38 apartments, every one of them under the line
Abu Dhabi apartments at the AED 2 million residency line
AED 2,000,000 is the property value the UAE publishes for its ten year Golden Residency route. Search underneath it and the dearest apartment we hold is AED 1,980,000, which stops AED 20,000 short. So there is a question to answer before the shortlist: are you buying a home, or a home and a residency?
At a glance
The counts come off our own list and they move as homes sell. The figure they are measured against, AED 2,000,000, is set by the state and does not move at all.
Why this number
Every other price band buyers search is a round number somebody picked. Two million is the property value the UAE publishes for the ten year Golden Residency. Once you know that, the search changes shape.
Demand clusters at two million because the UAE put it there. The published route to the ten year Golden Residency is a property worth no less than AED 2 million, and the authority is the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. No agent sets that figure and no agent can move it.
AED 2,000,000, published on u.ae
The dearest apartment in this search is AED 1,980,000. Two homes share that price, a one bedroom in the Saadiyat Cultural District and a two bedroom at Marina Square on Al Reem Island. If the residency is why you are here, search at two million and above, not under it.
AED 1,980,000 against AED 2,000,000
The u.ae wording for the off plan route covers one or more properties of no less than AED 2 million from approved local real estate companies. With 38 apartments here from AED 550,000, a pair inside this budget can add up where a single home does not. Whether yours qualifies is ICP's decision, never ours.
38 apartments, from AED 550,000
Four homes out of the 38 reach the last hundred thousand. Twenty five of the 38 sit below AED 1.5 million, more than half a million away from the published value. Read that way, the line is not something most of this page nearly touches. It is a different conversation, and the page is written for both.
4 homes within AED 100,000, 25 below AED 1.5 million
The residency line
The published routes at the time of writing, set out so you can see where this budget sits against them. We sell property, we do not advise on immigration. Nothing here binds the authority.
The published route reachesNothing from the property alone
Every home on this page sits here. The purchase is freehold and the deed is yours, but the price does not reach the published value.
Durations differ between the published pages, so this page states the value it is certain of and leaves the term to the authority. ICP issues the residency and in Abu Dhabi the service is reached through TAMM. Values, proof and eligibility change. Confirm the current rule and your own case with ICP before you buy on the strength of it.
By home size
Read the ceiling in each line rather than the entry price. What decides this page is how close a size can get to the published value, and only two of the four get anywhere near it.
10 homesAvailable
FromAED 550,000
WhereAl Ghadeer, Masdar City, Zayed City, Al Maryah Island and three on Al Reem
The size that cannot reach the line. The studio market here stops at AED 1,300,000, so AED 700,000 of the budget goes unspent whichever one you take.
21 homesAvailable
FromAED 700,000
WhereFrom Al Ghadeer and Al Reef up to the Saadiyat Cultural District
Twenty one of the 38, and the size that comes closest: the AED 1,980,000 one bedroom on Saadiyat Island is the nearest any single home gets.
6 homesAvailable
FromAED 950,000
WhereAl Reem Island carries the two at the top of the band
Six in the whole band, and only the Al Reem pair at AED 1,940,000 and AED 1,980,000 sit near the line. When one lists it does not stay long.
1 homeAvailable
FromAED 1,800,000
WhereA single listing in the whole band
AED 200,000 short, and the only one there is. A third bedroom and the published value do not sit in the same search under two million.
Where to buy
Sixteen of the 38 are on Al Reem Island. Everywhere else is thin: seven communities carry two homes or fewer, and only three ever climb into the last hundred thousand before the line. If a particular address matters more to you than the number, that is the constraint to plan around.
FromAED 825,00016 homes
The only community that spans the whole page. The AED 825,000 studio and the AED 1,980,000 two bedroom are both here, across City of Lights, Marina Square, Shams Abu Dhabi, Tamouh and Julphar Residence.
FromAED 1,550,0005 homes
Nothing on Yas is reachable until AED 1,550,000, the highest entry price in the band, so all five homes appear only in its last half million. The dearest, AED 1,941,100, stops AED 58,900 short. Gardenia Bay carries three of the five.
FromAED 550,0004 homes
Holds the floor of the band at AED 550,000 and never climbs past AED 950,000. A buyer with two million spends less than half of it here and then runs out of homes, not money.
FromAED 720,0003 homes
Bloom Living covers more of this page than any development outside Al Reem: AED 720,000 to AED 1,725,000, a studio and a home AED 275,000 short of the line inside one community.
FromAED 699,9992 homes
Neither home reaches half the budget, AED 699,999 at Plaza and AED 820,000 at Royal Park. The ceiling never binds here, so the only real question is what is listed that week.
