The short answer
Dubai attracts overseas buyers for four reasons that are easy to verify. There is no annual property tax, no capital gains tax on property for individuals and no personal income tax. Foreign nationals can own property outright in designated freehold areas. The market is large and active, with a record year in 2025. And property ownership above a set value can support a 10-year residence visa.
Each of those points has conditions attached. This page walks through them, gives the figures with their source and date, and ends with the things a careful buyer should watch. It is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice.
No property tax, no capital gains tax, no income tax
Dubai does not levy an annual property tax. There is no capital gains tax on property for individuals, and the UAE has no personal income tax. For an owner who rents the property out, that means the rent arrives without a local income tax deduction. For an owner who later sells, the gain is not taxed in Dubai.
What you do pay is a one-off transfer fee to the Dubai Land Department (DLD) of 4% of the purchase price, plus administrative charges of roughly AED 4,700 to 5,500. On an AED 2,000,000 property, budget about AED 85,000 in government fees before any developer no-objection certificate fee or agency commission. The buyer's guide sets out the full cost stack with a worked example.
Two cautions. First, your home country may tax your worldwide income or gains, including rent and profits from Dubai. That depends on where you are tax resident, and it is worth a conversation with your own adviser before you buy. Second, fees and rules change. Confirm the current position with the Dubai Land Department before committing.
Foreigners can own property outright
Foreign nationals can buy, own, let and sell property on a freehold basis in the areas of Dubai designated for it. Freehold means you own the unit outright, registered in your name with the DLD, with no time limit. It can be sold, rented out, mortgaged subject to lender approval, and passed on.
Al Sufouh, where The Biltmore Residences Sufouh stands, is a freehold area. Not every district is, so if you are looking at other locations, check the ownership status of each one before you get attached to a building.
Buyers of off-plan property are registered with the DLD through an Oqood certificate, and their payments go into a project escrow account regulated by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA). Both mechanisms are explained in the buyer's guide.
The market in numbers
The Dubai Land Department publishes transaction data, and 2025 is the latest complete year. The figures below are approximate and rounded.
Source: Dubai Land Department, full-year 2025. Figures are approximate and rounded.
In 2025 Dubai recorded about 214,900 property sales worth roughly AED 682.5 billion, up from around 180,900 sales and AED 522 billion in 2024. That is growth of roughly 18.8% in the number of sales and about 30.7% in value. Counting mortgages and gift transfers as well, total transactions reached about 275,400 with a value near AED 917 billion. Both were records.
Off-plan property, meaning homes bought before completion, made up close to 70% of all 2025 sales: around 149,200 deals worth roughly AED 448 billion. That matters for two reasons. It shows how much new supply is being sold and built, and it shows that buying off-plan is the mainstream way to buy in Dubai rather than a niche.
Across the city, the average gross apartment yield was approximately 7.0% and the average apartment price roughly AED 1,600 per sq ft. Both are city-wide averages that hide a wide spread between districts, buildings and unit types. A gross yield is rent divided by price before any costs; the section on what to watch, below, explains how the net figure differs.
Who is buying: the largest groups of foreign buyers in 2025 were Indian (about 22%), British (about 17%), Chinese (about 14%), Saudi (about 11%) and Russian (about 9%) nationals. The market is not dependent on any single country.
Population growth and housing demand
Dubai's population passed 4 million in August 2025. It is growing at about 6.1% a year, and roughly 92% of residents are expatriates. The government's stated target is 5 million residents by 2030.
That is the demand side of the housing equation in one paragraph. People moving to Dubai need somewhere to live, most rent when they arrive, and many buy later. A city adding residents at that rate needs a steady flow of new homes, which is a large part of why so much of the market is off-plan.
Growth also explains why location within the city matters. New residents cluster near where they work. Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, both about five minutes by car from Al Sufouh, are employment centres, and homes near them draw tenants who want a short commute. The Al Sufouh area guide covers that in detail.
The Golden Visa, briefly
Owning property worth at least AED 2 million can qualify an investor for a 10-year renewable UAE residence visa, commonly called the Golden Visa. The threshold is set by the DLD and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA). It was reduced from AED 10 million to AED 5 million, and has been AED 2 million since October 2022.
