Dubai Real Estate, Asked and Answered

Chat DLD is a free WhatsApp service. Message +971 52 173 5920 on WhatsApp and ask any Dubai property question, or paste a listing link, and you get an answer from the registered Dubai Land Department record in seconds. There is nothing to download and no account to create.

Every Dubai property sale is registered with the Dubai Land Department. Chat DLD lets you search those registered transactions on WhatsApp: ask for any building or community and you get real sale prices, not asking prices. Portal listings show what sellers hope for; the DLD record shows what buyers actually paid. For the full method, see how to check DLD transactions.

Ask Chat DLD for the area or building by name and it returns recent registered sale prices, price per square foot, and how active the market is, from Dubai Land Department records. More on reading prices by area and building.

Ask Chat DLD “what's my 2-bed in [your building] worth?” and it estimates from recent registered sales of similar units in your building or community: same type, bedrooms, and size. It is a comparable-based estimate from official records, not a formal valuation, and it never invents a number.

Yes. Foreigners of any nationality can own property outright in Dubai's designated freehold areas, no residency or local sponsor needed, registered in your name with the Dubai Land Department. Outside freehold zones you can hold a leasehold of up to 99 years. Full detail in can foreigners buy property in Dubai.

Buy a property registered at AED 2 million or more, in a freehold area, in your own name. The threshold is the registered purchase price on the title deed, not a market estimate. In 2026 off-plan and mortgaged properties both qualify, and you can combine properties to reach it. Full rules in the Dubai Golden Visa property guide. Check a property clears AED 2M with Chat DLD first.

UAE Central Bank rules (2026): for a primary residence, expats need 20% down up to AED 5M and 30% above it; UAE nationals need 15% and 25%. An investment or second property needs a flat 40% down for expats (35% for nationals) at any price. Off-plan purchases require 50%. Work out your numbers with our Dubai mortgage calculator.

Beyond the down payment: the DLD transfer fee of 4% plus AED 580, a registration trustee fee of about AED 4,200, agency fee of 2% plus VAT, and with a mortgage, 0.25% mortgage registration plus bank and valuation fees. Budget roughly 7–8% of the price for cash, 8–10% with a mortgage. Every line is itemised in the real cost of buying in Dubai.

Service charges are an annual per-square-foot fee for a building's shared-area upkeep, and they are the most underestimated cost buyers face. They vary widely by building, roughly from the low teens to high twenties of dirhams per square foot, enough to turn a headline 8% gross yield into a much lower net one. Always check the specific building before you buy, and ask Chat DLD what units there actually rent and sell for.

Ignore advertised ROI promises. A real gross yield divides actual registered rents by actual registered sale prices for the same building; computed that way, established Dubai buildings commonly show gross yields around 5–8%. Net yield, after service charges, management and vacancy, is usually 1–2 points lower. Ask Chat DLD for any building's real rents and prices.

You reserve a unit, pay a booking deposit, then pay in installments during construction and sometimes after handover. Plans read as during-construction / at-handover splits like 60/40 or 80/20, with post-handover terms up to 60 months. Payments sit in a regulated escrow account, released as milestones are verified. Decoded in off-plan payment plans explained.

Off-plan is bought from the developer before completion, usually on a payment plan; ready property already exists and transfers immediately. Off-plan and ready units in the same area trade at different prices, so compare against the right pool, which our area pages show for both.

It depends on the price you pay and the building you pick, not on hype. The registered record shows activity at record levels into 2025, but returns now come from income and asset selection. The honest read is in what the data says about timing, and you can pressure-test any price with Chat DLD.

The UAE levies no annual property tax, no council tax, and no personal capital gains tax on a home held in your own name. Your recurring cost is the building's service charge, not a government levy. If you are tax-resident elsewhere, your home country may still tax the gain, so take advice there. General information, not tax advice.

Check three things: their delivery history in Dubai Land Department records, real buyer reviews, and their sales activity. Our developer pages compile all three, and there is a full method in how to evaluate a Dubai developer.

The data is free to you. Dubai Diligence does not list or sell property and takes no money from developers, so the numbers carry no agenda. When you're ready to act, you can book a meeting with a gold-rated agent. The agent pays us for the meeting, so it costs you nothing. Read our methodology.

From the Dubai Land Department's official records: millions of registered sale transactions and rent contracts across every Dubai district, plus the official developer register. Every figure is sourced to those records or clearly marked otherwise; where the record is silent, we say so rather than estimate.