Rakbank and RAK Properties Launch Exclusive Off-Plan Home Financing in Ras Al Khaimah: 12 Projects, About 3,585 Homes, Handovers Running to Q1 2029

10 September 2026

RAK Properties and Rakbank have launched an exclusive off-plan home financing product for buyers in Ras Al Khaimah. It was announced by the developer on 8 September 2026 and is available now. A buyer makes a low initial payment and then draws structured financing that runs through the construction period to handover, subject to the bank’s eligibility criteria and terms. The product covers 12 named developments: Skai, Quattro Del Mar, Solera, NURA, Anantara Residences, Anantara Villas, ENTA, Lunara on The Strand, Mirasol 1, Mirasol 2, Beach Villas and Edge. Neither company has published the finance-to-value ratio, the rate, the minimum initial payment or the tenor. The Central Bank of the UAE rule that caps lending on an off-plan purchase at 50% of the property value has not changed.

What the two companies announced on 8 September 2026

RAK Properties (ADX: RAKPROP), described in the release as Ras Al Khaimah’s leading publicly listed developer, and Rakbank (ADX: RAKBANK), a listed UAE bank with a 50-year history, published a joint statement on an exclusive financing route for off-plan homes. The developer calls it a first-of-its-kind solution and says it goes beyond a standard mortgage product. Everything that was actually published fits into a short list:

• Scope. Select off-plan and under-construction RAK Properties developments, 12 of them named in the release.
• Entry point. A low initial investment unlocks access to structured financing solutions.
• Coverage. Financing is available at different stages of the purchase, from the initial payment through to handover.
• Conditions. Everything is subject to eligibility and applicable terms and conditions.
• Availability. The option is live now across the listed developments.
• Exclusivity. The product is exclusive to the two companies and is not offered through other banks or other developers.

Sameh Muhtadi, Chief Executive Officer of RAK Properties, said: “Our goal at RAK Properties is to make owning a premium residence in Ras Al Khaimah as attractive and easy as possible. By partnering with Rakbank on this exclusive product, we’re pleased to offer one of the most accessible home financing solutions on the market. More than a standard mortgage product, this highly tailored and flexible financial pathway gives buyers total confidence from the off-plan stage all the way to handover.”

Raheel Ahmed, Group Chief Executive Officer of Rakbank, said: “Buying a home is one of life’s biggest milestones and, for many people, the fulfilment of a long-held dream. Our role is to help make that dream feel more achievable. Through our partnership with RAK Properties, we are giving eligible customers greater flexibility and support throughout the journey, from construction to the moment they receive the keys to their new home.”

The 12 developments in the scheme

All of the named projects sit inside Mina Al Arab, the developer’s waterfront masterplan, or on The Strand. The table below collects the factsheet data published on the developer’s own website as of 10 September 2026. The scheme therefore stretches across handover dates from the second quarter of 2027 to the first quarter of 2029, which is the practical length of the financing window.

Adding up the unit counts the developer publishes gives about 3,585 homes inside the scheme, our calculation from the factsheets above. Two names need a footnote. Anantara Villas is not a separate project: the developer lists 19 villas of 3 to 5 bedrooms inside the Anantara Residences project on Hayat Island, alongside 84 apartments. Beach Villas has no standalone factsheet on the developer’s website at the time of writing, so no unit count or completion date can be confirmed for it. Buyers should ask the developer which specific inventory the bank has approved before signing anything.

What the announcement does not say

This is where the release is thin, and the gaps matter more than the headline. As published, the two companies have not disclosed:

• The finance-to-value ratio. The share of the price the bank will fund is not stated.
• The price of the money. No interest rate, profit rate, arrangement fee or valuation fee is published, and the release does not say whether the product is conventional or Shariah-compliant.
• The minimum initial payment. The phrase used is “low initial investment”, with no percentage and no AED figure.
• The tenor and the repayment profile. There is no statement on whether the buyer pays interest only during construction, as in some competing products, or full instalments from the first drawdown.
• Who qualifies. The release says “eligible customers” without saying whether non-residents, or buyers holding the unit through a company, can apply.
• How the security is registered. The statement does not describe how or when the bank’s interest is recorded against an off-plan unit in Ras Al Khaimah.

