Off-plan owners · Not yet handed over
Can you still get out of it, and what would you actually walk away with?
Two questions nobody answers straight. Whether your SPA lets you assign yet, and what reaches your account after the balance to the developer and every transfer cost.
Off-plan exit check
Your numbers stay in your browserYour unit
Your contract
Already handed over and holding the title deed? Use the ready-property version, the maths is different.
Straight from the desk
Why I built this, and how to read your number
Two minutes on what an off-plan exit actually costs, when holding beats selling, and why I would rather tell you the number is negative than sell you an exit you will regret.
- ✓25 years underwriting cross-border property, not a call centre.
- ✓The same maths I run before I let a client sign or sell.
- ✓No call unless you ask. The report is yours either way.
Method
Every number above, and where it comes from
We publish the working, because the alternative is asking you to trust a figure from someone who benefits from you selling.
| Line | How it is derived | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer price | Size in sq ft × benchmark AED per sq ft for the project and unit type | Registered DLD sales, or labelled estimate |
| Balance to developer | SPA price less everything paid to date | Your contract |
| NOC, admin and trustee | Developer NOC (around AED 5,000), a fixed admin fee (AED 2,000 to 5,000) and the trustee centre fee, all paid by the buyer at registration | Developer and DLD trustee schedule |
| Listing commission | 2% of the transfer price plus 5% VAT, the seller’s only transaction cost. The buyer pays their own 2% to their buying agent | Market standard |
| DLD transfer fee | 4% of the transfer price, paid by the buyer to reassign the Oqood | Dubai Land Department |
| Break-even per sq ft | All cash in and costs out, divided by size | Derived, no benchmark needed |
Coverage differs by emirate
Dubai transactions are published daily by the Land Department, so Dubai benchmarks come from registered sales. Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah do not publish at the same granularity, so those figures come from our own completed deals and published market reports, and we label them as estimates rather than presenting them as registered prices.
The cost nobody mentions
The registration fee you paid at purchase, 4% in Dubai, is not recoverable and does not transfer. Your buyer pays it again on the assignment. On an AED 2.7m unit that is roughly AED 110,000 that simply leaves the transaction, and it is why an off-plan position needs meaningful growth before an early exit makes sense.
Before anything else
Three things decide whether you can sell at all
All three sit in your SPA, and most owners have never read that far into it.
The paid threshold
Developers require a minimum percentage of the price paid before they will permit an assignment. Commonly 30 to 40 per cent, occasionally 50. Below it, no NOC is issued and no sale can complete.
The lock-in period
Some contracts add a separate time bar, typically six to twelve months from signature, that applies regardless of how much you have paid. The two conditions are cumulative, not alternatives.
The NOC itself
Issued at the developer’s discretion, usually valid around 30 days, and priced per project. Processing runs from a day or two on an e-NOC to a couple of weeks.
Terms by developer
The column that matters most is the paid threshold: the share of the price you must have paid before the developer will release an NOC and let you assign. The fee columns are the transaction costs, and the buyer carries them at registration. Read off signed contracts, not off what circulates online.
| Developer | Paid threshold | Assignment / transfer fee | NOC fee | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emaar Properties | 30% to 40% (40% on recent launches) | AED 5,000 + VAT, or ~1 to 2% | AED 1,000 to 5,250 + VAT | Sep 2026 |
| DAMAC Properties | 30% to 35% | AED 5,000 + VAT | AED 500 to 5,250 + VAT | Aug 2026 |
| Sobha Realty | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT, or 1 to 2% | AED 1,000 to 5,000 + VAT | Aug 2026 |
| Danube Properties | 30% to 40% | AED 1,000 to 5,000 + VAT | AED 1,000 + VAT | Jul 2026 |
| Binghatti Developers | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT | AED 1,000 to 3,000 + VAT | Jul 2026 |
| Select Group | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT, or 1 to 2% | AED 2,500 to 5,000 + VAT | Aug 2026 |
| Ellington Properties | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT | AED 1,000 to 5,000 + VAT | Jul 2026 |
| Azizi Developments | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT | AED 1,000 to 3,000 + VAT | Aug 2026 |
| Nakheel / Dubai Holding | 30% to 40% | AED 5,000 + VAT | AED 500 to 1,500 + VAT | Aug 2026 |
If your developer is not listed
Send us the assignment clause from your SPA and we will read it, tell you where you stand, and add the terms here. Your contract is the only authority on this and no general article can replace it.
No surprises
What happens after you get the report
Stated plainly, because the usual answer in this market is an agent calling you eleven times.
FAQ
Questions owners ask us
Published by Totality Real Estate, a RERA-licensed brokerage, as general information about the Dubai property market. It is not legal, tax, financial or investment advice. The valuation in this tool is an indicative benchmark, not a RERA-approved valuation. Rules and figures change. Verify against primary sources before acting.