Three questions decide whether anything else matters: can you own it, does the register hold, and is your deposit protected. Here are the answers for United Arab Emirates, each with the law or source it rests on. The answers are written for EU and EEA citizens; where rules differ for other nationals, the ownership answer says so. As of September 2026.
The core answers
Can you buy property here as an EU citizen?
Full ownership only in the designated freehold zones. Outside them, leasehold and usage rights remain.
Legal basis: Dubai: Law 7/2006 on real property registration
Is your deposit protected by law?
Dubai Land Department keeps an official register of 29 accredited escrow banks for developer projects
Source: dubailand.gov.ae · 2026
Residence
Golden Visa from AED 2 million in property (approx. USD 545,000), renewable, no presence requirement; off-plan also eligible since 2026
Source: u.ae
First thing to check
- Whether the project is registered with the Dubai Land Department and whether payments go to an accredited escrow account. Both can be verified officially.
All 24 dimensions
Scale 0 to 100, higher is better. Each value shows where it comes from: tied to a published index, own research with a source on file, or approximated from comparable countries.
Law and register
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Property rights | 56 | Index |
| Register | 82 | Research |
| Deposit protection | 90 | Research |
| Rule of law | 60 | Index |
| Freedom from corruption | 73 | Index |
| Political stability | 80 | Index |
Money and market
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase costs | 72 | Index |
| Tax burden | 99 | Index |
| Entry price | 34 | Index |
| Rental yield | 41 | Research |
| Short-term rental | 80 | Research |
| Price development | 43 | Approximation |
| Demand pipeline | 100 | Index |
Residence and access
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Residence | 100 | Research |
| Exit | 20 | Index |
| Currency | 78 | Index |
| Accessibility | 46 | Research |
Place and building stock
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Climate | 59 | Index |
| Natural hazards | 37 | Index |
| Utilities | 95 | Index |
| Build quality | 84 | Research |
| Construction cost | 64 | Research |
| Quality of life | 74 | Index |
| Healthcare | 68 | Index |
Researched individually
These entries do not come from an index but from research for this country. The source is given with each.
Residence
Golden Visa from AED 2 million in property holdings (approx. USD 545,000), renewable, with no residence requirement; since 2026 also available for off-plan
Source: u.ae · 2026
Deposit protection
The Dubai Land Department maintains an official register of 29 accredited escrow trustee banks for developer projects
Source: dubailand.gov.ae · 2026
Accessibility
4,566 km great-circle distance from Munich
Source: Grosskreisentfernung Muenchen-Hauptstadt · 2026
Build quality
BQCI 15/15 (WB Doing Business 2020) + WGI Government Effectiveness 75,84 (2024), Gewicht 35/65
Source: archive.doingbusiness.org · 2019
Place and building materials
What to check in the United Arab Emirates
Derived from the four weakest dimensions of this country - statistically, that is where buyers lose money.
- Exit. Whether there is a working resale market and whether you can get the sale proceeds out of the country.
- Entry price. Whether the price per square metre is right for the specific location - national averages say little.
- Natural hazards. Exposure to earthquake, storm, flood and wildfire at the specific site, not the national average.
- Rental yield. Whether the gross yield still holds after vacancy, management and withholding tax.
Developers and projects in the United Arab Emirates
The developer index records 254 projects and 50 developers in the United Arab Emirates without rating them, each entry with source and retrieval date. An excerpt:
| Project | Place | Developer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ajman Creek Towers | Ajman Free Zone | GJ Properties | planned |
| Tiger Downtown Ajman Tower A | Al Alia | Tiger Properties | planned |
| Tiger Downtown Ajman Tower B | Al Alia | Tiger Properties | planned |
| Tiger Downtown Ajman Tower C | Al Alia | Tiger Properties | planned |
| BlueBell Residence | Al Amerah | GJ Properties | planned |
| River Cove Residences A | Al Bahia | Sobha Realty | planned |
| River Cove Residences B | Al Bahia | Sobha Realty | planned |
| The Orchard | Al Bahia | Sobha Realty | planned |
| The Terraces | Al Bahia | Sobha Realty | planned |
| Soto Grande Tower 2 | Al Hamra Village | Ellington Properties | planned |
| Soto Grande Tower I | Al Hamra Village | Ellington Properties | planned |
| Bashayer Residence 3 | Al Hudayriat Island | Modon | planned |
Individual project pages are currently in German; they contain the recorded data, the source and the retrieval date.
All 254 projects and 50 developers in the United Arab Emirates
Lawyers in the United Arab Emirates
These firms have agreed to be named here. There is no partnership, no cooperation agreement and no payment in either direction - neither from me to them nor the other way round. They check title, encumbrances and contract. I check the building and the developer. Each side is instructed directly by the buyer. Being named is not a recommendation in the legal sense and creates no responsibility on the part of those named for my work. The legal information on this page is my own summary and is not legal advice from the firms listed.
- Attorneys at Law | Rechtsanwälte Seifert & Associates FZE LLC (Rechtsanwalt Jörg Seifert) · Sharjah and Dubai · German-speaking · seifert@dubai-lawyer.com
- Gregor Pannike - Rechtsanwalt · Abu Dhabi · German-, French- and Arabic-speaking · g.pannike@pannike-partners.com · +971 55 641 5830
- MIDEAST | Law – Ule & Steiner SLP · Dubai · German-speaking
What the guide cannot do
A country can look good in all three columns and the specific property can still be a total loss. The reverse is also true: in a country with a weak register, a cleanly titled plot can be entirely unproblematic. The guide tells you what the environment looks like. Whether this one property holds up is decided by the review.