Property marketing quotes one number. Your bank account will meet many more. This article prices a QAR 2 million apartment purchase, the mid-market Doha and Lusail bracket, from first deposit to final instalment, using the only published home financing rate in Qatar: AlRayan Bank's salary-backed formula, which computes to 5.85% per annum (QMRO 4.35% effective December 11, 2025, plus 1.50% retail spread), verified August 4, 2026. Where we amortise, the calculations are ours and illustrative, not bank quotes. Every buyer should rerun them in the financing calculator with their own terms.
Ready to compare halal options?
Step one: the cash you need before anything happens
As a resident expat, Qatar Central Bank's financing-to-value cap is 75%, so the minimum deposit is QAR 500,000. (A Qatari national at the 80% tier needs QAR 400,000.) On top: AlRayan's published 1% feasibility fee on the QAR 1.5 million financing is QAR 15,000, documentation adds QAR 500, and if you finance at QIB instead, two property valuations by accredited companies come at your cost, figures unpublished. Realistic resident cash to reach signing: roughly QAR 516,000 before moving costs, agent fees or furniture. That number, not the sticker, is the barrier to entry.
Step two: the instalment at the published rate
| Scenario | Rate | Term | Monthly instalment (illustrative) | Total repaid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail salary band (QAR 10,000-34,999) | 5.85% | 25 years | ~QAR 9,530 | ~QAR 2,859,000 |
| Premier salary band (QAR 35,000+) | 5.60% | 25 years | ~QAR 9,300 | ~QAR 2,790,000 |
| Promo first 2 years (to Aug 31, 2026) | 3.50% then standard | 25 years | ~QAR 7,510 during promo | Depends on reversion rate |
| Longest published term (QIIB envelope) | 5.85% assumed | 30 years | ~QAR 8,850 | ~QAR 3,186,000 |
| Shortest market term (Dukhan Ijara) | 5.85% assumed | 15 years | ~QAR 12,540 | ~QAR 2,257,000 |
Read the last two rows together, because they carry the article's most important lesson. Stretching from 15 to 30 years cuts the monthly commitment by nearly QAR 3,700 but adds roughly QAR 929,000 to the total repaid on the same financing at the same rate. Neither choice is wrong. The 15-year buyer owns outright a decade and a half sooner and pays far less profit; the 30-year buyer keeps monthly headroom for life's other claims. What is wrong is not noticing the trade.
Step three: the running costs the brochure omits
Takaful runs through the whole term. AlRayan's published tariff caps property Takaful at 0.08% annually and life Takaful at 0.062% monthly; applied to the opening QAR 1.5 million financing, that is up to QAR 1,200 a year for property cover and up to QAR 930 a month for life cover at the caps, with actual premiums typically tracking the declining balance; get the real schedule in writing. QIB bundles life Takaful at no itemised cost, which is a genuine sweetener if its unpublished rate is competitive. Then the ownership costs financing does not touch: service charges on the tower (materially variable by development and not a banking figure, so obtain the actual rate from the developer), utilities, and maintenance. A budget that ends at the instalment is half a budget.
The honest total
Add it up for the 25-year retail case: QAR 500,000 deposit, QAR 15,500 in published fees, roughly QAR 2,859,000 of instalments, and Takaful lines that could reach six figures cumulatively at the published caps. Call it approximately QAR 3.4 million of lifetime cash for a QAR 2 million apartment, before service charges, and before the promo or a sharper negotiated rate improves it. Is that bad? Compared to what? Renting the equivalent apartment for 25 years is also a seven-figure outlay with nothing owned at the end. The point of the exercise is not to alarm; it is to replace one misleading number with a complete set.
The same apartment at each bank: what changes
The QAR 2 million purchase looks different at each counter. At QIB, a resident needs the QAR 20,000 salary floor and an approved employer, gets a maximum 25-year term, free life Takaful and a 12-month grace period, at an unpublished rate; the QAR 3.5 million including-profit ceiling accommodates this financing comfortably. At QIIB, the term can stretch to 360 months, cutting the illustrative instalment to about QAR 8,850, and rental income can support qualification, at an unpublished rate. At Dukhan, the documented Ijara compresses the schedule into 15 years at roughly QAR 12,540 a month on the same assumed pricing, floating with QCB benchmarks. Only AlRayan lets you see the price from your sofa. The rational shopping order follows from that: compute AlRayan, then make the others beat it in writing.
Five levers that actually move the total
- Salary band: crossing QAR 35,000 monthly salary moves you from 5.85% to 5.60% at AlRayan, worth roughly QAR 68,000 over 25 years on this financing.
- The promo window: 3.50% for two years on QAR 1 million+ saves roughly QAR 2,000 a month against the standard rate while it lasts, with the three-year retention undertaking as the price; our promo analysis does the fine print.
- Term selection: every extra five years cuts the instalment and raises the total; pick the shortest term whose instalment you can hold in a bad year, not a good one.
- Bigger deposit: money above the 25% minimum reduces the financing riyal for riyal and shrinks every fee and Takaful line calculated on it.
- Competing quotes: QIB, QIIB and Dukhan publish no rates, which means their pricing is negotiable in the only way that works: a written AlRayan quote on the table.
Compare all four banks in our home finance comparison, or check your borrower-class rules in the guides for nationals and expats.
Frequently asked questions
What salary do I need for a QAR 2 million apartment?
Work backwards from the instalment. The illustrative 25-year retail instalment of roughly QAR 9,530 must fit within the 50%-of-total-salary cap in QIB's published matrix, implying about QAR 19,100 of monthly salary at minimum, and QIB's own expat floor is QAR 20,000 anyway. AlRayan's published formula pricing needs only QAR 10,000 of salary, but the 50% instalment discipline is a sound personal rule even where a bank's page does not state one.
Is the profit I pay the bank the same as interest?
Economically it is a financing cost; contractually and religiously the difference is real. In the Murabaha pattern the bank earns a fixed trading margin on a sale it actually transacts, agreed once, never compounding on arrears (AlRayan routes late fees to charity at QAR 100 a time). In Dukhan's Ijara the bank earns rent on a property it genuinely owns, notarised at the Ministry of Justice. The structures are supervised by named Shariah boards at all four banks. Whether that distinction matters is a question for your conscience and your scholar; the mechanics are documented in our Murabaha vs Ijarah guide.
Compare providers in your state
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Should I wait for rates to fall?
We do not forecast rates, and neither should your bank. What is knowable: the published benchmark (QMRO 4.35%) has an effective date of December 11, 2025, AlRayan's promo expires August 31, 2026, and a fixed Murabaha locks whatever you sign. If rates fall after you fix, refinancing exists but costs: 1% early settlement at AlRayan plus promo clawbacks if applicable. Decide on affordability today, not on a rate view.