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Remortgaging (or refinancing) in the UAE means closing your existing home loan and replacing it with a new mortgage, either with your current bank or a different lender. The new bank effectively settles your old mortgage and registers a fresh charge on the property under updated terms, conditions and pricing.
Customers usually look at remortgaging when they want to access a lower rate, lock in more predictable repayments, extend or shorten their tenure, or consolidate borrowing secured against their home. In some cases, remortgaging is also used to release equity for other purposes, subject to lender affordability and loan‑to‑value rules.
For most people, a mortgage is the single largest financial commitment they will ever make, so it should not be something you take out once and never review. By revisiting your mortgage terms periodically and switching when it makes financial sense, you can potentially reduce interest significantly over the full life of the loan.
Banks in the UAE regularly adjust their offers, and many introduce preferential pricing to win new customers, which opens opportunities for existing borrowers to secure more efficient deals through remortgaging. With the right guidance, the process is straightforward and can deliver substantial savings without disrupting your overall property plans.
There is no fixed rule that says you must remortgage after a particular number of years, but it is sensible to reassess your loan regularly, especially when market rates move. Many UAE borrowers remain on older or reversionary rates that are no longer competitive simply because they have not compared options for some time.
Instead of waiting for your fixed‑rate period to end, it is often worth checking the numbers ahead of time to see whether an early move still produces net savings after fees. In the UAE, early settlement charges are governed by Central Bank rules and are usually a small percentage of the outstanding balance capped at a fixed amount, so it is crucial to factor this into your timing decision.
The key question is not just “Can I get a lower rate?” but “Does switching actually save money after all the fees and penalties are included?”. A useful benchmark is to see whether you can recover your switching costs and start generating a net saving within the first couple of years on the new deal.
Three core variables drive this assessment:
An experienced UAE mortgage adviser can model multiple scenarios for you and show, in clear numbers, whether remortgaging improves your position over the time horizon you care about.
Begin by understanding exactly what you are paying today: the margin, any linked reference rate, and whether you are on a fixed, variable, or discounted arrangement. If your mortgage was taken several years ago, there is a reasonable chance that current offers in the UAE market are more competitive, depending on rate cycles.
It is often worthwhile to request a retention or repricing offer from your existing bank and treat that as your baseline. You can then compare that against offers from other lenders to see whether moving banks or restructuring through a new product provides a meaningful reduction in monthly instalments and total interest paid.
Remortgaging involves several standard fees that need to be built into your analysis so you can compare “apples to apples” when looking at different options. These costs vary slightly by emirate and lender, but the main components in the UAE are relatively consistent.
Typical line items include:
At BNW, these figures are incorporated into a full cost–benefit calculation so you can see clearly whether the long‑term savings justify the one‑off outlay.
When you close or transfer your mortgage to another bank, your existing lender will normally charge an early settlement fee. In the UAE, Central Bank guidelines cap this at around 1% of the amount repaid early, subject to a maximum dirham limit, which prevents penalties from becoming excessive.
Some lenders allow the new bank to pay this fee on your behalf and then add it to your new mortgage balance, but you will still pay interest on that amount over time. For this reason, a proper refinancing review always includes both the headline rate and the impact of these penalties so you can judge the true benefit of switching.
UAE regulations require borrowers to have life insurance in place to cover the outstanding mortgage balance if the borrower passes away or becomes permanently disabled. Premiums are usually charged as a percentage of the outstanding loan and collected alongside your monthly instalment.
In 2020, new rules changed how life insurance products are priced and how commissions are structured, which in many cases reduced the long‑term cost of cover for consumers. Homeowners who took out their mortgage policies before these changes may be able to secure significantly lower life insurance costs when they remortgage, which enhances the overall financial benefit of refinancing.
From the outside, the idea of moving your mortgage can seem daunting, especially when you factor in valuations, approvals and land department processes. In practice, with a specialist UAE broker coordinating the steps, most of the heavy lifting is handled for you and the process follows a clear, repeatable path.
For many borrowers, the potential to save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dirhams over the life of the loan far outweighs the effort involved in remortgaging. An expert review allows you to decide with confidence whether staying put or switching is the smarter move for your situation.
