What is EIBOR and how does it affect your mortgage?

EIBOR, the Emirates Interbank Offered Rate, is the daily benchmark rate for dirham lending between banks in the UAE. The Central Bank of the UAE administers it and publishes fixings for six terms, from overnight to one year. A variable-rate mortgage linked to EIBOR adds the lender’s margin to one of those terms, so your rate, and with it your payments, can change on the reset dates in your contract.

Key takeaways

• EIBOR is the daily reference rate for dirham lending between banks in the UAE, administered by the Central Bank of the UAE.
• It is fixed for six terms: overnight, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.
• Each fixing is a trimmed average of the rates submitted by a panel of 8 to 14 banks.
• An EIBOR-linked mortgage rate is EIBOR plus the lender's margin; the lender must show both parts and how often the rate may be revised.
• The Central Bank publishes the fixings and their history on its website; we do not quote rates because they change daily.

What EIBOR means

EIBOR is a reference interest rate for UAE dirhams (AED): what it costs banks in the UAE to borrow dirhams from each other for a set term. A loan linked to EIBOR moves with it at each reset.

What EIBOR stands for

EIBOR stands for Emirates Interbank Offered Rate: the rate at which banks in the UAE could get dirham funding from other banks. Our glossary has a short entry on EIBOR.

What EIBOR measures

Daily AED reference rate

The Emirates Interbank Offered Rate (EIBOR) is the daily reference rate at which the panel banks are able and willing to access UAE dirham funding, in reasonable market size for a given tenor, from the UAE money market just before 11:00 local time; the Central Bank of the UAE is EIBOR's administrator.

Who runs it

The Central Bank of the UAE is EIBOR’s administrator. Under its EIBOR Regulations, it controls how the benchmark is produced, collects and analyses the banks’ data, determines the rate and publishes it, directly or through a third party. The rate itself is worked out from what a panel of banks reports each day.

How the Central Bank describes EIBOR

Reference rate for loans

The Central Bank describes EIBOR as the benchmark interest rate for lending between banks within the UAE, stated in UAE dirhams, and as the reference rate used by borrowers and lenders for loans such as mortgages, personal loans and car loans.

How EIBOR is calculated

Each fixing is an average of the panel banks’ reported rates, with the highest and lowest removed. The EIBOR Regulations set out the steps:

1. For every term, each panel bank submits the rate at which, just before 11:00 UAE time, it could borrow dirhams in reasonable market size from the UAE money market.
2. Banks base that rate first on eligible interbank deals, then on unsecured wholesale deposits such as certificates of deposit, and only then on documented expert judgement, used when there are no such deals or their rates do not reflect the market.
3. The highest and lowest quarter of the submissions are removed where possible, and the remaining rates are averaged.
4. The result is published to five decimal places. With four or fewer submissions, there is no fix for the day.

How each fixing is worked out

Trimmed average of 8 to 14 banks

Each EIBOR fixing is worked out from the rates submitted by a panel of 8 to 14 banks: the highest and lowest quarter of the submissions are removed where possible, the remaining rates are averaged, and the result is published to five decimal places; with four or fewer submissions there is no fix.

The six EIBOR tenors

EIBOR is fixed for six terms, called tenors: overnight, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. Each is a separate rate for borrowing dirhams over that period, so 3-month EIBOR is the fixing for three-month dirham funding.

EIBOR tenors

6 tenors, overnight to 1 year

EIBOR is fixed for six tenors: overnight, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.

Which EIBOR does a mortgage use?

Your loan contract decides. There is no single mortgage EIBOR: each lender chooses the tenor its rate follows, and it must show you the base rate and its margin as separate parts. Two examples from documents opened on 13 October 2026:

In Mashreq’s statement the tenor and the reset match: a rate linked to 3-month EIBOR is revised every quarter. The Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Standards do not set how often a rate must be revised; they require the lender to tell you how often it may be, so check the reset dates in your own contract.

Where to check the EIBOR rate today

The official source is the Central Bank’s EIBOR Rates page. It links yearly files of the daily fixings for every tenor, kept since the Central Bank took over the fixings in 2009, and quarterly “bank-wise fixings” that show what each panel bank submitted. The page may show a security check before it opens.