Until the bank publishes a product sheet, those six lines are the questions to put to Rakbank in writing before paying a booking fee.

The 50% central bank cap still frames the deal

The Regulations Regarding Mortgage Loans issued by the Central Bank of the UAE, Circular No. 31/2013, published in the Official Gazette on 28 November 2013 and amended since, set the outer limits for any home loan in the country. The maximum loan for the purchase of a property bought off-plan is 50% of the value of the property, regardless of the purpose of the purchase, the value of the unit or whether the buyer is a UAE national or an expatriate. Two more limits apply to the borrower rather than to the property: total monthly debt obligations, including the proposed instalment, cannot exceed 50% of gross salary and regular income, and the maximum tenor of a mortgage loan is 25 years.

Nothing in the RAK Properties and Rakbank announcement changes those numbers, because a developer and a bank cannot change them. What a tie-up like this changes is access: which projects a bank will lend against, at what stage of construction it will start, and how quickly the file moves. The other half of the price still has to come from the buyer’s own funds or from the developer’s payment plan. For the full picture of how banks in the country treat buyers, including foreign ones, see our guide to mortgages in the UAE for residents and non-residents.

Three off-plan financing moves in under three weeks

The Ras Al Khaimah deal is the third step in the same direction in a short window, and the differences between them are instructive.

• 22 August 2026, Dubai Islamic Bank. DIB launched a Shariah-compliant off-plan home finance product covering up to 50% of the value of an under-construction freehold property anywhere in the UAE, with profit-only payments during construction and full instalments starting at handover or 24 months after drawdown, whichever comes first. It is open to UAE nationals, residents and non-residents.
• 4 September 2026, Abu Dhabi. ADREC, Aldar and ADCB registered the first mortgage on an off-plan home in Abu Dhabi. Once a buyer has paid 50% of the price, the bank can fund the remaining instalments and the final payment before handover, and the bank is recorded on the mortgage registration certificate in the emirate’s Initial Real Estate Register. That was a change to registration infrastructure, open to the whole market.
• 8 September 2026, Ras Al Khaimah. RAK Properties and Rakbank went the commercial route instead: one developer, one bank, one exclusive product, 12 named projects, no regulatory change and no published terms.

Read together, the three moves show banks pushing into the construction phase of the purchase, which is where UAE residential volume actually sits. Off-plan accounted for roughly 70% to 76% of Dubai residential transactions in the first half of 2026, and in Ras Al Khaimah, according to Cavendish Maxwell, off-plan made up 85% of the AED 12.4 billion of residential sales recorded in 2025.

The market behind the partnership

Ras Al Khaimah is in an unusual position: prices are still up year on year, the pipeline is heavy, and the emirate is building towards the opening of Wynn Al Marjan Island in autumn 2027. In the first half of 2026 apartment prices in the emirate rose 6.5% year on year and villa prices by almost 6%, while the second quarter showed the first pause, with apartment prices down 0.7%. Cavendish Maxwell expects 13,800 new homes to be delivered by the end of 2028, split as 2,200 units in 2026, 4,700 in 2027 and 7,500 in 2028. The detail sits in our review of Ras Al Khaimah property prices in H1 2026.

Both partners come to the deal from different places. RAK Properties reported revenue of AED 533 million and net profit of AED 77 million for the first half of 2026, both sharply lower year on year, while its sales backlog rose 26% to a record AED 3.3 billion. The developer handed over 264 homes in the first half and plans about 1,400 for the full year, so 2026 is a delivery year rather than a launch year. Rakbank, by contrast, posted record first-half results: net profit up 25% to AED 1.7 billion, total assets up 14% to AED 108.6 billion, customer deposits up 23% to AED 75.1 billion, a net interest margin of 3.9% and return on equity of 25.2%. A bank with that balance sheet buying exclusive access to a developer’s buyer flow is a straightforward commercial trade for both sides.

