An honest comparison needs more than rent versus a mortgage payment: buying costs, service charges, appreciation, and what renting leaves free to invest. This runs the full simulation, year by year.
What’s in the simulation
The down payment and buying costs are treated as the renter’s starting investment, not free money.
Two costs are easy to leave out of a rent-versus-buy comparison here, and both change the answer: the Dubai Land Department’s roughly 4% one-time transfer fee on top of agent and admin costs, and the annual owners’-association service charge that applies to most apartments and simply doesn’t exist for a renter.
Common mistake
Comparing rent to only the mortgage payment
Service charges and buying costs are real, recurring or upfront, and leaving them out flatters buying every time.
Worth knowing
Run it at more than one horizon
Moving the years slider is the fastest way to see how sensitive the answer is to how long you actually plan to stay.
Already have the mortgage? The EMI calculator gives the full month-by-month schedule.
This calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, stored, or logged; reload the page and it is gone. It is provided for general information only and is not financial, tax or investment advice. This tool simulates the scenario you enter and does not account for taxes, financing approval, currency movements for cross-border buyers, or changes in market conditions. It is not investment, tax or property advice. Results are estimates: always check figures against your own statements, employer, lender or a qualified professional before acting on them.
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