Investor Tools
Buying Costs Calculator
Every fee, itemised
Investor Tools
Buying Costs Calculator
Every fee on top of the purchase price — DLD transfer, trustee registration, agency commission, VAT and (if financed) mortgage costs — itemised in one place.
Total acquisition cost
Purchase price plus every transaction cost itemised below.
- DLD feesAED 60,495
- Agency + VATAED 31,500
- Trustee feesAED 4,200
- DLD transfer fee (4%)AED 60,000
- DLD admin feeAED 495
- Trustee office registrationAED 4,000
- VAT on trustee fee (5%)AED 200
- Agency commission (2%)AED 30,000
- VAT on agency commission (5%)AED 1,500
- Total transaction costsAED 96,195
Figures reflect general Dubai market practice (DLD, trustee office, agency and lender fees) and are estimates only — exact amounts vary by developer, trustee office and lender. Not financial or legal advice.
Email my results
We’ll send this summary — your figures and the results — to your inbox.
Costs do not scale with price
The same schedule, applied across a range of purchase prices. The flat fees — DLD admin, trustee registration, and any NOC, legal or valuation fee you have entered — are most of the bill at the bottom of the market and almost none of it at the top, so the percentage falls as the price rises.
Next step
Get an exact costs quote for your deal
Fees vary by developer, trustee office and lender — send this through and we'll confirm the precise figure before you commit.
What you actually pay, and to whom
The purchase price is the number everyone quotes. The transaction cost is the number that decides whether you can complete. These notes set out exactly what the calculator adds up, where each figure comes from, and which of them are firm.
What the calculator computes
This tool does one job: it takes a purchase price and totals the one-off costs of getting the property into your name. It is not a valuation, a mortgage model or an investment appraisal. Every line is either a percentage of the price, a percentage of the loan, or a flat fee, and the whole calculation runs in your browser from the inputs on the form:
- DLD transfer feepurchase price × 4%
- DLD admin feeAED 580, flat
- Trustee registrationAED 4,000, flat
- Agency commissionpurchase price × 2%
- VAT on commissioncommission × 5%
- Developer NOCAED 1,500, flat estimate
- Legal / conveyancingyour own quote — optional, off by default, and never estimated for you
- Mortgage registration(loan amount × 0.25%) + AED 290 — financed purchases only
- Valuation feeAED 3,000, flat — financed purchases only
- Loan amountpurchase price × (100% − deposit %)
- Costs as % of pricetotal transaction costs ÷ purchase price × 100
A worked example, using the tool’s own default
The form arrives at AED 1,500,000, no mortgage. That gives an AED 60,000 transfer fee, AED 580 of DLD admin, AED 4,000 to the trustee office, AED 30,000 of agency commission with AED 1,500 of VAT on top, and an AED 1,500 NOC — AED 97,580 in total, or about 6.5% of the price, taking the full acquisition cost to AED 1,597,580.
Switch the mortgage toggle on at a 20% deposit and the loan is AED 1,200,000, so registration adds AED 3,290 and valuation AED 3,000: total costs of AED 103,870, roughly 6.9% of the price. That is the number to hold in your head. On this schedule, buying costs on a standard Dubai resale land somewhere around six and a half to seven per cent of the price, and they are payable in cash, on the day, on top of the deposit. A developer NOC well above the AED 1,500 modelled here, or a conveyancer if you choose to instruct one, would push it higher.
The percentage moves with price rather than staying fixed, because three of the lines are flat. On a smaller purchase the fixed fees weigh more heavily relative to the price. Change the price and watch the pill beside the headline figure — that percentage is the fastest read on this page.
Reading the lines one by one
DLD transfer fee. Four per cent of the price, charged on the transaction and paid at the trustee office at transfer. It is the single largest cost here by a wide margin, and it is not a fee you can shop around for.
Trustee office and DLD admin. Flat registration charges for processing the transfer. Small, fixed, unavoidable.
Agency commission and VAT. Modelled at 2% of the price with 5% VAT on the commission. Commission is a commercial term, not a tariff, so treat this line as a reference point rather than a quotation; whatever is agreed, VAT applies to it.
Developer NOC. The no-objection certificate the developer issues before a transfer can proceed. AED 1,500 is a placeholder: this is one of the most variable lines in the whole list, and some developers charge multiples of it. Ask early, because it is a cost you discover rather than negotiate.
Legal and conveyancing. Not a standard cost, and off by default. A Dubai transfer does not require a lawyer: it completes at a DLD-licensed trustee office, with the paperwork moving between the agent, the trustee and the developer. Independent review is a choice, and it earns its cost on anything non-standard — off-market deals, corporate sellers, tenanted units, distressed sales, or a title you have not seen documentation for. If you are instructing someone, switch the toggle on and enter the fee they have quoted. We deliberately do not prefill a figure: there is no published tariff for it, quotes vary widely by firm and by how complex the deal is, and a made-up number sitting in a table next to DLD’s 4% would look far more authoritative than it deserves to.
Mortgage registration and valuation. These appear only when the mortgage toggle is on. Registration is charged as a percentage of the loan, so it shrinks slightly as your deposit rises. The valuation is the bank’s, not yours, and you pay for it whether or not the number it returns suits you.
