The short answer
Your total monthly debt repayments cannot exceed 50 percent of your gross monthly income. The mortgage is assessed inside that limit at a stress rate higher than the one you are offered, and an unused credit card limit counts against you. Those three things together decide the loan, and two of them surprise most applicants.
The limit, and what counts inside it
Every monthly repayment you owe counts: the proposed mortgage, car finance, personal loans, and a share of your credit cards. The total cannot exceed half of your gross monthly income.
The credit card treatment is the one that catches people. Banks on our panel count 5 percent of your total card limit as a monthly commitment, whether or not you use it. An unused AED 200,000 limit is treated as an AED 10,000 monthly obligation, which can remove a six figure sum from what you can borrow. Reducing a limit you do not need is one of the few things that improves a file quickly.
- RegulationTotal monthly debt repayments cannot exceed 50 percent of gross monthly income. Article 3.1, originating in Regulation 29/2011.
- Lender practiceBanks count 5 percent of your total credit card LIMIT as a monthly commitment, used or not.
The rate you are tested at
The bank does not test affordability at the rate you are offered. The regulation requires a stress test of at least 2 and at most 4 percentage points above the current rate, and in practice our panel assesses at around 7.3 percent, with the lowest we have observed at 6.4 percent and the highest at 8.5 percent.
On the same income, that spread changes what you can borrow by a six figure sum. It is also the clearest single reason two banks give two different answers to the same applicant, and the reason a broker's first job is choosing where the file goes.
- RegulationA stress test of at least 2 percentage points and at most 4 percentage points above the current rate. Article 3.1.
- Lender practiceOur panel assesses at about 7.3 percent. Observed range: 6.4 to 8.5 percent.
Income the bank will and will not count
Basic salary is straightforward. Commission, bonus, allowances and rental income are where banks differ most, and where a file is won or lost. For an investment property, at least two months of rental income must be deducted before the rest is counted.
A calculator has to assume one treatment of your income. A panel of more than twenty banks contains several, and choosing between them is exactly the part that cannot be automated.
- RegulationFor investment property, at least 2 months of rental income must be deducted. Article 3.1.
- RegulationAn expatriate can borrow at most 7 times annual income, a UAE national 8 times. Article 3.4.
CBUAE Circular 31/2013 Articles 3.1 and 3.4, checked 26 August 2026. The assessment rate and the credit card treatment are panel practice, not regulation.