What this means in practice

For anyone buying, employing or advising in the UAE, the practical takeaways are narrow but real:

• If you are buying in one of the 12 named projects, financing can now be requested from the first payment instead of waiting for the keys, so cash that would have been locked into developer instalments can stay in the business or in the market.
• The product is exclusive. A buyer in a different Ras Al Khaimah project, or a RAK Properties buyer who prefers another bank, is back to the standard route: developer payment plan now, mortgage at handover.
• Half the price still has to be funded outside the loan under the central bank cap, and the debt burden ratio test of 50% of income applies to the applicant, not to the project.
• Ras Al Khaimah remains open to foreign buyers in its designated freehold areas, including Mina Al Arab, under the emirate’s Real Estate Register Law, Law No. 11 of 2021, with the market supervised by RAK RERA.
• Companies should not assume access. Retail home finance products are normally written for individuals, and the release says nothing about corporate borrowers or units held through a company.
• Employers relocating staff to the northern emirates now have one more argument in the package, but only for those 12 projects and only for staff who pass the bank’s income and residency tests.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with founders and companies entering or expanding in the UAE. We handle company setup on the mainland and in free zones, corporate and personal bank account opening with a prepared KYC and source-of-funds file, and residence and work visas for owners, staff and their families. Accounting, audit, VAT and corporate tax work is handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network. For clients weighing a property purchase, our mortgage support service covers the paperwork and the lender conversation; we do not promise approvals, rates or timelines that a bank has not given in writing.

Conclusion

The RAK Properties and Rakbank tie-up is a distribution deal, not a regulatory one. It puts bank money into the construction phase of 12 named Ras Al Khaimah projects covering about 3,585 homes with handovers running to the first quarter of 2029, and it does so exclusively, which is the point for both partners. What it does not do is move the 50% central bank cap, the 50% debt burden ratio or the 25-year tenor limit, and it does not yet come with published rates, ratios or eligibility rules. That makes it worth a call to the bank for anyone already buying in those projects, and worth nothing at all until the terms arrive in writing.

FAQ

What did RAK Properties and Rakbank launch in September 2026?

On 8 September 2026 RAK Properties and Rakbank announced an exclusive off-plan home financing product for buyers in Ras Al Khaimah. A buyer makes a low initial payment and then accesses structured financing that runs from construction through to handover, subject to eligibility and the bank’s terms. The option is available now across 12 named RAK Properties developments.

Which RAK Properties projects are covered by the Rakbank financing?

Twelve developments are named: Skai, Quattro Del Mar, Solera, NURA, Anantara Residences, Anantara Villas, ENTA, Lunara on The Strand, Mirasol 1, Mirasol 2, Beach Villas and Edge. They sit inside Mina Al Arab and on The Strand, with published completion dates running from the second quarter of 2027 to the first quarter of 2029, and the published unit counts add up to about 3,585 homes.

How much can a bank lend on an off-plan property in the UAE?

The Central Bank of the UAE caps the loan for an off-plan purchase at 50% of the property value, regardless of purpose, unit value or whether the buyer is a UAE national or an expatriate. Total monthly debt obligations, including the new instalment, cannot exceed 50% of gross salary and regular income, and the maximum mortgage tenor is 25 years. The RAK Properties and Rakbank product does not change any of these limits.

Can a non-resident use the RAK Properties and Rakbank off-plan financing?

The announcement does not say. It refers only to eligible customers and gives no residency criteria, no finance-to-value ratio, no rate and no minimum initial payment. Those terms have to be confirmed with Rakbank in writing before a booking fee is paid. By comparison, the off-plan home finance product DIB launched on 22 August 2026 is explicitly open to UAE nationals, residents and non-residents.