Abu Dhabi rolls out mortgage financing for off-plan homes

Abu Dhabi's property registry body, ADREC, has introduced a mechanism allowing a bank to be officially listed as mortgage provider on a property that has not yet been built or handed over. Previously, buyers of off-plan units typically had to wait until construction finished before arranging a mortgage, according to Gulftoday.

Under the new setup, once a buyer has paid half the purchase price directly to the developer, they can bring in a bank to cover the remaining instalments and the final handover sum, with that lending arrangement formally recorded in the Initial Real Estate Register.

Developer Aldar and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank carried out the inaugural transaction under the framework, Gulftoday reported, marking the first time such a mortgage registration has been completed in the emirate. The 50 percent payment threshold aligns with existing UAE Central Bank rules governing eligibility for off-plan mortgage financing.

ADREC's Ghazi Saeed Alateibi said the registration shows the system working in a live transaction, and described it as adding transparency and protection for buyers, developers and lenders. Aldar's Faisal Falaknaz said the framework gives homebuyers more financing flexibility and that the developer intends to extend it across its broader network of banking partners.

For buyers, the main practical shift is timing: financing terms can now be locked in well ahead of completion rather than negotiated at handover, which developers say helps preserve cash on hand during the construction period. It also widens the pool of financing routes available, since buyers are no longer limited to whatever terms are on offer once a project is finished.

Aldar is offering its own in-house advisory service, Home Finance by Aldar, to help buyers compare options across participating banks at no charge, though the framework itself is described as open to any bank meeting the relevant criteria, not tied to a single lender.

A meaningful share of off-plan buyers in Abu Dhabi are based abroad, including UK residents and other expatriates who fund deposits and instalment payments from foreign-currency income or savings. Locking in a mortgage earlier in the construction cycle does not remove the currency exposure on these transfers, since each instalment and the eventual handover payment still needs converting from pounds, dirhams held elsewhere, or another home currency.

Buyers moving large sums for property instalments across borders are typically advised to compare exchange rates and transfer fees across providers, given that even small differences in the rate applied can add up meaningfully on payments running into hundreds of thousands of pounds or dirhams over a multi-year construction period.