Most buyers compare payment plans the wrong way. They add up the cash each plan asks for and pick the smallest number. That ignores the most important fact in any deal: a dirham you pay in 2030 is worth far less than a dirham you pay today. The payment-plan comparator fixes that. It puts a cash purchase, a mortgage at any LTV, and seven off-plan splits on the same 72-month timeline, then ranks all nine on present value.
How off-plan payment plans differ
Before we get to the tool, it helps to understand why this comparison is hard in the first place. In a cash purchase, you pay the whole amount at once, up front. In off-plan, the developer spreads the payment over time, and every developer does it differently. One plan takes the bulk of the money during construction. Another pushes the bulk to handover and even beyond. That difference in timing means two plans with the same headline price can be worth very different amounts in practice. The only fair way to compare them is to bring every payment back to today's value.
What it outputs
You set the price, the discount rate, the net yield, and appreciation. It builds a month-by-month cash flow for each plan and discounts every payment to today. The discount rate is the key lever. Think of it as your cost of money. I usually run it at 6%. For every plan it shows:
- **NPV.** All cash flows discounted to today. This number ranks the plans. Higher is better.
- **NFV.** The same figure carried forward to your exit month.
- **Discounted ROI.** PV profit divided by PV cost, a real return after time value.
- **Discounted ROE.** NPV divided by the cash you put in on day one. This is where mortgage leverage shows up.
- **IRR.** The annual return that drives NPV to zero. Beat your discount rate and the plan creates value.
It also generates a free PDF with your name on it. No email, no signup.
Why time value flips the answer
Here is the part buyers miss. A 60/40 post-handover plan asks you to pay 60% during construction and 40% after you get the keys. That 40% sits two or three years out, so when you discount it, it shrinks. A cash buyer hands over 100% on day one at full value. Do the math properly and the back-loaded plan can land a higher NPV than cash, even though the headline price is identical. Push appreciation up and the off-plan plans climb. Push it down and cash with leverage wins. The mechanics are covered in off-plan payment plans decoded.
A worked example
Take a 1.5M dirham unit, 6% discount rate, 6% net yield, 5% appreciation, 36 months to build, 36 months hold. Compare two plans:
- **Cash, secondary.** You pay the full 1.5M plus DLD and agency at m0. Rent flows from month one. Strong NPV, but every dirham is committed up front, so discounted ROE equals ROI.
- **Off-plan 40/60.** You pay 40% across the build in instalments, then 60% at handover. Less capital exposed early, and the big payment is discounted hard. Watch whether its NPV edges past the cash row.
If it does, the 40/60 is the better use of money here, even though both cost 1.5M on paper. To test leverage, slide the mortgage LTV and read the discounted ROE row. That tells you the return on the cash you actually tie up. Pair this with the mortgage calculator and the yield tool before you commit.
What to watch
The handover instalment is where the most common mistake happens. In many off-plan plans, a large slice of the money falls due right at handover. If you plan to sell or rent at that point but the project is delayed, you have to fund that payment from somewhere else. Before you sign, map out the due date of every instalment and make sure you will have the cash on hand when it lands.
One caveat I always flag. The model excludes exit costs, rental voids, service charge inflation, and developer delay. Treat the output as the data-led start of the conversation, not the conclusion.
Source: dubai_investment_v3 cash-flow model, present-value basis.
Frequently asked questions
Compare them on present value, not on the total cash each plan asks for. A dirham you pay in 2030 is worth far less than a dirham you pay today, so I discount every instalment back to today and rank the plans on NPV. My payment plan comparator does this for a cash purchase, a mortgage at any LTV, and seven off-plan splits on one 72-month timeline.
Yes, a back-loaded plan can land a higher NPV than cash even at the same headline price. In a 60/40 post-handover plan, the last 40 percent sits two or three years out, so it shrinks when you discount it, while a cash buyer commits 100 percent at full value on day one. Push appreciation up and the off-plan plans climb; push it down and cash with leverage wins.
I usually run the comparator at 6 percent. The discount rate is your cost of money, the return your cash would earn somewhere else, and it is the key lever in the model. If a plan's IRR beats your discount rate, that plan creates value.
The handover instalment. In many plans a large slice of the price falls due right at handover, and if the project is delayed you have to fund that payment from somewhere else, so map the due date of every instalment before you sign. Also note the model excludes exit costs, rental voids, service charge inflation, and developer delay, so treat the output as the start of the conversation, not the conclusion.