Where EIBOR is published

History and bank-wise fixings published

The Central Bank publishes EIBOR history on its website, with yearly files of the daily fixings for each tenor and quarterly 'bank-wise fixings' that show each panel bank's submitted rates.

We do not quote EIBOR on this site. It is fixed daily, and a figure copied into an article, an advert or an old offer letter is soon out of date. Your own bank must also post the base or reference rates it uses, with their effective dates, on its website and app and in its branches.

EIBOR and the Central Bank Base Rate

They are different rates. The Base Rate is the Central Bank’s policy rate: the rate on its overnight deposit facility. EIBOR is a market rate built from the panel banks’ submissions. They meet at the short end, because the Central Bank’s open market operations aim to keep overnight interbank rates, such as overnight EIBOR, close to the Base Rate.

The Central Bank's Base Rate

Policy rate

The Central Bank's Base Rate, the rate on its overnight deposit facility, is the prevailing monetary policy rate in the UAE; the Central Bank's open market operations aim to keep overnight interbank rates such as overnight EIBOR close to the Base Rate.

How EIBOR changes your mortgage payment

On an EIBOR-linked mortgage, your rate is the EIBOR fixing for the agreed tenor plus the lender’s margin. When EIBOR is higher at a reset, the rate goes up, and depending on your contract that raises the instalment, the share of each payment that goes to interest, or the term.

EIBOR plus a margin

The margin is the lender’s part of the rate. With an illustrative 3-month EIBOR of 3.5% and a margin of 1.5%, the rate is 3.5% + 1.5% = 5.0% a year. If EIBOR moves to 4.5%, the same margin gives 6.0%.

Base rate and margin shown separately

Base rate + margin shown

Where a base lending or financing rate forms part of the rate offered, the lender must disclose the separate components (base rate plus a stated margin), explain the base rate with a clear example, and say how often the rate may be revised and where the rates are published.

In a loan document, “base rate” or “base lending rate” means the reference rate your loan follows, such as 3-month EIBOR, not the Central Bank’s Base Rate. Mashreq quotes its rates on a reducing balance; flat vs reducing interest rates explains the difference.

When your rate resets

The contract sets the reset dates. Between them, the EIBOR part of your rate stays as it was fixed at the last reset, whatever the daily fixings do. At Mashreq, for example, 3-month EIBOR is fixed on the 1st of every calendar quarter, so a rise in EIBOR in the middle of a quarter reaches the instalment only at the next quarter.

Fixed periods and minimum rates

Some home loans combine the two: a fixed rate for an initial period, then EIBOR plus a margin. Mashreq’s statement offers a combination of fixed and variable rates. While the rate is fixed, EIBOR moves do not change your instalment; at the end of the fixed period the variable rate applies.

Fixed periods in adverts

Fixed period and revert rate shown

Where a lender's advertisement shows an Annual Percentage Rate, it must say whether the rate is fixed or variable and, for a fixed rate, display how long it is fixed; an advertised introductory rate must state when the offer ends and what the rate will revert to.

A minimum rate, sometimes called a floor, limits how far your rate can fall. Mashreq’s statement sets a minimum floor rate, subject to final approval, so a fall in EIBOR lowers the rate only down to that minimum.

If you might sell or refinance during a fixed period, ask the lender in writing before you sign what settling early in that period would cost. The early settlement calculator shows the Central Bank’s cap on the fee. Our mortgage guides list a planned comparison of fixed and variable rates.

Worked example: a 1-point rise in EIBOR

Worked example

AED 1,000,000 over 25 years, EIBOR up 1 point at a reset

The EIBOR level and the margin are illustrations, not current rates. The loan is repaid in equal monthly instalments on a reducing balance.

