mortgage value. DLD also lists these charges for the service: AED 250 per title deed, AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees per drawing, and a service partner fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT (AED 5,000 plus VAT for a provisional or Oqood registration). The percentage applies to the loan amount, not the price. The calculator adds the percentage and the title deed fee only, not the knowledge and innovation fees or the service partner fee for the mortgage, so allow for those yourself. Lenders may charge their own fees.

Step 4: VAT

VAT depends on the property:

The calculator adds VAT only on a commercial purchase, and only if you choose to include it. VAT also applies to some service fees, such as the trustee fee, where the official page says so; the calculator marks the trustee fee “plus VAT” but does not add the VAT amount.

Step 5: Your own entries

A developer administration fee and, on a resale, a developer NOC fee are added exactly as you enter them. Broker commission on a resale is entered as a share of the price, and the calculator works out the amount. None of these is set by DLD.

Step 6: The total

The calculator adds every item to give the total upfront cost on top of the price, and shows it as a share of the price. You can print the page from your browser.

What the calculator leaves out

It does not include costs after you buy, such as service charges, furnishing or utility deposits. For those, and for when each fee falls due, read the full cost of buying off-plan property in Dubai and Oqood registration and DLD fees.