FromAED 850,0002 homes
Two homes and the widest gap between any pair on the page, AED 850,000 and AED 1,800,000. The dearer takes nine tenths of the budget without leaving the mainland.
FromAED 900,0002 homes
Both in Al Reef Downtown, at AED 900,000 and AED 1,200,000. The top AED 800,000 of this budget buys nothing at all here, which is the honest reason the choice is two.
FromAED 1,150,0002 homes
Two homes at opposite ends of the band, AED 1,150,000 and the AED 1,980,000 one bedroom in the Cultural District that is the ceiling of this entire page.
FromAED 780,0001 home
A single studio at Al Maryah Vista 2. A pair of them at that price would still leave you AED 440,000 below the published value, which is the arithmetic behind most of the two property questions we are asked.
FromAED 1,000,0001 home
One home, at exactly AED 1,000,000. Half the published value to the dirham, and the only listing on the page that lands on a round number.
Eleven communities, ten rows: our feed records Al Ghadeer's phases under two names and both carry a home in this band, so the four shown against Al Ghadeer are those two rows added together.
On the market now
A slice of the 38. Every one of them registers below AED 2,000,000, and the two at the top of the list stop AED 20,000 short of it.
Buy off plan
Off plan matters here for a reason that has little to do with payment terms. The deed arrives at handover, and the deed is what a residency file is built on. It is also the only published route written in the plural, one or more properties, which a single resale purchase cannot be.
Ready or off plan
Both routes are open under two million. The choice comes down to when the deed lands in your name and what number it carries, because that is what every later decision hangs on.
Buy ready if you want a deed within weeks, carrying a number you can put in front of anyone. Buy off plan if the deed can wait, if you want the payments spread, or if your plan is the one the published wording describes in the plural.
What counts toward the value
What leaves your account and what the deed records are two different numbers, and only one of them is ever measured. Everything you spend on top buys you the home and nothing else.
| Cost | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The price on the deed | The only figure the letter carries | A Real Estate Registration Department letter states the registered value of the property. Under two million, no amount of spending alongside it changes what that letter says. |
| Transfer and agency fees | About 4 percent on top | AED 78,000 on a home at AED 1,950,000. It leaves your account, it never appears on the deed, and it moves you no closer to the line. |
| Borrowing against the home | Your Down Payment goes in, the full price is registered | u.ae lists a property bought with a loan from specific local banks as eligible, so a mortgage is not itself the obstacle. What proof the lender must issue is ICP's rule, not the seller's. |
On a home at AED 1,950,000 you pay roughly AED 39,000 to the municipality and about AED 39,000 in agency fee, so around AED 2,028,000 leaves your account. The deed still records AED 1,950,000, and that is the figure a Real Estate Registration Department letter would carry. The AED 78,000 in fees moves nothing. If the residency is the point, the price itself has to reach it.
The rest of the Abu Dhabi cost list, the 2 percent transfer fee, the 2 percent agency fee, the Down Payment bands and the arrangement and valuation charges, is set out in full on our apartments under AED 5 million page and priced by the calculator below. Those are the standard rates as we write, and each one is put in front of you against your own purchase before you commit to anything.
Run your own number
Two prices are worth typing in. AED 1,980,000, the closest this page gets to the published value, and whatever you would genuinely be content with. The difference between those two monthly figures is what reaching for the line would cost you every month for the length of the loan.
Monthly repaymentAED 6,067
Arithmetic on what you type, not a quote. A lender prices the file in front of it and rates move, so the only figure that counts here is the one a bank puts in writing. We introduce you to brokers who will produce one.
Which one is you
You are in the wrong search, and it is a short walk out of it. The published value is AED 2,000,000 and this page tops out at AED 1,980,000. Ask us for what sits just above the line instead, and one viewing trip can cover both sides of it.
A gap of AED 20,000 from the top of this page
Through work, a company, or a Golden Residency earned another way. The threshold is irrelevant to you, so there is no reason to stretch toward it and every reason to judge the home on the home.
AED 550,000 to AED 1,980,000, judged on the home alone
It exists here, but barely. Six two bedrooms in the whole band, and the island pair sits at AED 1,940,000 and AED 1,980,000, right against the ceiling. When one lists it does not stay long.
6 two bedrooms, from AED 950,000
Buying in steps rather than in one purchase. The u.ae off plan wording covers one or more properties of no less than AED 2 million, so a pair inside this budget can add up. Whether a given pair qualifies is ICP's call, and we will not tell you otherwise.
48 projects off plan, from AED 407,000
How it works
Three of these four steps are about the line. The purchase itself is the same in Abu Dhabi whatever you pay, so it takes one step here rather than four.
