No. Foreign owners pay no recurring annual property tax in Dubai, no capital gains tax when they sell, and no personal income tax on rental income. The property tax in Dubai that people expect from home markets like the UK or the US simply does not exist here. What foreign investors pay instead is a one-time transfer fee at the point of purchase, plus modest recurring service charges and a municipal...

The UAE Golden Visa asks for a straightforward AED 2,000,000 (about USD 544,000) freehold property and returns 10 years of renewable residency with no minimum stay, while Portugal's golden visa no longer accepts real estate at all and now requires a EUR 500,000 fund subscription, and Greece still accepts property but has pushed its prime thresholds up to EUR 800,000 and banned short-term rentals on...

Off plan payment plans in Dubai fall into three main structures: construction-linked plans such as 60/40, 70/30, or 50/50 (which carry no price premium and hand over a clean title at completion), extended post-handover plans that defer 40% of the price over 36 months after delivery (at a 5% to 15% price premium), and 1% monthly installment plans that stretch payments over roughly 80 months (at a 10% to 18%...

Dubai property registration fees and total transaction costs average 4.0% to 4.2% of the purchase price on off-plan property bought in cash, and 6.5% to 8.5% on secondary market resale purchases. The single largest component in both cases is the 4.0% Dubai Land Department (DLD) transfer fee, which the buyer pays in full on secondary transactions. Every statutory levy, brokerage commission, and...

The core difference in freehold vs leasehold UAE ownership is permanence: freehold gives a foreign buyer perpetual, absolute title to both the property and the underlying land, while leasehold grants only a time-limited right to occupy and use it, typically for up to 99 years, after which the asset reverts to the landowner. Foreign investors can only acquire freehold title within designated zones set out...

Getting a mortgage in Dubai for non residents is possible through most major UAE banks, but it requires a larger down payment and more documentation than a resident mortgage does. Foreign buyers who don't live in the UAE can typically borrow 50% to 65% of a ready property's value, meaning a down payment of 35% to 50%, at interest rates currently ranging from about 4.20% to 6.13% per annum. Below is exactly...

Freehold areas in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are designated investment zones where non-GCC foreign nationals can own absolute freehold title to land and property, rather than the leasehold or usufruct rights that apply everywhere else in the UAE. Dubai currently has 67 designated freehold districts under Law No. 7 of 2006, while Abu Dhabi has 50 designated investment zones under Law No. 13 of 2019. Any purchase...

For rental income specifically, Business Bay beats Downtown Dubai. Business Bay generates estimated net rental yields of 5.0% to 6.1%, while Downtown Dubai's equivalent net yields run at a compressed 3.5% to 4.6%. The gap comes down to entry price and service charges: Business Bay's lower acquisition basis and moderate operating costs leave more rent falling to the bottom line, while Downtown's premium...

When it comes to Yas Island vs Palm Jumeirah, the choice comes down to what you want your second home to do for you. Palm Jumeirah delivers globally recognised prestige, deep secondary-market liquidity, and capital preservation, with gross rental yields of 3.5% to 6.8% depending on whether you buy a Frond villa or a Trunk apartment. Yas Island trades some of that brand recognition for stronger income, with...

Dubai prime growth is normalising to 5% a year while Abu Dhabi transaction values have jumped 112%. A numbers-led read on prices, yields, supply pipelines and where prime capital should go next.