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The case in three sentences
A business owner from Germany, who is also employed, bought a furnished studio in Al Furjan for
AED 800,000. He brought the financing with him; our mandate was the purchase, find the property,
negotiate the price, complete the transaction, let it. He was in Dubai once, to sign the loan documents;
the transfer itself ran under a power of attorney. After handover the apartment was let in three days.
What this case study is, and is not. A real, completed mandate, anonymised and published with the
client's consent. Every amount comes from the mandate file; the instalment, the returns and the costs have been
recalculated. We did not arrange the financing: it was already in place through another adviser when the client
came to us. What we have left out: name, employer, company and the name of the building. Position as at 5 September 2026.
How to read this guide. Every statement is labelled:
Official rule a binding requirement set by the central bank or an authority ·
Bank practice terms set by individual banks, which can change at short notice ·
Nexus Bridge experience what we observe in live mandates ·
Worked example an illustrative calculation, not an offer.
The starting position
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Client | business owner from Germany, also employed, no residence in the UAE |
| Income the bank assessed | employment income, EUR 4,000 net per month |
| Property | studio, 360 sqft, Al Furjan, Dubai |
| Location | about 100 metres from a metro station |
| Status | completed, handed over fully furnished by the developer |
| Build quality | on our assessment, clearly above the community average |
| Purchase price | AED 800,000 (AED 2,222 per sqft) |
| Financing | 65 % loan-to-value, 35 % equity, 5.80 %, 25 years |
| Origin of the financing | arranged through another adviser; ten weeks to credit approval |
| Our mandate | purchase support: search, negotiation, completion, letting |
Employed and self-employed at once
That profile sounds like the best of both worlds and is, to a UAE bank, initially the opposite: two kinds of income, two evidence routes, two risk logics. Bank practice What usually happens in such cases happened here: the bank worked from the source it could verify most easily, the employment income. The business income played a subordinate role in the credit decision.
Official rule The UAE Central Bank caps debt service at 50 per cent of gross income, across all outstanding instalments combined.[3] Applying that ceiling deliberately to the net figure of EUR 4,000, which is stricter than the rule requires:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Net income | EUR 4,000 = about AED 17,054 |
| Instalment | AED 3,287 (about EUR 771) |
| Share of net income | 19 % |
| Utilisation of a 50 % cap measured on the net figure | 39 % |
Nexus Bridge experience A self-employed applicant who wants both sources recognised has to supply two to three years of ordered evidence for the business side, presented so that a credit analyst in Dubai understands it in ten minutes. The self-employed guide sets out how. In this mandate it was unnecessary, because the salary carried the loan on its own.
What we handled
The client arrived with a financing approval and no property. From that point everything sat with us:
- Search against criteria agreed in advance. Target size, budget, achievable rent, and transport links as a hard criterion. Not “a studio in Al Furjan”, but one whose lettability can be argued.
- Checks before any offer. Title document, registered encumbrances, service charge per square foot, arrears, letting history of comparable units in the same building.
- Price negotiation, in the market of summer 2026 with the first real room to negotiate since 2022: the Dubai price index in July stood 7.7 per cent below its December 2025 peak.[5]
- Sale agreement and deposit, never paid into a private account.
- Coordination with a bank whose file we had not built: valuation appointment, offer letter, drawdown date.
- Transfer at a Dubai Land Department registration trustee under a power of attorney, without the client.[1] Title deed and mortgage were registered the same day.[2]
- After handover: utilities, service charge account, marketing, tenant selection, tenancy contract, Ejari.
One trip, one signature
The client was in Dubai once, to sign the original loan documents at the bank. Everything else, including the
transfer of ownership, ran under a power of attorney. That is not an exception but the normal case when the power of
attorney is started early enough: notarisation at home, authentication (the UAE is not an Apostille country), attestation by the UAE embassy and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, translation into
Arabic. Two to four weeks, in parallel with the rest. The full remote sequence is in
the guide on financing without an Emirates ID.
The numbers
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | AED 800,000 |
| Equity (35 %) | AED 280,000 |
| Loan (65 %) | AED 520,000 |
| One-off acquisition costs (about 7.9 %, shown separately, not in the return) | AED 63,600 |
| Total cash required (equity plus one-off costs) | about AED 343,600 (42.9 % of the price) |
| Rate / term | 5.80 % / 25 years |
| Monthly instalment | AED 3,287 (about EUR 771) |
Costs in detail: DLD transfer fee 4 per cent (AED 32,000), agency commission 2 per cent (AED 16,000), mortgage registration 0.25 per cent plus AED 270 (AED 1,570), valuation, trustee and arrangement fee (about AED 14,000). Since February 2025 banks may not add the DLD fee or the agency commission to the loan.
