Answers · Mortgages and finance

How much down payment do I need for a Dubai mortgage?

The minimum Dubai mortgage down payment is 20% for an expatriate resident buying a first home under AED 5 million, 30% above that, 40% on a second property and 50% on off-plan, under Central Bank rules. Since February 2025 banks no longer add the 4% DLD fee and 2% commission to the loan, so budget close to 28% in cash.

Updated September 2026 · By Ahmed Kandil

Loan-to-value is measured on the bank’s appraised value, not the price you agreed, and each borrower can only count one property as a first home.

Because the 20% is the bank’s number, not yours. Take an expatriate resident buying a AED 1,500,000 apartment as a first home: the bank lends AED 1,200,000 and the down payment is AED 300,000. Then the costs, which since February 2025 the banks no longer add to the loan: AED 60,000 to the Land Department, AED 520 in fixed fees, AED 4,200 for the trustee, AED 31,500 commission with VAT, AED 3,270 to register the mortgage plus AED 4,200 for that trustee visit, and roughly AED 12,600 in bank processing and AED 3,150 for the valuation. That is AED 419,440 in cash, or 28% of the price, and it is the number to have in front of you before you look at a single unit. The line-by-line version is in what it really costs to buy in Dubai, and the biggest single line is explained in what the DLD transfer fee is.

Two rules decide it. The Central Bank caps an expatriate’s total mortgage at seven times annual income, so a AED 1,200,000 loan needs income of at least AED 171,500 a year, about AED 14,300 a month. It also caps all your debt repayments at 50% of gross income. At 4.2% over 25 years the payment on AED 1,200,000 is about AED 6,470 a month, which needs AED 12,940 of income with no other loans, and every car payment or credit card limit eats into that 50%. The banks also stress-test you at 2 to 4 points above the rate you are offered. The tenor can run to 25 years, and the age at the last payment is now set by each bank rather than by the Central Bank, with 70 being common. My ROI calculator shows what the payment does to your cash flow once the rent comes in.

On off-plan, partly. The Central Bank caps any off-plan loan at 50% of value, and banks generally will not release it until construction is past a set stage, so in practice you fund the early instalments yourself and a mortgage, if you use one, comes in later or at handover. A 20% booking on a payment plan is not a down payment in the bank’s sense, it is the first of your own instalments, and the 4% Land Department fee is due when the contract is registered unless the developer has agreed to pay it. Which is why the honest answer is that off-plan needs more of your own money over the build, not less, and it needs it without any rent coming in. If you are buying from outside the UAE the numbers move again, because the bank lends less, and I set those out in non-resident mortgages in Dubai.

Can the DLD fee still be added to the mortgage?

No. UAE banks stopped financing the Land Department fee and the commission from 1 February 2025, so both are paid in cash at transfer along with the down payment.

Does the down payment change for a villa?

No, the loan-to-value depends on the price band and whether it is your first home, not on the type. Over AED 5 million the maximum loan drops to 70% for an expatriate, so a AED 6 million villa needs 30% down plus costs.

Is a bigger down payment better?

It cuts the payment and the interest, and at current rates the loan is roughly neutral against a 5% net yield anyway. The trade is liquidity, and if you may need that cash within a few years, keep it and borrow more.