I advise buyers and investors across Dubai and the wider UAE — new launches, resale and income-producing property — on what an asset is actually worth and what it will cost you to hold.
When I arrived in Dubai in 2018, I sold on enthusiasm. I knew the launches. I could tell you the finish in every showroom in Business Bay. What I could not tell a client was what a unit would cost to hold for five years.
I learned that from one who bought well and still lost money. The service charge went one way while the rent went the other. Nobody had lied to him. Nobody had done the arithmetic either.
So the work now starts with the public record: registered sale prices, the approved service charge, the escrow account, the developer’s own payment schedule. The recommendation comes after that. When the numbers say a purchase does not work, that is what you hear from me.
Hermann TatangLicensed Dubai broker · BRN 95999
Each one uses records anyone can obtain. The difference is doing it every time, before the deposit rather than after.
An asking price is what a seller hopes for. The Dubai Land Department records what buyers actually paid. Comparables come from registered sales of the same kind of home, matched on built-up area.
At The Acres, 1,138 of the 1,247 transactions registered to August 2026 were the developer’s launch sales — 91%. Quote “recent transactions” without separating them and you are quoting a 2024 price list.
A payment plan is a series of dated cheques, so that is how I model it: returns as an annualised rate on the money you actually pay in, after the 4% Dubai transfer fee and the service charge you will actually be billed. Shown as scenarios, never as a promise.
The service charge is the one holding cost you can check before you sign. The RERA Service Charge Index gives the approved rate for a specific unit by its title deed. How to read it
Off-plan money belongs in a DLD-regulated escrow account, and Oqood registration puts your name on the interim register. Both are checked before anything is signed, and I will show you how to check them yourself.
Reservation is the riskiest moment in an off-plan purchase — the deposit is paid before any of the protections apply. The full sequence
The sequence from reservation to title deed, the escrow behind it, and what the payment plan really costs.
The timeline →
Priced from registered sales of comparable homes, not from what neighbours are asking.
Ask about a resale →
Net yield after the approved service charge, not the gross figure on the listing.
Service charges →
AED 2M of certified value in your own name. Your share counts, not the property’s, and a portfolio can qualify.
The conditions →
Abu Dhabi registers a transfer at 2% of the price against Dubai’s 4%, through its own regulator and registry.
What differs →
Freehold for any nationality in designated zones and no annual property tax — with the evidence gathered differently.
What to verify →Alongside the wider market, I follow selected communities in depth: every home type and every registered resale, matched to its plot. Today that is The Acres by Meraas and Meydan District 11.
Dubailand · Meraas
A villa community in Dubailand that I follow unit by unit, with every registered resale matched to its home type and plot. Where a general view of the market is not enough, this is the depth.
The Acres villas (three to five bedrooms) and The Acres Estates (five to seven) are separate products, with separate plans and price lists.
MBR City · Meydan
A villa district planned around crystal lagoons. Opal Gardens by Nakheel is the largest community, with a real resale market; around it, private developers are building small collections of high-end villas.
Many off-plan buyers never stand in the building before they commit. The sequence, the documents and the checks are handled so you do not have to be here for them.
The community, the plot, the school run and the real cost of owning — not only the price on the day you buy.
Decisions across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, compared on cash flow rather than on brochures.
If you need a guaranteed return or a resale promised by a date, nobody can honestly offer that, and I will not pretend to.
Yes, you can get a Dubai mortgage as a non-resident. Banks in the UAE lend to overseas buyers, and several have mortgage…
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If you’re asking whether it’s safe to buy property in Dubai as a foreigner, you’re asking the right question. You’re asking it…
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Two million dirhams of property, and the Golden Visa follows. The number is right — the conditions attached to it are what…
Read →Each answer is the summary of a full article, so you can check the reasoning rather than take my word for it.
Yes. Buyers of any nationality can own freehold property in Dubai’s designated freehold areas. On off-plan purchases, the Dubai Land Department requires the developer to hold buyers’ payments in a regulated escrow account, and that account can be checked before you pay anything.
How to check the escrow account →Yes. UAE banks lend to overseas buyers, and several have products built for clients who live and earn abroad. The terms can differ from a resident’s, so build the purchase around a level of borrowing you are comfortable with rather than the bank’s advertised maximum.
What the bank will assess →Property with a certified value of at least AED 2,000,000, owned in your own name, for a ten-year renewable permit. The threshold applies to your share: half of an AED 3M apartment is AED 1.5M and does not qualify. Several properties can be combined if each is registered to you.
The conditions that catch people →The largest item is the transfer fee: 4% of the price in Dubai, 2% in Abu Dhabi and 4% in Ras Al Khaimah. Budget as well for registration and administrative charges, agency fees, valuation and, if you are financing, mortgage registration.
How Abu Dhabi differs from Dubai →Look it up. The RERA Service Charge Index on the Dubai Land Department website and in the Dubai REST app gives the approved rate for a specific unit by its title deed. The index updates every year, so check the current year’s figure.
Reading the index before you model a return →Reservation, then the Sale and Purchase Agreement, then Oqood registration with the Dubai Land Department, then instalments paid into escrow against construction progress, then handover and the title deed. Each stage carries its own protection, and the riskiest moment is the first one.
The whole sequence, in order →Every message is read by me. The answer you get is what applies to your situation, including when that answer is to wait.