1. Starting rate: 3.5% EIBOR + 1.5% margin = 5.0% a year. Instalment over 300 months: about AED 5,845.90.
2. After 12 payments, the balance is about AED 979,380.93.
3. At the reset, EIBOR is 1 point higher: 4.5% + 1.5% = 6.0% for the remaining 288 months. New instalment: about AED 6,424.52.
4. Change: AED 6,424.52 minus AED 5,845.90 = AED 578.62 a month, or AED 578.62 × 12 = AED 6,943.44 a year.
5. Interest in the first month after the reset: AED 979,380.93 × 6% ÷ 12 = about AED 4,896.90, against AED 979,380.93 × 5% ÷ 12 = about AED 4,080.75 at the old rate.

First month after the reset	At 5.0% (no change)	At 6.0% (EIBOR up 1 point)
Instalment	AED 5,845.90	AED 6,424.52
Interest	AED 4,080.75	AED 4,896.90
Balance repaid	AED 1,765.15	AED 1,527.62

A 1-point rise in EIBOR adds about AED 578.62 to this instalment, and less of each payment reduces the balance.

If EIBOR instead fell 1 point, to 2.5%, the rate would be 4.0% and the instalment about AED 5,295.42, or AED 550.48 a month less, unless a minimum rate in the contract stopped it falling that far.

Lenders test for rises like this before they lend. When they work out your debt burden ratio, the mortgage instalment is calculated at a higher rate than the one you will pay.

Mortgage stress test

+2 to 4 points

When working out the debt burden ratio, mortgage lenders must stress-test the loan at 2 to 4 percentage points above its current interest rate; with an introductory rate, the test uses the rate that applies after it ends.

When this loan is approved, a test at 2 points above 5.0% uses 7.0%: on the full AED 1,000,000 over 25 years, an instalment of about AED 7,067.79, more than the AED 6,424.52 after a 1-point rise. The test does not cap how far EIBOR can move during the loan. The mortgage affordability calculator applies the stress test to your income and debts.

What your bank must tell you about rate changes

Before you sign, the Key Facts Statement must say whether the rate is fixed, variable or a mix, and for a variable rate it must show with an example what a rise would do to your payments.

Key Facts Statement

Before you sign

Lenders must give a Key Facts Statement before providing a financial product; it should be the first document in the sales process, and the consumer signs to acknowledge receiving it before signing the contract.

Rate-rise example before you sign

Rate-rise example required

For a variable-rate loan or financing, the lender must show the consumer, with an illustrative example, what a rise in the annual rate would do to the payments, to the split between interest or profit and principal, to the tenor, and to any deferred or balloon payment.

During the loan, the lender must tell you whenever your rate changes. The notice must give the date, the old and new rate, the new split between interest and principal, any revised payment, and a contact for questions or for difficulty with higher payments.

Notice before a margin increase

30 days' notice

Where a loan's rate can change, the lender may not raise the margin it adds to the variable base rate until 30 calendar days after notifying the consumer.

The 30-day wait covers only the margin. A change in EIBOR itself feeds through on the reset dates in your contract, although the lender must still tell you about the new rate. Our guide to the Key Facts Statement shows where these lines appear, and your rights as a borrower covers the rest of the Central Bank’s standards.

EIBOR and Islamic home finance

Islamic home finance charges rent or profit rather than interest, but the rate can still follow EIBOR. On 13 October 2026, Dubai Islamic Bank’s home finance page gave the profit rate for first-time buyers and existing home owners as EIBOR for 3, 6 or 12 months plus a margin.

The Central Bank’s Regulation No. 1/2026 on the transactions of Islamic financial institutions, which applies from 14 September 2027, will allow an ijarah to carry a variable rent. Each period’s rent will have to be set before that period starts, from an index or benchmark neither side controls, within a maximum and a minimum written into the contract.

Variable rent in an ijarah

Variable rent with cap and floor

An ijarah may carry a fixed or a variable rent; a variable rent is allowed if the first rental period's rent is a set amount in the contract and each later period's rent is worked out before that period starts from an index or benchmark neither party controls, which must have a maximum and a minimum stated in the contract, and a period's rent cannot change once that period has begun.

A murabaha works differently under the same regulation: its price must be fixed when the contract is signed and may not vary or follow an index after that. Our guide to Islamic home finance explains the structures. When you get a mortgage pre-approval, ask whether the indicative rate is fixed or EIBOR-linked; our guide to mortgages for expats covers the limits on how much you can borrow.