What this calculator works out
Give it three numbers — the loan amount, the annual interest rate and the term in years — and it returns the figure that actually matters to your monthly budget: the repayment. Alongside it you get the total interest over the life of the loan, the total paid (loan plus interest), and a full amortisation schedule showing, year by year, how much of your payments goes to interest, how much chips away at the principal, and what balance remains.
The UAE's Central Bank caps residential mortgage terms at 25 years, so that is the maximum term you can enter. Everything here is an estimate to help you plan — not a quote, and not financial advice.
The maths behind your payment
This is a standard amortising (annuity) loan: you pay the same amount every month, and the split between interest and principal shifts over time. The monthly payment M is:
M = P · r · (1 + r)n / ((1 + r)n − 1)
- P is the loan amount (the principal).
- r is the monthly interest rate — the annual rate divided by 12. A 4.5% annual rate is 0.045 ÷ 12 = 0.00375 a month.
- n is the total number of monthly payments — the term in years times 12. A 25-year loan is 300 payments.
Getting r and n onto a monthly footing is the part people most often get wrong. Plug the annual rate or the number of years straight into the formula and the answer is meaningless.
Why interest and principal change over the term
Your monthly payment stays flat, but its make-up does not. Interest each month is charged on the outstanding balance, so at the start — when you still owe almost the whole loan — most of the payment is interest and only a little reduces the balance. As the balance falls, the interest portion shrinks and more of each payment goes to principal. By the final years, the bulk of every payment is repaying the loan itself.
That is why the amortisation schedule is worth reading, not just the headline number. It shows how slowly the balance moves in the early years — and why overpaying early, if your bank allows it, saves disproportionately more interest than overpaying late.
How rate and term move the payment
- A higher rate raises both the monthly payment and the total interest — and the effect compounds over a long term, so even a fraction of a percentage point is significant on a 25-year loan.
- A longer term lowers the monthly payment but increases the total interest, because you are borrowing the money for longer. A shorter term does the reverse: a higher monthly payment, but markedly less interest overall.
Try a few combinations to see the trade-off for yourself. The total-paid figure is the honest measure of what the loan costs you, not the monthly payment alone.
The payment you can afford vs the payment a bank will approve
This is the distinction that trips up most first-time buyers, so it's worth being clear. This calculator shows the repayment at a rate you type in. That is not the same as the loan a bank will actually approve.
Banks don't assess you on today's rate. Under CBUAE rules they apply a stress test, checking that you could still afford the payment if rates rose — lenders typically add around 2 to 4 percentage points to the rate when running that test, though the exact buffer varies by bank, so confirm the current figure with your lender. They also apply the Debt Burden Ratio (DBR): your total monthly debt repayments, mortgage included, generally cannot exceed 50% of your monthly income. Whichever limit bites first sets the loan you qualify for.
So use this page to understand what a given loan costs month to month. To find out how large a loan you'd be approved for, run the numbers through the eligibility calculator, which applies the stress test and the 50% DBR. For the mechanics behind all of this, read how mortgage repayments work.
Fixed, variable and the rate you enter
The rate you type here can be a fixed rate or a variable one — the payment maths is identical; only the certainty differs. In the UAE a variable rate is EIBOR plus a fixed bank margin: the Emirates Interbank Offered Rate moves with the market, while the margin your bank adds stays constant for the life of the loan. When EIBOR rises or falls, your variable rate — and your payment — moves with it.
If you're weighing a fixed introductory period against going variable, see fixed vs variable, and to understand the benchmark itself read EIBOR explained. Because a variable rate can change, treat any variable-rate result here as today's snapshot, not a fixed monthly commitment.
Next steps
Already refinancing rather than buying? Compare your current loan with a new one using the refinance calculator. To see how this fits with the eligibility, cost and other tools, browse all calculators. As always, the figures here are estimates to guide your planning — confirm rates, fees and approval with your bank before you commit.