Real estate is the most used route into the programme: over 65% of 2025 applications came through property. Holders can sponsor a spouse and children under standard UAE family sponsorship rules, and they are exempt from the standard 180-day absence rule, which suits owners who spend part of the year elsewhere.
The visa is tied to keeping the qualifying investment. Ready property qualifies when wholly owned and registered with the DLD. Off-plan property can qualify through a valid Oqood certificate from a DLD-registered developer, though the payment-stage requirement has changed recently and should be confirmed with the DLD before applying. Mortgaged property is accepted subject to a bank no-objection certificate. The buyer's guide has the full Golden Visa section. This is general information, not immigration advice.
A factual observation: the 2 bedroom residences at The Biltmore Residences Sufouh start from AED 3,093,000, which is above the AED 2 million threshold. Whether any individual qualifies depends on their own circumstances and on the rules in force at the time; nothing on this site is a promise of a visa.
Safety, order and getting around
Overseas buyers tend to raise the same practical questions: is it safe, how easy is it to get around, and can I manage a property from abroad.
Dubai has a reputation as one of the safer large cities to live in, and with roughly 92% of residents born elsewhere it is a city built around newcomers.
Within the city, Sheikh Zayed Road is the main artery, and Al Sufouh sits directly on it. From The Biltmore Residences Sufouh, Mashreq Metro Station is about 2 minutes away, Dubai Internet and Media City about 5, Dubai Marina and Al Sufouh Beach about 7, and Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall about 15. These are approximate drive times.
Managing from abroad: the reservation, sales agreement and registration can all be handled remotely, escrow and DLD registration protect your payments, and a fully furnished building in a serviced tower removes most of the work of letting a unit. The buyer's guide explains how to start without flying in.
What to watch
An honest list. None of these is a reason not to buy in Dubai; all of them are reasons to buy carefully.
- Service charges. Every building levies an annual charge per square foot for maintenance, staff and shared amenities. At The Biltmore Residences Sufouh it is 24 to 26 AED per sq ft, so a 1,266 sq ft 2 bedroom carries roughly AED 30,000 to 33,000 a year at current rates. Ask for the figure on any building you consider and include it in your yield arithmetic.
- Headline yield versus net yield. The 7.0% city average is gross: annual rent divided by price. Net yield subtracts service charges, any weeks without a tenant, management fees, repairs and, if you borrow, mortgage interest. Net is always lower than gross. Do the arithmetic on the specific unit, not the city average.
- Currency. Prices, fees and rents are in UAE dirhams (AED). If your income and savings are in another currency, exchange-rate movements will change what the property costs you and what your rent is worth at home.
- Oversupply in some areas. Roughly 70% of sales are off-plan, which means a large pipeline of new homes. In districts where many similar towers complete at the same time, rents and resale prices can soften while the supply is absorbed. Established, well-connected locations with a limited number of comparable buildings are less exposed. Judge each building on its own merits.
- Off-plan risk. Buying before completion means relying on the developer to finish. Escrow, Oqood registration and DLD oversight reduce that risk; they do not remove it. Check the developer's record and the actual build progress. Our page on GJ Properties sets out what to look for.
- Rules change. Fee levels, visa thresholds and documentation requirements have all changed in recent years and will change again. Confirm the current position with the Dubai Land Department before committing.
How this connects to The Biltmore Residences Sufouh
The Biltmore Residences Sufouh is a 44-floor branded tower on Sheikh Zayed Road in Al Sufouh, a freehold area. It offers fully furnished 2 bedroom residences of about 1,266 sq ft from AED 3,093,000 and 4 bedroom penthouses of about 4,820 sq ft from AED 27,000,000; the 1 bedroom collection is sold out. Interiors are by Gary Green Studios with Miele and Teka appliances. Construction is approximately 90% complete, with handover scheduled for Q4 2026.
The payment plan is 20% on booking, 10% during construction, 10% on handover, and 60% after handover in eight instalments of 7.5% spread over four years. For a buyer who wants a furnished unit in an established location, with most of the price paid after the keys are handed over, it is a concrete example of the points on this page.