What it costs to get started

The fees that are published

These come from the Dubai Land Department's own service page for issuing a real estate professional practice card, read on 14 and 22 October 2026, and they are the only figures on this page we are prepared to state. Each is a separate charge, and together they are not a complete cost of joining.

For a real estate broker the page lists AED 500 as the fee for issuing the card, and AED 700 for the exam with an AED 10 knowledge fee and an AED 10 innovation fee, and an AED 50 ERES fee shown as plus VAT, with a note that terms and conditions apply. This page does not add them up. The Department's training page separately lists the Real Estate Brokerage Exam at AED 772.50, so confirm which amount applies to you and what it includes before paying. The exam guide explains both listings.

The stated processing time for issuing the card is five minutes, and the listed requirements include a personal photo, an Emirates ID copy, and a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police among the eligibility conditions.

Before budgeting for the exam, check whether an exemption applies to you. The DLD publishes exemptions from the broker exam including for applicants above 55 years of age and brokers with five consecutive years at the same office.

1. 01

   Card issuance, AED 500

   The fee line for issuing the real estate broker card, as the service page lists it.

2. 02

   Exam, AED 700

   The broker exam line on the service page, where you are not exempt.

3. 03

   Knowledge and innovation fees, AED 10 each

   Listed with the exam line on the service page.

4. 04

   ERES fee, AED 50 plus VAT

   Listed as a separate line on the service page for the broker category.

Why quoted totals are hard to compare

This is worth explaining properly, because comparing quotes is the hard part of this question.

A course fee, where one applies, is quoted by whoever provides the course, and it can differ between providers and change. Confirm which course and provider apply to your application and ask for the fee in writing. We are not going to print a figure.

Quotes can also differ in what they include: some may include VAT, some a course fee, some only government fees. So when you are quoted a number, ask exactly what it contains and for an itemised breakdown. Two quotes are not comparable until you know. That question is more useful than any total, including one we could have written.

Ask your chosen provider for their current fee in writing before booking, and check the DLD service page for the current government fees rather than relying on this article, which will eventually be out of date like all the others.

The costs that are not on anyone's list

Getting licensed is the cheapest part of starting in this industry, and treating the entry fee as the cost of entry is how people arrive underfunded.

Residency, where you are arranging it yourself, carries its own costs and its own process, and that sits with the immigration authority rather than with us. It has its own piece in this section, which deliberately declines to advise on it.

Then the running costs, which begin immediately and continue whether or not you transact: transport across a city where viewings are not conveniently clustered, a phone that is a working tool, and, depending on the firm, portal credits, lead costs and listing marketing. Whether those last ones are yours or the firm's is a term you negotiate rather than a fact of the industry, and it is covered in the piece on the costs agents carry.

And the largest cost of all, which never appears in a list because it is not an invoice: the months between starting and being paid reliably. Commission arrives late and irregularly at the beginning, and a proportion of agreed transactions do not complete. The number that decides whether you make it through a first year is how many months of everything above you can fund with no commission at all.

What to budget against

Work it out in three parts rather than as one number, because they behave differently.

The fixed entry cost: the DLD charges above, plus any course fee quoted to you in writing, plus VAT where it applies. Ask for it itemised. This is the part you can know in advance.

The recurring cost of doing the job: transport, phone, and whichever of the portal, lead and marketing costs your contract makes yours. Establish this before signing, in writing, because it is a term rather than a constant and it varies enormously between firms.

And the runway: your living costs plus the recurring costs above, multiplied by the number of months you can sustain with no income. This is the figure that actually determines the outcome, and it is the one almost nobody calculates before starting.

If that last number is uncomfortably small, that is worth knowing now rather than in month five. It is also a legitimate reason to look for an arrangement with a base or a draw underneath the commission, and to ask directly which firms offer one.