Estimate only — not financial advice. Only your lender's offer is binding.
Rent or buy a home in the UAE: calculator
Updated
Example, Dubai: a AED 2,000,000 home with 20% down at 4.50% over 25 years, against AED 120,000 a year in rent, over 7 years. With round test numbers of 0%, 3% and 6% for all three guesses, the result is buying ahead by AED 38,848, buying ahead by AED 440,867 and buying ahead by AED 921,411. Those are test numbers, not a forecast: the answer turns on your own guesses, so put in yours.
This page: rent or buy the home you live in? Your rent against buying, with every fee on the day and your own guesses for the future, three side by side. For the cash you need on the day alone, use costs of buying a home.
Fill in at least one guess (all three boxes) to see the result, or press "Try with simple round numbers".
Not a valid document. Estimate for information only — not financial advice, not an offer of credit and not a bank document. Errors are possible. Only your bank's or finance company's official offer letter, contract and statements are binding.
What the law says about rent rises
How the comparison works
If you buy, you pay the down payment and the buying costs on the day, then the mortgage and the owner costs every year. If you rent, you keep that cash on the day and pay rent instead. Each year, whoever pays less puts the difference aside, and it grows at your "money earns elsewhere" guess. At the end, the buyer sells the home, pays the selling costs and what is still owed; the renter has their savings. The calculator compares the two.
What decides the answer
How long you stay. Buying costs several percent of the price on the first day; it takes years before the home earns that back.
Rent against mortgage and owner costs. The gap each year is money one side can put aside.
Home prices. They decide what the buyer has at the end.
What your money earns elsewhere. That is what the renter's cash on the day and yearly savings grow at.
The last three are guesses. That is why the page shows up to three sets side by side instead of one answer.
Fees on renting and owning
Tenants in Dubai pay the Dubai Municipality housing fee, officially 5% of the yearly rent, on the electricity and water bill. Tenants in Abu Dhabi pay a 5% municipality fee (UAE nationals are exempt), and tenants in Ras Al Khaimah a 5% attestation fee. In Sharjah the landlord pays the lease fee. The calculator adds these to the cost of renting. For owners in Dubai the housing fee is not confirmed on any government page; the calculator shows an estimate and says so.
In Dubai, it depends on how long you stay, how your rent compares with the mortgage and owner costs, and on guesses nobody can know: how rents and prices move and what your money earns elsewhere. Buying costs several percent of the price on the first day, so the shorter your stay, the harder it is for buying to earn that back. Put your own numbers in the calculator.
How much can my landlord raise the rent in Dubai?
In Dubai, at renewal, only if your rent is below the RERA rental index average for similar homes: no rise if it is less than 10% below, then 5%, 10%, 15%, up to 20% if it is more than 40% below. The change must be notified at least 90 days before the lease ends.
Do tenants pay a housing fee in Dubai?
Yes — tenants pay the Dubai Municipality housing fee of 5% of the yearly rent, added to the monthly electricity and water bill.