The UAE retirement visa asks for a property worth at least AED 1,000,000. In the August 2026 Dubai Land Department register, 5,584 of 9,956 screened home sales cleared that bar. That is 56.1 per cent. The other 4,372 sales, 43.9 per cent, did not.
So a little over half the market qualifies you on the property route. That is the useful answer to whether Dubai works for retirement, and it is more honest than a lifestyle brochure.
What the visa actually requires
Two official sources set out the criteria. The Dubai Government portal and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, which is the issuing authority, both put the age at 55 and the term at five years, renewable.
| Requirement | Published criterion |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 55 years |
| Prior service | At least 15 years |
| Visa term | 5 years, renewable |
| Property route | Property worth at least AED 1,000,000 |
| Savings route | Savings of at least AED 1,000,000 |
| Income route | Fixed annual income of at least AED 240,000 |
One discrepancy worth flagging rather than smoothing over. The Dubai Government portal presents property, savings and income as alternatives. The GDRFA service page words the property route as property of at least AED 1,000,000 together with a deposit of at least AED 1,000,000. Confirm which reading applies to you with GDRFA before you plan around it. We are not going to guess on your behalf.
The threshold sits between a studio and a one bedroom
This is the finding that matters, and it is not published anywhere else. Split the register by bedroom count and the AED 1,000,000 line falls in a very specific place.
| Type | Sales | Median price | Median in USD | Share at or above AED 1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 3,602 | AED 650,000 | USD 176,991 | 5.1 per cent |
| One bedroom | 3,561 | AED 1,200,000 | USD 326,753 | 76.9 per cent |
| Two bedroom | 1,876 | AED 2,047,175 | USD 557,434 | 95.5 per cent |
| Three bedroom | 454 | AED 3,600,444 | USD 980,380 | 99.8 per cent |
A studio will almost certainly not qualify you. Only 5.1 per cent of the 3,602 studio sales reached AED 1,000,000, and the median studio registered at AED 650,000. A one bedroom usually will. 76.9 per cent of one bedroom sales cleared the bar, at a median of AED 1,200,000.
If the visa is the point of the purchase, the practical entry ticket is a one bedroom, not a studio. Budgeting for a studio and expecting residency is the most common way to get this wrong.
Where the qualifying homes are
Across the 43 areas with at least 60 screened sales, the share clearing AED 1,000,000 ranges from single digits to all of them. These six are the least likely to qualify you.
| Area | Sales | Median price | Median in USD | Share clearing AED 1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai Industrial City | 73 | AED 619,000 | USD 168,550 | 6.8 per cent |
| International City Ph 1 | 112 | AED 444,000 | USD 120,899 | 8.0 per cent |
| Dubai Investment Park First | 72 | AED 556,678 | USD 151,580 | 9.7 per cent |
| Dubai Studio City | 87 | AED 570,000 | USD 155,208 | 19.5 per cent |
| Living Legends | 75 | AED 644,454 | USD 175,481 | 26.7 per cent |
| Jabal Ali Industrial Second | 361 | AED 741,660 | USD 201,950 | 29.1 per cent |
And these six are where nearly every sale clears it, at prices to match.
| Area | Sales | Median price | Median in USD | Share clearing AED 1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Khairan First | 124 | AED 3,339,259 | USD 909,260 | 100.0 per cent |
| Business Park | 88 | AED 1,350,000 | USD 367,597 | 100.0 per cent |
| Dubai Creek Harbour | 82 | AED 2,420,000 | USD 658,952 | 100.0 per cent |
| Al Thanyah Fifth | 69 | AED 2,287,828 | USD 622,962 | 100.0 per cent |
| Palm Deira | 125 | AED 2,891,000 | USD 787,202 | 100.0 per cent |
| Palm Jabal Ali | 117 | AED 4,354,000 | USD 1,185,568 | 100.0 per cent |
The median home across the whole screened register was AED 1,108,207, about USD 301,758. That sits just above the visa threshold, which is why the split is so close to even.
The cost you cannot read off this page
Buying is not the whole cost of retiring anywhere. On top of the price you pay the Dubai Land Department transfer fee of four per cent, plus agency and registration costs, and after you move in you pay annual service charges on the building.
We are not going to put a service charge figure or a rental yield figure on this page. Neither is in the transaction register, and this company does not publish numbers it has not computed from a primary source. Anyone quoting you a single citywide service charge rate or a single citywide yield is estimating. Ask them which building and which month.
Method and limits
Source: the Dubai Land Department transaction register for August 2026, 15,955 rows, downloaded 2 September 2026. This is the latest full month published at the time of writing.
Basis: GROUP_EN of Sales, USAGE_EN of Residential and PROP_TYPE_EN of Unit gives 10,123 rows. Rows below AED 500 per square foot are removed as non-market, which takes out 167 rows and leaves the 9,956 used throughout. Areas convert from registered square metres at 10.7639 square feet per square metre. Dollar figures use the pegged rate of 3.6725.
Limits we would rather state than bury. The register records price, not valuation, so a property valued at AED 1,000,000 for visa purposes is not necessarily one that registered at that price, and GDRFA assesses value on its own terms. Area tables are limited to areas with at least 60 screened sales so that a handful of transactions cannot set a median. Area labels are the register’s own and their casing is inconsistent, so counts group on a normalised label. Registered value excludes the four per cent transfer fee, agency fees and mortgage costs. Bedroom counts are the register’s ROOMS_EN field. Medians are single-month and will move. This page carries no service charge or rental yield figure because neither is in this dataset.
Visa criteria are quoted from official UAE and Dubai government sources as published on 24 September 2026 and can change. Confirm with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs before acting. Nothing here is tax, legal, immigration or investment advice.
Common questions
Can you retire in Dubai on a property purchase?
Yes, if the property meets the published threshold. The retirement visa route asks for property worth at least AED 1,000,000, and in the August 2026 register 5,584 of 9,956 screened home sales, or 56.1 per cent, were at or above that figure.
How old do you have to be for the UAE retirement visa?
The published minimum age is 55, with at least 15 years of prior service. The visa runs for five years and is renewable.
Is a studio enough to qualify for the retirement visa?
Usually not. Only 5.1 per cent of the 3,602 studio sales in the August 2026 register reached AED 1,000,000, and the median studio registered at AED 650,000.
What does a qualifying home cost in Dubai?
The median home across the whole screened August 2026 register was AED 1,108,207, about USD 301,758. A one bedroom, at a median of AED 1,200,000, cleared the AED 1,000,000 threshold in 76.9 per cent of sales.
What are the other options besides buying a property?
The published alternatives are savings of at least AED 1,000,000 or a fixed annual income of at least AED 240,000. The GDRFA service page words the property route alongside a deposit requirement, so confirm the current reading with GDRFA.