Every off-plan launch in Dubai leads with a number. “Starting from AED 1.2M.” It’s the first thing on the brochure, the first thing in the ad, usually the only thing anyone remembers a week later. It’s also, in most cases, not what you’ll actually pay to own the unit.

Here’s what that headline figure typically leaves out.

The 4% you owe the Dubai Land Department. This one isn’t negotiable and isn’t optional: it’s a standard government transfer fee on the full purchase price, registered through Oqood for off-plan units and converting to a title deed at handover with no second charge. On a AED 1.2M unit, that’s AED 48,000 due on top of the sticker price, not folded into it.

Trustee, registration, and admin charges. Smaller individually, but they add up, typically in the low thousands of dirhams depending on the transaction size. Ask for these in writing before you sign anything; a developer who can’t hand you an itemized breakdown separating government fees from their own admin charges is a flag worth noticing.

Service charges, from day one of ownership. These aren’t a future problem: they’re due whether the unit is occupied or sitting empty, and they vary enormously by building: a mid-market community can run a fraction of what a Downtown or Palm tower charges per square foot. Ask what the projected service charge is before you commit, not after handover.

Put together, most buyers should budget roughly 7–10% above the advertised price to know what they’re actually signing up for. That’s not a rounding error on a seven-figure decision.

None of this means the deal is bad: a lot of the developments worth buying still make sense once you run the real number. It means the number on the brochure was never the number that mattered. The starting price tells you what the developer wants you thinking about. The all-in number tells you what you’re actually deciding.

The practical habit: before you get attached to any launch, ask for the full cash-flow schedule: DLD fee, admin charges, projected service charge, and the full payment plan timeline, not just the headline price and the down payment. If a project can’t produce that breakdown cleanly, that’s information too.

This is general market information, not a substitute for reviewing your specific Sales Purchase Agreement. Fee structures are standard across most transactions but can vary by project, always confirm the exact figures in writing before transferring funds.