Escrow removes the need for buyer and seller to trust each other directly — a regulated intermediary holds the funds. In the UAE, off-plan payments must by law go into a project escrow account supervised by the Dubai Land Department, and the developer can only draw down against verified construction progress, protecting buyers if a project stalls.
In the US, escrow is standard on almost every purchase: an escrow or title company holds the deposit and coordinates the closing, disbursing funds when all conditions (title, financing, inspections) are satisfied. In the UK, deposits are typically held by the conveyancer under solicitor-regulation rather than a separate escrow company.
For buyers the key questions are: who holds the money, under what regulation, and exactly what conditions release it — those terms, not the label "escrow", are what actually protect the deposit.