UAE property terms, in plain words.

Paying a loan off by regular instalments. Each one is part interest and part repayment, and the interest share is largest at the start.

Another word for capital growth.

What a seller advertises a property for. It is where a negotiation starts.

What it leaves out. What homes like it sold for. That is the registered price.

The rent a landlord advertises, before any negotiation.

What it leaves out. What tenants agreed to pay. That is in the registered rent contracts.

The Central Bank of the UAE’s own policy rate. It has been 3.90% since 17 September 2026.

What it leaves out. What a borrower pays. A bank prices a mortgage above it.

The share of the year a property must be let for the rent to cover every cost of holding and the mortgage.

(Costs of holding + mortgage payments) ÷ a full year’s rent × 100

What it leaves out. Capital growth, and the part of each mortgage payment that repays the loan.

Everything paid on top of the price: the transfer fee, the trustee, the agent, the bank’s fees and the registrations. On a Dubai purchase at AED 1,000,000 with a loan of AED 800,000 the calculator counts AED 86,260.

A rise in what a property is worth. The yearly rate you give the calculator is an assumption, and we do not forecast one.

What it leaves out. Any promise that it will happen. Set it to zero to see the purchase stand on its rent alone.

Net operating income as a share of the price. It is the same sum as net yield under another name.

Net operating income ÷ price × 100

What is left of the rent after every cost of holding and the mortgage payment, by the month or the year. A negative figure is money you add from your own income.

Net operating income − mortgage payments

What it leaves out. The part of each mortgage payment that repays the loan, which comes back when you sell.

The deposit plus every buying cost: what must be in your account on the day of the transfer.

Deposit + buying costs

What it leaves out. Furniture, repairs and a reserve for empty months.

A year’s cash flow as a share of the cash you put in. It measures the return on your own money after the bank has been paid.

Yearly cash flow ÷ cash needed × 100

What it leaves out. Capital growth, and the part of the loan you have repaid.

What a district cooling company bills for air conditioning. Some buildings include it in the service charge, and in others the owner or the tenant is billed separately.

Another name for buying costs.

A federal tax of 9% on a business’s taxable income above AED 375,000. Ordinary rent earned by an individual is outside it; a company’s rent is not.

The emirate’s open-data portal. The Dubai Land Department publishes registered sales, rent contracts and building service charges through it.

The part of the price you pay yourself. The Central Bank of the UAE sets the least a bank may accept from an expatriate: 20% under AED 5,000,000 and 30% at or above for a first mortgaged property, 40% for a second or later one, and 50% off-plan.

A fall in what a property is worth. The stress test shows what one would do to a purchase.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, which supplies water and power in Dubai. The calculator allows AED 2,500 to connect a property.

The Dubai Land Department’s fee for registering a sale: 4% of the price. The department lists it as half from each side, and contracts usually put all of it on the buyer.

Price × 4%

The government department that registers sales, mortgages and tenancies in Dubai. We name it as the source of registered figures; it does not endorse this site.

Paying a mortgage off before its term ends, as a sale does. The Central Bank of the UAE caps the bank’s fee at 1% of the balance or AED 10,000, whichever is less.

The Emirates Interbank Offered Rate: what UAE banks charge each other to borrow dirhams. On 9 October 2026 it stood at 4.19% for three months, 4.55% for six months and 4.84% for one year (Central Bank of the UAE).

What it leaves out. The bank’s margin, which is added on top to price a variable mortgage.

Dubai’s register of tenancy contracts. A tenancy has to be registered, and the calculator allows AED 220 for it.

The share of a property that is yours: what it is worth, less what you owe on it. It grows as the loan is repaid and moves with the value.

Value − loan outstanding

A bank account that holds buyers’ payments for an off-plan project apart from the developer’s own money.

A mortgage rate held for an agreed number of years. When the fixed period ends, the loan moves to a variable rate.

Ownership of a property and its land with no end date. A buyer from outside the UAE and the Gulf states can hold freehold only in the areas an emirate has designated for it.

A year’s rent as a share of the price, before any cost. It is the figure an advertisement quotes.

Yearly rent ÷ price × 100

What it leaves out. The service charge, maintenance, management, insurance, empty months and every buying cost.

The day a developer gives the buyer the keys to a finished off-plan property. Rent can only start after it.

What a property costs to own each year whether or not it is let: the service charge, maintenance, management and insurance.

What it leaves out. The mortgage. That is financing, and cash flow counts it.

A permit from an emirate’s tourism department to let a home by the night. For tax it counts as a licence, so the income is tested as a business: an individual is taxed only if business turnover passes AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year.

Cover for the property and, if you choose, what is in it. The calculator starts from AED 2,000 a year for an apartment in Dubai.

Another name for cash needed.

What a bank charges for a loan, as a yearly percentage of what you owe. Use the rate your bank quotes you: the calculator only starts from a reference rate, and shows the day it was last reviewed.

The yearly rate of return on a purchase once the timing of every payment is counted: the cash in at the start, each year’s cash flow and the sale.

What it leaves out. The growth rate and the sale price, which are assumptions. Change them and it changes.

A building or community divided into units that are owned separately and common parts that the owners share. The owners pay for the common parts through the service charge.

The right to hold a property for a fixed number of years. When the term ends, the property goes back to the freeholder.

Buying with borrowed money. A rise or a fall in the property’s value then lands on your deposit alone, so gains and losses are both larger as a share of the cash you put in.

How quickly something can be turned into cash. A property takes time to sell and costs money to sell.

