Off-plan service charges in the UAE: what developers say you will pay after the keys

1,407 off-plan projects state a service charge; the median is AED 15 per sqft a year.

Of 2,951 UAE off-plan projects with a community on record, 1,407 (48%) publish a service charge the corpus can read. The median project states AED 15 per sqft a year, and the middle half runs AED 13 to AED 18. Dubai holds 1,138 of them at a median of AED 15. By emirate, Ras Al Khaimah states the most, AED 18 across 75 projects, and Ajman the least, AED 6 across 20.

Developer-stated at launch, AED per sqft a year. Share is of the emirate's off-plan projects with a community on record. Left out with fewer than 5 projects stating a charge: Al Ain (0 of 2), Fujairah (0 of 1).

Every community on the same basis is at off-plan service charges by community.

From AED 3 in Al Rowdat Suburb to AED 30.5 in Al Wasl.

Across the 64 communities with 5 or more projects stating a charge, the median runs from AED 3 per sqft a year in Al Rowdat Suburb (Sharjah, 7 projects) to AED 30.5 in Al Wasl (Dubai, 6 projects), a factor of 10.2. Between the two ends, 26 of the 64 community medians sit between AED 14 and AED 16.

The five lowest community medians, then the five highest. Developer-stated at launch, not the RERA index. Asking AED/sqft is the community's median over its priced unit records.

At the low end start with Al Rowdat Suburb and DAMAC Hills 2; at the high end, Al Wasl and Palm Jumeirah.

One address, two charges: inside Dubai Expo City the middle half runs AED 5 to 20.

All 10 of the highest medians belong to communities whose priced records are mostly apartments; 5 of the 10 lowest are mostly villas or townhouses, where the owner usually looks after the plot. A community median also hides the building. Inside Dubai Expo City the middle half of projects states AED 5 to AED 20, and in Saadiyat Island AED 19.2 to AED 31.5. Read the project's own figure, not the address average.

The five communities with the widest middle half, AED per sqft a year. Mostly is the property type with the largest share of the community's priced records.

Against the price, the charge weighs more in the cheaper communities: 0.91% a year against 0.64%.

Dividing each community's stated charge by its median asking price per sqft gives the share of the price paid back in charges every year. In the 35 communities asking under the UAE median of AED 2,008 per sqft, the median charge is AED 15 and the median share 0.91% a year. In the 29 at or above it, the charge is higher, AED 18, and the share lower, 0.64%. The heaviest is Town Square at 1.29%, the lightest The Oasis by Emaar at 0.21%.

The six highest shares. Charge as share of rate is the stated yearly charge divided by the median asking price per sqft, both community medians, so it applies to a unit of any size bought at that rate.

Communities ranked on the asking rate alone are at cheapest communities per sqft.

On 1,000 sqft: AED 3,000 a year at the low end, AED 30,500 at the high end.

At the stated rates a 1,000 sqft unit pays AED 3,000 a year in Al Rowdat Suburb, AED 15,000 in Jumeirah Village Circle at the middle of the ranking, and AED 30,500 in Al Wasl: AED 27,500 apart every year for the same floor area. Units are not the same size, though. The median priced unit in Al Rowdat Suburb is 3,139 sqft, which at its rate comes to AED 9,417 a year; in Al Wasl it is 1,918 sqft and AED 58,499. Each is a developer-stated launch rate times floor area, not a bill.

Stated charge times floor area, AED a year, before any increase after handover. The middle row is the community with the most projects at the median of the 64 community medians.

What is due before the keys, plan by plan, is at off-plan payment plans; the deposit side is the down payment note.

What these figures are not: the charge you will be billed.

Every figure here is the developer's number at launch, before the building has an owners' association, an approved budget or a year of real running costs. It is not the RERA service charge index, which applies per building once it is managed, and the charge an owner pays can differ from the launch figure in either direction. We also cannot see what a stated figure includes, such as a master community fee or a reserve fund. Before buying a completed unit, check the building's RERA figure.