News: Dubai Drops Minimum Property Value for Two-Year Visa-02-05-2026

Dubai has removed the minimum property value that individual buyers had to meet to qualify for its two-year property-linked residency visa, a step aimed at widening investor access and reviving demand amid the ongoing US-Iran war.

Under revised rules issued by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) through its Cube platform, the earlier threshold of Dh750,000 (almost Rs 1.9 crore) no longer applies to sole owners. For jointly owned property, a minimum investment of Dh400,000 per investor (about Rs 1.3 crore) has been introduced, according to a Gulf News report. Experts said this means a sole owner of even a relatively affordable home can now obtain residency, while shared ownership still carries a defined floor.

Morgan Owen, Managing Director, MENA at ANAROCK Group, said the old cutoff had kept many mid-range properties out. A mid-range flat in Jumeirah Village Circle, for instance, could have fallen just short and shut out an interested buyer, he said, adding that such budgets now qualify and the market has opened up considerably.

Shiv Garg, Director at Forteasia Realty Pvt Ltd, said Dubai real estate transactions have exceeded AED 500 billion since 2024, with a record of 1.6 million transactions, and that lowering the investment floor would open the mid and affordable segments. He expects younger buyers and those looking at studios or smaller units to participate more.

Both expect demand to rise in affordable and mid-income housing. Owen said more buyers in the lower and middle tiers would tighten supply and push prices up, benefiting existing owners, particularly those with homes worth less than Dh1 million. He cautioned that premium areas still have too much supply. Garg said units under Dh1 million should see the most traction, and sustained demand could support prices and improve exit options, though yield compression is a short-term risk if supply does not keep pace.

Experts said the change matters most for overseas buyers, especially Indians, who are already the largest group of foreign investors in Dubai. Owen said the move was aimed directly at them and that many NRIs who had worked through the "residency maths" would find the figures changed overnight. He noted that the General Directorate of Residency & Foreign Affairs (GDRFA) and DLD are now digitally integrated on a single platform, cutting paperwork. With geopolitical tensions adding urgency, he said Dubai offers stability, no income tax and easy entry, and expects interest from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi in particular.

Buyers from India and the UK were the top investors in Dubai real estate in 2025, when the city recorded AED 547 billion in residential sales across 203,000 transactions. Between February 28 and April 29, however, it recorded 26,960 real estate transactions, an 89% drop from 246,951 in the same period last year, according to DXB Interact data.