Should you rent or buy
in the UAE?

Buying wins by AED 840,299 over 10 years. Buying costs AED 530,780 in cash to start and AED 10,770 a month against AED 10,000 in rent, and it turns positive against renting at year 3. That verdict is not universal — it is what this scenario produces. Shorten the horizon, raise the investment return the renter earns on the AED 530,780 they never spent, or drop property growth, and the answer flips. Change the seven inputs above to see where your own case lands.

Fee lines follow the Dubai Land Department published schedule; the 80% LTV ceiling is Circular No. 31/2013, Article (3); the 3.99% rate is the July 2026 5-bank median. The regulated and standard lines only — a developer NOC and bank valuation charges are extra, and the Property Fees Calculator adds them as typical Dubai ranges. Generated from the same constants the calculator computes against — never hand-typed. Planning tool, not financial advice.

Buying overtakes renting at year 3. The buyer’s column is what selling would leave them with: the property’s value less a 2% exit commission, less the loan still outstanding, less the charge for settling that loan early — capped by the UAE Central Bank at 1% of the balance or AED 10,000, whichever is less, so AED 10,000 on day one and nothing at all once the 25-year term has run — plus anything they were able to invest in the months when owning cost less than renting. It opens at AED 350,000 — below the deposit, because the exit commission is charged against the whole property, not the equity. The renter’s column is the buyer’s cash invested instead — the deposit plus the 6% of entry costs, less the AED 6,220 the tenant pays to move in (5% agency commission on the first year’s rent plus AED 220 for Ejari), so AED 513,780 on day one — compounding at the return you set, plus whatever they add each month while rent stays below the all-in cost of owning. That head start is why the difference opens negative and has to be earned back.

Produced by the calculator’s own engine on its own default inputs, at the July 2026 5-bank median. Change the seven inputs above and this whole path moves — a shorter horizon, a higher investment return for the renter, or lower property growth can push the crossover past the horizon entirely. Never hand-typed. Planning tool, not financial advice.

Rent vs Buy in the UAE answers whether buying or renting builds more wealth over your horizon, given your income, the property price, rent inflation, and investment return assumptions.The model runs your scenario year by year: buyer net wealth (property value minus remaining mortgage minus 2% sale fee minus the 1%-of-balance early-settlement charge, capped at AED 10,000) against a renter portfolio compounded at the chosen investment return, with the down payment and the buyer's entry fees seeding the portfolio, less the renter's own entry cost — 5% of the first year's rent in agency commission plus AED 220 for Ejari — deducted from that seed at the same moment. UAE inputs are baked in — 4% DLD transfer fee for Dubai and 2% for other emirates, 2% agency fees on both legs, 5% tenant agency commission and AED 220 Ejari registration on the renting side, RERA Rent Increase Calculator inputs for rent inflation, UAE Central Bank mortgage rate context for the loan, and the S&P 500 30-year real benchmark for the renter portfolio. On the default scenario that is AED 120,000 of buyer entry fees against AED 6,220 for the renter, so this is a correctness fix rather than one that flips verdicts. Both sides are charged their entry costs once. A renter who moves pays the 5% commission and the AED 220 Ejari fee again on each new contract, and rent inflation makes every later move dearer — so on a renter who moves, this model is if anything still generous to renting. The refundable 5% security deposit is excluded: it is returned at the end of the tenancy, and pricing the return forgone on it is more machinery than this comparison warrants. Renter entry is charged ex-VAT, exactly as the buyer's agency fee is, though VAT is due on both in practice. The analysis horizon is configurable from 3 to 30 years, and buyer-type aware — expat first-home at 20–25% down, UAE nationals at 15–20%. Planning tool, not financial advice. Sample scenario; verify with banks and DLD before transacting.