A buyer from New York asks about currency risk. At what rate is the UAE dirham pegged to the US dollar?

1. ⃃ 3.50 per USD, reviewed every year
2. ⃃ 3.75 per USD, the same as the Saudi riyal
3. ⃃ 3.6725 per USD, fixed since 1997
4. It floats freely against the dollar

Seven apartments sold in one tower this month for ⃃ 1,150,000, 1,400,000, 1,620,000, 1,900,000, 2,050,000, 2,300,000 and a record ⃃ 95,000,000 for the sky penthouse. What is the median sale price?

A valuer looks at recent sales of similar apartments in the same building, then adjusts for floor, view and size. Which valuation method is this?

1. The residual method
2. The comparison (comparative) method
3. The cost method
4. The investment method

Two investors buy identical apartments. One pays cash, the other pays 20% and borrows 80%. Ignoring costs, what happens if prices move 10%?

1. Both see a 10% change on the money they put in
2. The mortgage buyer gains more if prices rise, but loses the same as the cash buyer if they fall
3. The mortgage buyer is protected from falls because the bank shares the loss
4. The mortgage buyer's gain or loss on his own money is much larger in both directions

An expat buys his first home, a ready apartment at ⃃ 2,000,000, with the maximum mortgage the UAE Central Bank allows. A year later it is worth ⃃ 2,100,000. Ignoring costs and interest, what is the return on his own money (in %)?

Your client wants to repay his whole home loan early with his bonus. The outstanding balance is ⃃ 1,600,000. What is the most the bank can charge as an early settlement fee?

1. ⃃ 10,000
2. ⃃ 16,000
3. ⃃ 48,000
4. Nothing, early settlement is always free

A bank offers your buyer a variable-rate mortgage. How is that rate usually built in the UAE?

1. A fixed rate set by the Dubai Land Department
2. The UAE Central Bank base rate, with no bank margin
3. A benchmark such as 3-month EIBOR plus the bank's margin, reset on set dates
4. The developer's payment plan rate plus VAT

A client wants Islamic home finance. In an ijara structure, what happens?

1. The bank lends cash and charges interest, like a conventional loan
2. The bank buys the property and leases it to the client, and ownership passes to the client at the end
3. The bank buys the property and resells it to the client at a marked-up price paid in instalments
4. The client and the developer share ownership until handover

An expat first-time buyer agrees ⃃ 2,000,000 for a ready apartment and plans an 80% mortgage. The bank's valuation comes in at ⃃ 1,900,000. How much of the purchase price must he now pay from his own cash (ignore fees)?

An office floor in Business Bay produces a net operating income of ⃃ 450,000 per year. Similar investments trade at a capitalisation rate of 7.5%. Using the income method, what is it worth?

Sales in your community fell sharply from June to July and a seller panics. What is the best way to check whether the market is really weakening?

1. Compare July with the previous month only
2. Look at the single highest sale in July
3. Count the listings on one portal today
4. Compare July with July of last year, since activity has seasonal patterns

Savills reported Q2 2026 Dubai averages of about ⃃ 1,960 per sq ft for apartments and ⃃ 1,646 per sq ft for villas and townhouses. A client says this proves apartments cost more than villas. What do you answer?

1. Apartments cost more per sq ft, but villas are much larger, so a villa's total price is usually higher
2. He is right, apartments are the more expensive product in every community
3. The figures must be wrong, villas always cost more per sq ft
4. Price per sq ft is only used for off-plan, so it does not apply

A UAE national buys his first home, a villa at ⃃ 6,000,000, to live in. What is the maximum loan-to-value under the UAE Central Bank mortgage regulations?

1. 85%
2. 80%
3. 75%
4. 70%

A bank needs a value for a purpose-built private school campus that has never been sold and has no comparable sales. Which method is a valuer most likely to rely on?

1. The comparison method
2. Average price per sq ft of nearby apartments
3. The residual method
4. The cost method (depreciated replacement cost)

An investor remembers the global financial crisis. Roughly how much value did Dubai property lose between 2008 and 2011?

1. About 15%
2. About 30%
3. More than 50%
4. About 85%

Prices rose fast in 2013 and the IMF urged action. Which two measures did Dubai and the UAE introduce in late 2013 to cool speculation?

1. The DLD transfer fee doubled from 2% to 4%, and Central Bank mortgage rules capped loan-to-value
2. VAT on resale homes and a ban on foreign buyers
3. A capital gains tax and a freeze on new launches
4. A rent cap and a minimum holding period of five years

In Q3 2018 the UAE Central Bank reported Dubai residential prices down 7.4% year on year, the eighth quarterly fall in a row. What did analysts name as the main cause of that correction?

1. Rising US interest rates alone
2. A strong, continued flow of new housing supply
3. The introduction of a property tax
4. Restrictions on foreign ownership

In May 2025, after residential prices rose by close to 60% between 2022 and Q1 2025, what did Fitch Ratings forecast for Dubai?

1. A crash of over 50%, like 2008
2. Another 20% rise in 2026
3. Flat prices because no new supply was coming
4. A moderate correction of no more than 15% from H2 2025, as about 250,000 units deliver from 2023 to 2026

Savills reported that in Q2 2026 about 27,300 homes were handed over in Dubai, while developers launched about 5,335 units, down from more than 45,000 in Q1. What is the soundest reading?

1. Supply is drying up, so every community will see price rises
2. New completed supply is high now, while slower launches shrink the future pipeline, so pressure is likely in high-supply communities
3. Handovers do not affect rents or resale prices
4. Fewer launches prove that buyers have left Dubai

A client wants Dubai rental income without buying a unit. What is Dubai Residential REIT, which listed in May 2025?

1. A Shariah-compliant REIT on the Dubai Financial Market, sponsored by Dubai Holding, owning about 35,700 rental homes
2. A government mortgage fund for first-time buyers
3. A developer's off-plan payment plan listed on Nasdaq Dubai
4. A private fund open only to UAE nationals

A French investor buys an apartment for ⃃ 2,000,000 when 1 EUR = 4.00 AED. He sells for ⃃ 2,300,000 when 1 EUR = 4.40 AED. Ignoring costs, what is his return in euros (in %)?

An expat investor bought a home at ⃃ 2,000,000 with an 80% loan. Over one year he paid ⃃ 64,000 in interest, then sold at ⃃ 1,800,000. Ignoring rent, fees and principal repaid, what loss did he make as a % of his own equity? (Enter a positive number.)

A warehouse earns a stable net operating income of ⃃ 1,200,000. Market cap rates for this type compress from 7.5% to 6.5%. By how much does its value rise (in %)?

A developer studies a plot for a tower worth ⃃ 150,000,000 once built (GDV). Construction costs ⃃ 70,000,000, fees, marketing and finance ⃃ 15,000,000, and he requires a profit of 20% of GDV. Using the residual method, what is the most he should pay for the land?