What is EIBOR? The rate behind most UAE mortgages

EIBOR is the Emirates Interbank Offered Rate: the rate at which banks in the UAE lend dirhams to each other. Most UAE mortgages follow it once the fixed-rate period ends, so it decides what you pay for most of the loan.

After the fixed period, a typical UAE mortgage rate is EIBOR + the bank's margin. The margin is fixed in your contract; EIBOR moves. When EIBOR goes up, your instalment goes up at the next reset.

Latest EIBOR fixings, all tenors

Copied by hand from the Central Bank's EIBOR page once a week, with the fixing date. EIBOR is fixed every working day, so check the Central Bank page for today's figure; this table is taken off the page at the next site update once its newest fixing is more than two weeks old.

Who sets it

A panel of banks submits rates, a calculation agent compiles them, and the Central Bank of the UAE publishes the result for several periods, from overnight to one year. The Central Bank describes EIBOR as the reference rate used for mortgages, personal and car loans. You can see the published rates and the full history on the Central Bank's EIBOR page. The latest fixings above are copied from there with their date.

1-month, 3-month, 6-month: which one is yours?

Each period has its own EIBOR. Your offer letter says which one your rate follows and how often it is reset; at each reset the bank reads that EIBOR again and recalculates your instalment.

What a change in EIBOR does to your instalment

Example (the fixed rate and the margin are made up; EIBOR is the latest fixing): AED 1,600,000 over 25 years, fixed at 3.99% for 3 years = AED 8,437 a month. After 3 years you still owe AED 1,481,023. If the rate then becomes 3-month EIBOR 4.20500% (the fixing of 16 October 2026) + 1.50% margin = 5.705%, the instalment becomes AED 9,860. One percentage point lower (4.705%): AED 9,016. One point higher (6.705%): AED 10,743. Each point of EIBOR moves this instalment by roughly AED 864 a month.

The mortgage calculator does this with your own numbers, and shows the instalment if the rate rises 2% or 4%. Banks must run that same test before they lend: they check you could still pay at 2 to 4 percentage points above the rate that applies after the introductory period.

What is the stress test?

Before lending, a UAE bank must check that you could still pay the mortgage if the rate were 2 to 4 percentage points higher, using the rate that applies after any introductory fixed period, with all your instalments within 50% of your gross income. Example: if your rate after the fixed period would be 5.705% (the example above), the bank tests you at 7.705% to 9.705%. A passed stress test does not cap your future rate — it only shows the bank you could cope with a rise.

EIBOR-linked mortgages: what to check in your offer

• Which EIBOR (1-, 3- or 6-month) and how often the rate resets.
• The margin, and whether it ever changes.
• Whether there is a minimum rate, so the rate cannot fall below a floor even if EIBOR does.
• What it costs to leave at the end of the fixed period: the bank may charge at most its actual cost of breaking a fixed rate and/or the capped fees.

The bank cannot change these terms during the loan without your written agreement. To compare staying, fixing again and moving bank, use the remortgage calculator.

Islamic home finance

Islamic banks quote a profit rate instead of interest, but it can follow EIBOR in the same way after a fixed period. The same mortgage rules apply. See Islamic finance: the profit rate.