The loan as a share of the property’s value. The Central Bank of the UAE caps it for an expatriate at 80% under AED 5,000,000 and 70% at or above for a first mortgaged property, 60% for a second or later one, and 50% off-plan.

Loan ÷ value × 100

Money set aside each year for repairs inside the property: air conditioning, plumbing, repainting between tenants. The calculator starts from AED 4 a sq ft a year for an apartment in Dubai.

What it leaves out. The common parts of the building. The service charge pays for those.

What a property would sell for on a given day between a willing buyer and a willing seller. A bank’s valuer estimates it; a YieldPulse report does not, and shows what was registered and what is asked.

The middle value when figures are put in order: half are below it and half above. A report uses it for registered prices and rents, because a few unusual sales cannot pull it far.

A loan secured on the property and repaid monthly. The Central Bank of the UAE allows a term of up to 25 years.

The Dubai Land Department’s fee for registering the bank’s charge over the property: 0.25% of the loan plus AED 270. On a loan of AED 800,000 that is AED 2,270.

Loan × 0.25% + AED 270

A year’s rent, less empty months and every cost of holding, before the mortgage. It is what the property earns, however it was paid for.

Rent collected − holding costs

What it leaves out. The mortgage, the buying costs and any tax.

Net operating income as a share of the price: what a property returns after the costs of holding it. It is the same for a cash buyer and a borrower.

Net operating income ÷ price × 100

What it leaves out. The mortgage, the buying costs and any change in what the property is worth.

A developer’s written consent to a resale. It is customarily the seller’s cost, and each developer sets its own fee.

The share of the year a property is let: 100% less vacancy.

A property bought from a developer before it is finished. The price is paid in instalments under a payment plan, and there is no rent until handover.

Another name for holding costs.

The Dubai Land Department’s register of off-plan sales. A purchase is recorded there until the property is finished and a title deed can be issued.

The schedule on which an off-plan buyer pays the developer: a sum on booking, instalments during building, and a balance at or after handover. A report sets out each instalment and the day it falls due.

The price divided by the floor area. It lets you set homes of different sizes side by side.

Price ÷ floor area

What it leaves out. The floor, the view, the condition and the service charge.

The amount borrowed, as distinct from the interest charged on it.

What a letting agent charges to find tenants, collect the rent and arrange repairs. The calculator starts from 5% of the yearly rent.

Replacing one mortgage with another, most often for a lower rate. The first bank may charge an early settlement fee, and the new one has fees of its own.

What a buyer paid, as the land department recorded it at the transfer. A report sets the asking price beside the registered prices of homes like it.

What it leaves out. The floor, the fit-out and the condition of each home sold.

The rent on a tenancy contract registered with Ejari. A report sets the rent you expect beside the registered rents of homes like it.

What it leaves out. The condition of each home. A renewal can also sit below what a new tenant would pay.

An office approved by the Dubai Land Department where a sale is transferred. Its fee with VAT is AED 4,200, or AED 2,100 for a property under AED 500,000.

A year’s rent divided by the floor area. It lets you set what homes of different sizes let for side by side.

Yearly rent ÷ floor area

Rent as a share of price. Ask whether a quoted yield is gross or net: the gap between the two can be wide.

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the arm of the Dubai Land Department that regulates developers and brokers. Its rental index sets how far a rent may rise when a tenancy is renewed.

The total return over the years you hold a property, as a share of the cash you put in.

Total return ÷ cash needed × 100

What it leaves out. How long it took. The same figure over five years and over ten are different results.

What the owners of a building, not the tenants, pay each year for its upkeep: cleaning, security, lifts, the pool, the reserve for repairs. The calculator starts an apartment in Dubai at AED 17 a sq ft, and a report uses the building’s own filed figure where there is one.

Rate per sq ft × floor area

What it leaves out. Repairs inside your own property and, in some buildings, the cooling.

Another name for jointly owned property.

The same sums worked again on worse terms: a lower rent, a higher mortgage rate, an empty flat and a lower sale price. It shows what you would be up or down if things went against you.

What it leaves out. How likely any of it is. It is a stated test, not a forecast.

The agreement between landlord and tenant: the rent, how it is paid, the term and who repairs what. In Dubai it has to be registered with Ejari.

The Dubai Land Department’s certificate naming a property’s owner. The department charges AED 250 for the deed, AED 250 for the map and AED 20 in knowledge and innovation fees: AED 520 in all.

What a purchase has made or lost by the day you sell: the sale price, less the loan still owed, the selling costs and the cash you put in, with each year’s cash flow added or taken off.

What it leaves out. The sale price itself, which nobody knows in advance.

The day ownership passes. The buyer pays the price and the fees at a registration trustee’s office, and the Land Department issues a title deed in the buyer’s name.

In Dubai, the DLD transfer fee.

The share of the year a property stands empty between tenants. The calculator starts from 5% for an apartment in Dubai, which is 18 days.

Empty days ÷ 365 × 100

What it leaves out. How this building has let in practice. The figure is an allowance.

What a bank charges to have the property valued before it lends. The calculator allows AED 3,150 with VAT; each bank sets its own.

A mortgage rate that moves with EIBOR. The monthly payment rises and falls with it.

What a report opens with: yes, no, or only on a condition, with each reason and what would change it. It reads the numbers of one property and is not personal advice.

Net operating income as a share of the price plus every buying cost. It is lower than net yield, because the fees are counted.

Net operating income ÷ (price + buying costs) × 100