Guide
Tool — off-plan purchase
Dubai off-plan payment plan calculator
An off-plan payment plan does not read like a loan repayment schedule. Payments are triggered by construction progress, not by the calendar, and a plan advertised as ‘0% post-handover’ is not free for all that. This planner rebuilds the actual payment plan of your project, line by line, and shows what it costs you in cash.
If you want the framework first — developer, sale and purchase agreement, escrow account, handover — it is set out on our page on buying off-plan in Dubai. Here, each instalment is given an amount and a date, registration fees included.
The short answer
What matters is not the ratio on the brochure — 60/40, 80/20 — but three figures: how much you pay out in the first twelve months, how much is still due on the day you receive the keys, and when the interim payments actually fall. The planner below gives you all three, with registration fees, and lets you change every assumption.
Loading the planner…
| Instalment | Date | Share | Amount | Cumulative % | Cumulative paid | Price outstanding |
|---|
Scroll the table sideways.
Transparency
Method and assumptions
No value is applied without being shown, and all of them can be changed. Here is what the calculation does, in order.
The amount of each instalment
Each line applies its percentage to the property price you entered, excluding fees. Registration fees are added as separate lines, marked as such: they are not part of the 100% of the price, but they are part of your cash outlay. This distinction, between the property price and the cash you commit, is the one most often missed on a first reading of a payment plan.
The date of each instalment
An instalment can be tied to the booking, to a stage of construction progress, to handover, to a number of months after handover, or to a fixed date written in the contract. Only the last two give a certain date. For a payment tied to 40% completion, the planner projects a date by spreading the construction period according to the model you choose: linear by default, or an S-curve — slow start, fast middle, slow finishing works. These dates are shown with the word ‘around’, because they are projections and nothing more.
The three cumulative columns
‘Cumulative %’ tracks the share of the property price already called. ‘Cumulative paid’ tracks the cash actually paid out, fees included. ‘Price outstanding’ is what you will still owe on the property itself. The three diverge as soon as fees come into play, and that gap is exactly what surprises buyers at the end of the first year.
The cash equivalent
Each payment is discounted back to the booking date at the rate you enter — your borrowing rate, or the return on what you will not invest elsewhere. The result is what the same plan would be worth paid today. The gap with the nominal total gives an order of magnitude of what the spread is worth. It is not a market value, it is your cost of money applied to your plan.
The default values, and where to change them
All of them are working values from our verification register, not official scales. They are there to spare you a blank page, not to spare you from reading your contract.
| Assumption | Default value | Where to change it |
|---|---|---|
| DLD registration fee (EO-01) | 4% of the price, called at booking | Toggle, rate and timing under ‘Assumptions’ |
| DLD administration fee (EO-02) | AED 580 | Editable field under ‘Assumptions’ |
| Oqood registration fee (EO-03) | AED 3,000, all taxes included | Toggle and amount under ‘Assumptions’ |
| Construction progress model (EO-08, EO-09) | Linear, or an S-curve if you prefer | ‘Construction progress model’ drop-down |
| Discount rate (EO-10) | 6% a year | ‘Discount rate’ field under ‘Assumptions’ |
| Typical structures 60/40, 80/20, post-handover (EO-05 to EO-07) | Starting points, not standard scales | Every line of the instalment table can be edited |
| Handover delay (EO-13) | 0 months by default, can be tested up to 36 | ‘Simulated handover delay’ field |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Limits
What this planner does not tell you
A calculated payment plan is not a contractual one. Here are the six gaps that matter, including those that cost us a sales argument.
Payments are triggered by progress, not by a date
This is the structural limit of the tool, and it applies to every calculator of this kind. A payment tied to ‘structure complete’ falls due when progress is certified, which can happen three months before or nine months after the date this table shows. Use the dates to size your cash reserves, never to schedule a transfer.