What the apartment does in a year
| Item | Per year | Share of rent |
|---|---|---|
| Rental income | AED 63,000 | 100 % |
| Annuity (12 instalments) | − AED 39,445 | 62.6 % |
| Service charge (360 sqft × AED 10) | − AED 3,600 | 5.7 % |
| Management (5 % of rent) | − AED 3,150 | 5.0 % |
| Surplus | AED 16,805 | 26.7 % |
What that means as a return
- Gross rental yield: 7.88 per cent (AED 175 of rent per sqft per year)
- After service charge: 7.42 per cent
- Running surplus on equity: 6.00 per cent
- Principal repaid in year one: AED 9,536 (interest portion AED 29,909)
- Total gain in year one: AED 26,341, 9.41 per cent on the equity of AED 280,000 (7.67 per cent if the one-off costs of AED 63,600 are counted)
Worked example This calculation contains no capital growth. What is earned comes from rent and amortisation.
On the price per square foot, so nobody compares wrongly. AED 800,000 over 360 square feet is
AED 2,222 per square foot; the Dubai-wide median for completed residential property in July 2026 was
AED 1,379.[5] That comparison is systematically misleading: small units always cost more
per square foot, because a bathroom, a kitchen and the access core are needed regardless of floor area. For a studio
the meaningful figure is rent per square foot, and here it was AED 175.
Three days to a tenant
After handover the apartment was let in three days, at an annual rent of AED 63,000. On the arithmetic it could have carried 3.2 months of vacancy before the annual surplus was consumed. It needed three days.
Nexus Bridge experience That is not luck. It is the result of three characteristics that were known before the purchase:
- About 100 metres to a metro station. In Dubai this is the feature that widens the pool of tenants: anyone commuting without a car searches precisely that radius, and that group is large.
- Above-average build quality. Within one community, two towers can be worlds apart. We check that before making an offer, not afterwards.
- Handed over fully furnished by the developer. Without the furniture, an annual rent of AED 63,000 on 360 square feet would not have been achievable. That sentence belongs with this yield.
At renewal the scale of the Dubai rent index then applies: whether and by how much the rent may rise is decided by the index rather than the owner, and notice must be given at least 90 days before the contract ends.[4] What hangs on that is set out in the property management guide.
Two cases, one range
Placed side by side, our two published mandates show how far the same rules diverge as soon as unit size and income change.
| Case 01 · Dubai Marina | Case 02 · Al Furjan | |
|---|---|---|
| Property | one-bedroom, 591 sqft, full sea view | studio, 360 sqft, furnished, at the metro |
| Purchase price | AED 1,300,000 | AED 800,000 |
| Equity | 50 % (re-rated upward) | 35 % |
| Debt-service ceiling used | 98.1 % | 19 % of net income |
| Service charge | AED 17 / sqft = 13.4 % of rent | AED 10 / sqft = 5.7 % of rent |
| Gross yield | 5.77 % | 7.88 % |
| Year-one total return on equity | 3.47 % | 9.41 % |
| One-off costs (separate) | AED 93,900 | AED 63,600 |
| Time to a tenant | 4 hours | 3 days |
| Our role | financing and guidance | purchase support; financing already in place |
What the comparison shows
The more expensive property is not the better investment, and the cheaper one is not the worse. Case 01 buys location and
a view, and pays for it with a high service charge and an instalment at the regulatory limit. Case 02 buys transport links
and lettability, and earns more than twice as much per dirham employed. What both have in common is the order of
operations: first the affordable instalment, then the loan, then the price, and only then the property.
What we take from it
- With two kinds of income, the more provable one decides. Anyone both employed and self-employed should expect the bank to work from the salary. That is not bad news as long as the salary carries the loan, but it sets the order of magnitude, and it is better known in advance than read in the offer letter.
- The service charge decides the net yield, not the location. AED 10 against AED 17 per square foot is 7.7 percentage points of the rent between our two cases. That figure is never prominent in a brochure, and it is available before you buy.
- Transport links are a yield characteristic, not a comfort. A property that lets in days rather than weeks earns more every single year, and the effect compounds over a holding period more reliably than a better purchase price.
- Furnished is a line in the calculation, not a bonus. The AED 63,000 depends on the furniture. Transferring this yield to an unfurnished unit makes you richer only on paper.
- Purchase support is the service you appreciate once the bank is already sorted. In this mandate the financing was the solved problem. What remained open was the choice of property, the price, the checks, the completion and the letting, and that is where an approval either becomes a working asset or does not.
