Question 1

Can foreigners buy property in Dubai?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Non-UAE nationals can buy on a freehold basis in designated areas of Dubai, owning the property outright and registering it in their own name with the Dubai Land Department. Every community Inca works in is freehold. You do not need to live in the UAE, hold residency, or have a local partner to buy.

Question 2

Do I need UAE residency to buy?

Accepted Answer

No. Non-residents buy in Dubai routinely and the purchase process is the same. Residency is not a condition of ownership. It works the other way round in fact: property investment above certain thresholds can make you eligible to apply for a UAE residence visa. If you need finance rather than paying cash, that is where residency starts to matter — several banks lend to non-residents, but usually with a larger down payment and a shorter list of eligible buildings.

Question 3

Can I buy from outside the UAE without flying in?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A purchase can be completed remotely by granting Power of Attorney to someone in Dubai, and much of the process — viewings by video, contract signing, and the Dubai Land Department transfer itself — now has a digital route. We would still rather you saw the building in person before committing, or sent someone you trust, because the things that matter most are the ones photographs hide.

Question 4

What is a service charge, and why do you keep mentioning it?

Accepted Answer

A service charge is the annual fee every owner pays towards running the building — maintenance, security, lifts, cleaning, the pool, the reserve fund. It is charged per square foot and set building by building, not by community, and in Dubai it is approved and published through RERA's Mollak system. It matters because it comes straight off an investor's return: two apartments of identical size and price in neighbouring towers can produce noticeably different net yields purely because one building costs more to run. It is the single number most often left out of a listing, which is why we look it up before you view rather than after you offer.

Question 5

What does a purchase cost on top of the price?

Accepted Answer

The largest fixed item is the Dubai Land Department transfer fee, which is 4% of the purchase price, plus a smaller administrative charge. Beyond that you should budget for agency commission, a registration trustee fee, a title deed issuance fee, and — if the seller has a mortgage or the property is in a developer community — an NOC fee. If you are financing, add mortgage registration. Fees are set by the authorities and by individual developers and do change, so treat this as the shape of the bill rather than a quote: ask us for current figures against the specific property before you commit.

Question 6

How does Inca get paid?

Accepted Answer

By commission on a completed transaction, paid at transfer. Nothing is charged for an initial conversation, a valuation opinion, a shortlist, or for us telling you that a property is a bad idea. That last one is the part of the job that costs us money and earns the repeat business, which is the whole basis of how this brokerage works.

Question 7

What are ORN and BRN numbers, and why do they matter?

Accepted Answer

An ORN is an Office Registration Number — the licence number of the brokerage itself. A BRN is a Broker Registration Number, held by the individual agent. Both are issued under the Dubai Land Department's RERA framework, and anyone legally brokering property in Dubai must hold one. They are worth asking any agent for, because they are the quickest way to check that the person advising you on a seven-figure decision is actually registered to do it.

Question 8

Off-plan or ready — which carries more risk?

Accepted Answer

They carry different risks rather than more or less. With a ready property, what you see is what you buy: you can inspect the building, read its service-charge history and talk to residents. With off-plan you are buying a drawing and a delivery date, usually on a payment plan, so the risks are handover delays, specification changes between the show unit and the finished one, and a market that may look different by the time you get the keys. Off-plan payments in Dubai go into a regulated escrow account, which protects the money but not the timeline. The question we ask first is when you actually need to use or let the property.

Question 9

Which areas of Dubai does Inca work in?

Accepted Answer

Inca works across Dubai on both ready and off-plan property. The communities written up in detail on this site are Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Sports City and Arjan, and the team is also active in Dubai Islands, Dubailand Residential Complex, Dubai South, Dubai Investment Park and Meydan, where much of the current off-plan launch activity sits. The published guides are the places we have written down at building level — which towers are well run, which have service-charge problems, which handover dates have already moved. That takes continuous work, so we publish it gradually rather than claiming it everywhere at once. If you are looking somewhere not listed, ask — and if we do not know it well enough to be useful we will say so.

Question 10

What rental yield should I expect?

Accepted Answer

It depends far more on the building than on the community, and any agent quoting you a single citywide number is selling rather than advising. As a rule of thumb in Dubai, mid-market communities such as JVC and Dubai Sports City tend to produce higher gross yields than prime waterfront addresses like Palm Jumeirah, where more of the return has historically come from capital appreciation. What matters is the net figure after the service charge, realistic vacancy between tenants, and management costs — which is a different number from the one on the listing page. Ask us and we will run it on the specific unit.

The things people actually ask us.

Buying as a foreigner

Costs and running an asset

Working with us

Choosing a property

Start with what you're trying to do.