A handover delay moves everything, including what you had not planned for
Handover delays happen in this market and are not anecdotal. The planner lets you test their effect, but it predicts nothing: it states neither a frequency nor an average length, because we have no data series we could stand behind. What it does show is that a delay also moves your rental income, your service charges and the date from which bank financing becomes possible again.
A post-handover plan is a financing product
Even when advertised at 0%, spreading payments after you receive the keys has a price, and that price sits in the ‘property price’ line. The planner gives an order of magnitude using your rate, but it does not compare your project with an identical property sold for cash — that work is done case by case, and it is what an off-plan negotiation is really about.
A missed instalment has contractual consequences
The sale and purchase agreement governs payment default: formal notice, then termination with part of the sums paid retained, the share depending on how far the project has progressed. The tool calculates cash flow; it does not measure any legal risk. If your plan only works on the assumption of a resale, an incoming payment or a loan not yet approved, the problem is not in the table.
The escrow account protects the funds, not the timetable
The sums you pay are held in an escrow account and released to the developer as certified progress is made. It is real protection against your funds being diverted to another project. It is not a guarantee of the handover date, the quality of finish or the resale value.
The total shown is not the full cost
The tool costs the price and the two registration fees, nothing else. It deliberately leaves out trustee fees, the developer’s NOC, issuing the title deed, furnishing and service charges: those belong to the calculation of the true cost of a purchase.
Before you sign
We ask for the payment plan in the developer’s own format, with the exact wording of each construction milestone, and enter it into the planner as it stands. A ‘60/40’ plan from two developers does not call the same amounts in the same year. To place a specific project, start with our page on buying off-plan in Dubai, then the projects we follow.
Frequently asked questions about off-plan payment plans
Are the dates shown by the planner contractual?
No. On a construction-linked plan, a payment is triggered when a stage of construction is certified, not by a calendar date. Dates marked ‘around’ are projections calculated from the handover date you entered. Only instalments you set as ‘Fixed date in contract’ match a date written in your sale and purchase agreement.
What happens if construction falls behind schedule?
Progress-linked payments move with the build, because they follow the structural works, not the calendar. A post-handover instalment agreed in months after handover also slips, and your first rental income is pushed back by the same amount. The ‘Simulated handover delay’ field exists for exactly this: shift the handover by six, twelve or twenty-four months and see what happens to your cash flow.
Is a 0% post-handover plan really free?
No. Spreading 40% of the price over two years after you receive the keys is vendor financing, and nobody lends for free. The cost is built into the advertised price, not billed separately. The planner puts a figure on it by discounting each payment at the rate you enter: the gap between the nominal total and that cash equivalent is, as an order of magnitude, what the spread is worth. So compare it with the price of an equivalent property paid in cash, never with the advertised price.
Who pays the Dubai Land Department’s 4% on an off-plan sale?
In practice the buyer, usually at booking, before the first construction-linked payment. Some developers cover it during sales campaigns, or spread it. It is a clause you negotiate and check in the contract: the planner’s toggle lets you test both cases.
What is the risk if I miss an instalment?
The sale and purchase agreement provides for a formal notice, then a termination procedure at the end of which the developer keeps part of the sums already paid. The share retained depends on how far the project has progressed at the time of the default, and it is governed by Dubai regulations. The percentage retained is set out in your contract and has to be checked case by case: we go through it with you. Keep the principle in mind: a late payment on an off-plan sale is not a minor incident, it is a risk of losing capital.
Does the escrow account protect my money?
It protects what the money is used for, not your timetable. Funds paid on an off-plan sale are held in an escrow account and can only be released to the developer as certified construction progresses: this stops your money from financing another project. It does not prevent a delay, a change to the project or a dispute over build quality at handover.
Can I resell before handover?
Often yes, but rarely without conditions. Most developers require a minimum share of the price to have been paid, issue a written consent and charge a transfer fee. The new buyer takes over the remaining payment plan, so your resale position depends directly on where you are on the cash outlay curve — something the table above makes easy to read.