What this case does not prove. It does not show that studios in Al Furjan generally return
7.9 per cent gross. It shows that this property, at this price, furnished, at the metro and with this
build quality, produces these figures. An unfurnished studio two streets away in the same community calculates
differently. Work out your own case before you sign, in the down payment guide, in
the buying process guide, or with us.
Frequently asked questions
What does a purchase mandate in Dubai actually cover?
In this case: finding the property against criteria agreed in advance, checking the title, service charges and letting history, negotiating the price, the sale agreement, coordinating with the bank the client had already chosen, the transfer at a Dubai Land Department registration trustee under a power of attorney, transferring the utilities, and then the letting. The client flew in once, to sign the original loan documents at the bank.
Can I buy in Dubai without flying in repeatedly?
Yes. The transfer at the registration trustee can be completed under a power of attorney. It must be notarised at home, authenticated (the UAE is not a Hague Apostille country, so an apostille alone is not enough), attested by the UAE embassy and translated into Arabic, and the Land Department accepts only powers of attorney with a clearly limited scope. In this mandate a single trip was enough, and it was for the loan signature at the bank.
How does a bank assess someone who is employed and self-employed at the same time?
It generally works from the income it can verify most easily. Here that was the employment income of EUR 4,000 net; the business income played a subordinate role in the credit decision. Anyone who wants both sources recognised has to supply two to three years of ordered evidence for the self-employed side.
How large was the instalment relative to income?
AED 3,287 a month, about EUR 771, which is 19 per cent of a net income of EUR 4,000. Even applying the central bank's 50 per cent debt-service cap strictly to the net figure, which is stricter than the rule requires, only 39 per cent of the allowance is used.
What is the service charge on a studio in Al Furjan?
In this building AED 10 per square foot, so AED 3,600 a year on 360 square feet. That is 5.7 per cent of the rent. In well-maintained towers in more central locations, AED 15 to 25 per square foot is normal, which is what separates the net yields of two otherwise similar purchases.
Why is the price per square foot above the Dubai median?
AED 800,000 over 360 square feet is AED 2,222 per square foot against a Dubai-wide median of AED 1,379 for completed residential property in July 2026. The comparison is systematically misleading: small units always cost more per square foot, because a bathroom and a kitchen are needed regardless of floor area. For a studio the meaningful figure is rent per square foot, and here it was AED 175.
Why was the apartment let in three days?
Three things together: a metro station about 100 metres away, build quality well above the community average, and handover fully furnished by the developer. Anyone commuting in Dubai without a car searches exactly that radius. Without the furniture, an annual rent of AED 63,000 on that floor area would not have been achievable.
Did you arrange the financing?
No. The financing was already arranged through another adviser when the client came to us, and ten weeks passed between submission and credit approval. Our mandate was the purchase itself: find the property, negotiate it, complete the transaction and then let it.
What are the purchase costs on a deal like this?
About 7.9 per cent of the price, here roughly AED 63,600: the 4 per cent Dubai Land Department transfer fee, 2 per cent agency commission, 0.25 per cent plus AED 270 for mortgage registration, and the valuation, trustee and bank arrangement fees. Since February 2025 none of the first two may be added to the loan.
Sources
- Dubai Land Department, Property Sale Registration (transfer fee and process), https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/property-sale-registration/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Request for Mortgage Registration, https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/request-for-mortgage-registration/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- UAE Central Bank Rulebook, Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans, https://rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/regulations-regarding-mortgage-loans (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Dubai Land Department, Rental Index, https://dubailand.gov.ae/en/eservices/rental-index/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- PropertyIndex, Dubai residential price index, median price per square foot, July 2026, https://www.propertyindex.ae/ (accessed 5 September 2026).
- Nexus Bridge Capital, Dubai Monitor, issue 01, September 2026 (German), https://www.nexusbridgecapital.de/guide/dubai-monitor-09-2026/
- Nexus Bridge Capital, Case study 01: financing approved despite a job change, Dubai Marina (German), https://www.nexusbridgecapital.de/fallstudien/finanzierung-trotz-jobwechsel-dubai-marina/
- German original of this case study, https://www.nexusbridgecapital.de/fallstudien/kaufbegleitung-studio-al-furjan/
DT
Written by Denise Tanrikul, Managing Partner · Reviewed by Martin Krygier, Manager, himself a property buyer, refurbisher and landlord in Germany and Dubai
Last reviewed 5 September 2026. Regulatory statements come from the primary sources linked at the foot of each page (UAE Central Bank, Dubai Land Department, federal authorities) and are refreshed at least quarterly. Bank terms change at short notice, always confirm the current position with the lender before deciding.