Dubai's rules for foreign buyers are written down and checkable at source: a 2006 law defines where a non-national may own freehold, a 2007 law forces off-plan money into escrow, a 2013 resolution fixes the registration tariff. Below is that framework on our price lists: 13 OMNIYAT towers, 217 units, 28 priced, from AED 4,170,671 for an 82 m² one-bedroom to AED 150,000,000 for a 1,188 m² penthouse.
Who may own, and where
Dubai Law No. (7) of 2006 restricts ownership of real property to UAE nationals, GCC nationals, companies fully owned by them, and public joint stock companies. Article 4 adds the exception the foreign market rests on: with the Ruler's approval, non-UAE nationals may, in certain areas, be granted freehold ownership without time restrictions, or usufruct and leasehold rights up to 99 years. Those areas are the designated zones of Regulation No. (3) of 2006 — 23 in the original text, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina among them, extended since by separate decisions. No consolidated official count exists today, so treat the round numbers in broker guides as unverified. Outside a designated zone a foreigner's strongest right is a 99-year lease or usufruct: a wasting asset, priced as one.
The UAE portal confirms freehold there for non-residents and expatriate residents alike, title deeds issued by the Land Department, and no age limit. All three districts in our Dubai catalogue — Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Marasi Bay — are freehold, so every unit is an outright purchase. Article 7 gives the register "absolute evidentiary value against all parties", impugnable only on proof of fraud or forgery: a title deed is not evidence of ownership, it is the ownership.
The transaction, step by step
None of this requires residency or a local partner.
- Reservation. A form and the first instalment fix unit, price and schedule. Off-plan, that money goes to the project escrow account, not the developer's operating account.
- SPA. The agreement carries unit, area, specification, payment plan and handover date. Check the counterparty against DLD's Register of Real Estate Developers — under Law No. (8) of 2007 no developer may operate unregistered; our developer pages exist for that.
- Registration. Off-plan sales enter the Interim Property Register (Oqood); under Law No. (13) of 2008 a sale not entered there is void. A completed unit transfers at a registration trustee office, where fees are settled.
- Title deed. Issued in your name at transfer; off-plan, the Oqood entry converts after completion and handover.
What you pay on top of the price
The headline is the DLD registration fee: 4% of contract value. Article 3(1) of Executive Council Resolution No. (30) of 2013 says it is "shared equally by the seller and purchaser" unless agreed otherwise, and DLD's service page still lists "Seller: 2%" and "Buyer: 2%". In practice the market has moved all 4% onto the buyer: a custom, not a rule, worth putting in writing before you sign. Off-plan is no cheaper — article 2 covers completed, under-construction and off-plan property alike.
- registration trustee fee AED 4,000 + VAT from AED 500,000 (AED 2,000 + VAT below);
- title deed issuance AED 250;
- knowledge fee AED 10, innovation fee AED 10;
- mortgage registration, if you borrow: 0.25% of the loan.
On our lowest published price — a one-bedroom at The Opus, 82 m², AED 4,170,671 — the 4% is AED 166,826.84 and fixed items add roughly AED 4,500: about AED 171,300 of government-side cost. On the 206 m² two-bedroom in the same tower, AED 10,872,463, the 4% alone is AED 434,898.52; on the R-PH penthouse at AED 150,000,000 it is AED 6,000,000. Property Finder puts total buyer costs at 7–10% over the price and flags the part that matters for cash planning: banks do not finance them. Most of the gap is agency commission — 2% plus 5% VAT on it, market custom rather than legal tariff. We work from developer price lists and take none from the buyer.
Recurring costs are separate. Service charge runs on a RERA-approved project budget, billed per square foot by the owners' association; we quote it per unit, not as an average. The Dubai Municipality housing fee is 5% of annual rental value, collected in twelve instalments through the DEWA bill. VAT (5%, since 2018) generally exempts residential supplies and zero-rates the first supply of a residence within three years of completion; commercial property is taxed at 5%, which is why our 33 office lots in LUMENA, LUMENA ALTA and ENARA differ from the apartments. The Ministry of Finance tax list names VAT, corporate tax and the Domestic Top-up Tax and nothing else: no annual property tax, no capital gains tax on individuals.
Off-plan or ready: two plans from our price lists
The legal difference is escrow. Law No. (8) of 2007 makes any developer selling off-plan open an escrow account, where buyer and lender payments sit in the project's name beyond the reach of its creditors; article 14 holds back 5% even after the completion certificate, releasing it a year after units are registered to buyers.
The Opus by OMNIYAT is built and occupied — Zaha Hadid's mirrored cube, 96 furnished residences with Zaha Hadid Design pieces, the ME Dubai hotel in the same building. Terms are a ready asset's: 10% on booking, 90% within 14 days. All seventeen priced lots sit there: one-bedrooms from AED 4,170,671 (82 m²) to AED 5,625,200, a 206 m² two-bedroom at AED 10,872,463, a 245 m² lot at AED 12,507,459, and the R-PH penthouse, 1,188 m², at AED 150,000,000.
ORLA on Palm Jumeirah is the opposite profile: Foster + Partners, a 29,000 m² plot, 89 residences plus a sky palace, 150 m of private beach, handover 2026. Its plan is 5% booking, 20% on contract, 10% at 6 months, 15% at 12 months, 50% on handover; The Alba Resort Residences, handover 2028, runs 5/20/10/10/15/40. Two consequences: the 4% falls due early, at Oqood registration, on the full contract value — deferring the price does not defer the fee — and the deferred balance is a dirham exposure carried to handover.
On the label, be sober. Savills counted 910 branded schemes worldwide at end-2025, Dubai first with 64 completed and 87 in the pipeline, at a premium near 33%. Yet AGBI's August 2026 review of twelve under construction found price per square foot up in nine by under 4% on average, against +6.5% citywide in July, with some resales below their original price. A brand is a specification, not a yield: our branded residences are quoted from developer price lists.
Visa, and how buyers abroad pay
The 10-year Golden Visa follows ownership. ICP's service card sets the threshold at AED 2,000,000, requires a letter from the real estate registration department confirming ownership worth at least that, states the property "must be fully owned by the investor", and charges AED 300 over two days. DLD's page confirms the threshold "at the time of purchase", a renewable 10-year term, joint ownership counting where the combined value reaches it, a mortgaged property qualifying on a bank letter showing AED 2 million paid, sponsorship of spouse, children and parents, total cost AED 9,884.75 and 7–10 working days. Per ICP's eight-step guide, off-plan from approved UAE-based developers also qualifies at AED 2 million. One caveat: u.ae's table still shows "5 years (real estate investments)" where ICP and DLD describe 10 — confirm at application. DLD's Taskeen service separately issues a two-year investor permit: a sole owner may apply "regardless of the property value", a co-owner needs at least AED 400,000, fee AED 10,212.50. Our lowest published price is AED 4,170,671, so every priced unit clears the threshold in one name.
Contracts, escrow accounts and DLD fees are in dirhams; the dollar and rouble figures beside our prices are orientation only. Crypto does not shorten the chain — under VARA and Central Bank rules it must be converted into dirhams through a licensed intermediary before registration, so several Dubai developers accept crypto but no title is registered in bitcoin. Compliance is thorough rather than hostile — the UAE left the FATF grey list in February 2024, the EU dropped it from its high-risk AML list afterwards — so expect source-of-funds documentation. For Russian buyers the Central Bank of Russia removed limits on foreign-currency transfers abroad from 8 December 2025; the receiving side is harder, since UAE banks began closing Russian citizens' accounts in February 2024 under secondary-sanctions pressure, and current practice bank by bank cannot be documented from primary sources.