Where the model deliberately stops
This is a transaction-cost calculator and nothing more. It does not include your deposit, ongoing service charges, chiller or utility connections, property management fees, furnishing, or any service charge apportionment negotiated on a resale. It assumes a standard ready-property transfer, so off-plan purchases — where the developer’s own administration fees, the payment schedule and Oqood registration change the shape of the costs — are not what these lines describe. It also assumes an individual buyer: an offshore or free-zone company purchase carries its own structuring costs that sit entirely outside this list.
Risk warnings worth taking seriously
- These are estimates, not a quotation. The percentage lines — the 4% transfer fee, 5% VAT on commission, 0.25% mortgage registration — are published rates and dependable. The flat fees are placeholders: trustee charges, NOC fees and valuation fees are all set by a counterparty rather than a published government schedule, and vary. Where we have no basis for a figure at all, the calculator leaves it to you rather than filling one in.
- Costs are cash, and they are not financeable. Transaction costs are paid on top of your deposit, not rolled into the loan. Model them beside the deposit when you work out the capital a purchase actually requires.
- A valuation below the agreed price costs you cash. Where a lender is involved it will lend against the price or its own valuation, whichever is lower. A short valuation does not reduce what you pay the seller — it increases what you have to find yourself, on top of everything on this page.
- Off-plan is a different cost structure. Developer administration charges, Oqood registration and staged payments do not appear here. Do not carry a ready-property total across to a launch and assume it holds.
- Costs erode short-term returns. At around six and a half to seven per cent of the price on the way in — before the developer’s real NOC charge, and before you sell — transaction costs are a real hurdle for anyone intending to trade quickly. Any yield or appreciation figure you model elsewhere should be read against the capital consumed here.
- Confirm before you commit. Every figure on this page is a planning number. Before signing anything, get the actual NOC charge from the developer, the actual fee schedule from your lender, and — if you are instructing one at all — a written quote from your conveyancer.
Who this calculator is for
It is for the buyer working out how much cash a purchase really needs before making an offer; for the investor testing whether a deal still works once acquisition costs are counted against the return; for anyone comparing two properties at different price points, where the flat fees shift the percentage; and for owners weighing a sale, who want to understand the cost a buyer is carrying on the other side of the table. Use it to budget and to negotiate from an informed position — then have the exact figures confirmed for your specific transaction.
Want the exact figure for a specific unit, with the developer’s real NOC fee rather than an estimate? Send the deal through and we will confirm it before you commit.
Speak to usBuying costs questions we are asked most
How much are the total buying costs on a Dubai property?
On the calculator’s own default — AED 1,500,000, no mortgage — the itemised lines add up to AED 97,580, about 6.5% of the price. Add a mortgage at a 20% deposit and registration and valuation fees take it to AED 103,870, or roughly 6.9%. Your own figure moves with the price, whether you finance, and what you negotiate. The developer’s actual NOC charge and anything you choose to spend on independent legal advice sit on top of that.
Is the 4% DLD transfer fee always paid by the buyer?
The transfer fee is charged on the transaction, and in practice it is normally settled by the buyer at the trustee office on the day of transfer. Who ultimately bears it is a matter of what the parties agree, and it is occasionally split or absorbed as part of a negotiation. The calculator assumes the buyer pays it in full, which is the conservative assumption.
Is agency commission negotiable?
The 2% figure the calculator uses is the common market reference point rather than a regulated tariff, and commission is a commercial term like any other. VAT is applied on top of whatever commission is actually agreed, at 5%, so a change in the commission changes the VAT with it.
Do I have to pay a legal or conveyancing fee in Dubai?
No. A Dubai transfer does not require a lawyer. It completes at a DLD-licensed trustee office, with the paperwork handled between the agent, the trustee and the developer, so there is no legal fee in a standard transaction and the calculator does not add one. Independent conveyancing is a choice, worth considering on a non-standard deal — an off-market or corporate seller, a tenanted unit, a distressed sale, or a title you have not seen documentation for. If you decide to instruct someone, switch the toggle on and enter the figure they have quoted you: we do not publish an estimate for it, because fees vary by firm and by how complex the deal is.
What changes if I buy with a mortgage?
Two extra lines appear: a DLD mortgage registration fee of 0.25% of the loan amount plus AED 290, and a valuation fee modelled at AED 3,000. The deposit slider is there to size the loan those fees are charged on — a larger deposit means a smaller loan and a slightly smaller registration fee, alongside far more cash required at completion.
Does the calculator include service charges or the deposit?
No. It covers the one-off transaction costs paid to complete a purchase. It does not include the deposit itself, ongoing service charges, chiller fees, DEWA connection, property management or, on a resale, any service charge apportionment agreed between the parties. Budget for those separately.
Why are these figures described as estimates?
Because several of the lines are set by counterparties rather than by a published government schedule. The DLD transfer fee at 4%, VAT at 5% on the commission and the 0.25% mortgage registration fee are published rates. The flat amounts are not: trustee office charges, the developer’s NOC and the bank’s valuation fee all vary, and the NOC in particular differs materially between developers. Treat the percentages as reliable and the flat fees as placeholders to confirm for your specific deal. Where we have no basis for a figure at all — an independent legal fee, for instance — the calculator asks you for it rather than inventing one.
More investor tools
2 more of the 10 tools in the Mitchell’s investor toolkit.