If the ten year residency matters, search at two million and above. If it does not, ignore the line and buy on the home. Nothing else you decide changes the shortlist as much as this one answer, and it costs nothing to answer it before you view.
A single resale home under two million cannot reach the published value on its own. The u.ae off plan wording is written as one or more properties, so buying in steps is a different plan with different paperwork. Settle which one you are on before you put money anywhere.
Nothing about buying itself changes at this budget, so it takes one line here rather than four: allow four to eight weeks on a ready home between the accepted offer and the deed. Our apartments under AED 5 million page walks through every stage of it, and the calculator above prices the cash you need on the day.
The deed comes first, always. If the registered value clears the published threshold, ICP is the authority and TAMM is the Abu Dhabi route. We introduce you to consultants who handle it. We do not file it and we promise no outcome.
Keep looking
The budgets above and below this one, the communities named here, and the arithmetic.
Questions buyers ask
Because the UAE put the number there. The published property route to the ten year Golden Residency is a property worth no less than AED 2 million, and the authority that issues it is the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. Underneath that figure sit 38 apartments on our list, spread over 11 communities, with a floor of AED 550,000 and a ceiling of AED 1,980,000. Another 48 projects price apartments below it off plan.
Not from the property alone. The published property value is AED 2 million and the dearest apartment in this search is AED 1,980,000. If the residency is why you are buying, search at two million and above. If it is not, the threshold does not concern you at all and this page is the better search.
AED 20,000, about one percent of the price. Two homes sit at AED 1,980,000, a one bedroom in the Saadiyat Cultural District and a two bedroom at Marina Square on Al Reem Island. Four homes in all come within AED 100,000 of the line, so one viewing trip can easily cover both sides of it.
No. ICP asks for a letter from the Real Estate Registration Department confirming ownership of property worth at least AED 2,000,000, and that letter carries the registered value. Fees are a cost of buying rather than part of the value, so AED 78,000 of fees on a AED 1,950,000 apartment does not carry you across.
The u.ae wording for the off plan route refers to one or more properties of no less than AED 2 million bought from approved local real estate companies, so more than one home can be counted. Whether your particular combination qualifies, and what proof is needed, is decided by ICP. Ask them before you buy on that basis.
u.ae lists a property bought with a loan from specific local banks as an eligible route to the Golden Residency, so borrowing is not itself the obstacle. Which banks count and what documents they must issue is set by ICP, so confirm your lender with them rather than assuming any mortgage qualifies.
There are six today, from AED 950,000, mostly on Al Reem Island and in the mainland communities. The two island ones sit at the top of the band: AED 1,940,000 for a two bedroom with a maid's room at Tamouh and AED 1,980,000 for a full sea view home at Marina Square.
Al Reem Island, which holds 16 of the 38 and runs from AED 825,000 all the way to the AED 1,980,000 two bedroom at Marina Square. Only three communities reach the last hundred thousand before the line: Al Reem, Saadiyat at AED 1,980,000 and Yas at AED 1,941,100. Seven of the eleven carry two homes or fewer.
A second home to choose from, and a very different one. We hold two Saadiyat apartments below the line: one at AED 1,150,000, and the AED 1,980,000 one bedroom in the Cultural District, which is the ceiling of this whole page and is only reachable in the last half million of the budget. Saadiyat stock underneath two million is thin and it moves, so ask what is genuinely available.
Thirteen more apartments and eleven more projects, and Yas Island, which has nothing at all below AED 1,550,000. What it does not add is the residency. The extra half million carries you to AED 1,980,000 and stops there, AED 20,000 short of the published value.
With a twenty percent Down Payment you would borrow AED 1,440,000. At an illustrative 4.25 percent over 25 years that is roughly AED 7,800 a month, plus the service charge. Rates move and every bank prices a file differently, so run the calculator on this page with your own rate.
A residency file rests on a deed in your own name, so the zone matters here beyond the purchase itself. Masdar City, Al Maryah Island, Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and Al Reem Island are designated investment zones open to any nationality, and our own guides confirm the same for Al Reef and Al Ghadeer. It is settled building by building rather than area by area, so we confirm the specific home in writing before you commit.
We cannot give you a timeline and would not trust anyone who does. The property side is what we control: transfer and title deed, usually four to eight weeks from an accepted offer on a ready home. After that it is ICP's process, reached through TAMM in Abu Dhabi, and we introduce you to consultants who handle it.
Before you set the number
Say what the home is for and we will send what fits it, each one with the service charge its building billed last year, the rent it achieves, and the distance between its price and AED 2,000,000. If your plan needs the other side of that figure, we will say so in the first reply rather than the fifth.
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