Dubai Property Rents stabilize compared to past 3 years
Towards the end of 2008, the freehold real estate in Dubai witnessed a major price correction and prices plummeted from an all time high and continued to free fall all through 2009 going as low as 50 percent in some areas. Discussing the property market and how “we knew it was coming” became the hottest topic in all social gatherings. Having spent close to a decade in the real estate market, even the mention of our profession to anyone was bound to raise eyebrows!!
Flash forward to 2011 and nearly three years later post the so called “bubble burst”, Dubai still remains one of the most sought after destinations and offers attractive properties at affordable prices. Property rentals seem to have stabilized over the last year and depending on the location, properties in good locations have held their rental values especially in the Emirates Livings areas of Greens, Springs and Meadows. For Example, Average Rental Rates for a 1Br in Old Greens have remained stable over the past year in the range of AED 50K-55K and 2Br in the range of AED 80k- 85k. In fact it is also interesting to note that there has been a slight upward increase in rentals in certain desirable properties due to limited availability. A 1Br in Mosela that rented last year for AED 58K was quickly snapped up this year for AED 64K which represents a 10 percent increase over last year rental, Palm Jumeirah.
With the rents stabilizing and hence lesser people moving laterally we see there is a good reason why rents should stabilize in desirable communities such as Greens, Springs, JBR, Arabian Ranches and also the Downtown Dubai. Newer Communities along the Emirates Road and Al Ain Road such as The Villa, Victory Heights, and Falcon City also have seen a surge in demand and have seen a lot of families moving to these areas. Property rents have remained stable also in areas that have surrounding infrastructure like schools, Supermarkets, community shopping centers and good maintenance of the buildings/communities. Tenants are beginning to prefer to living in such areas and even consider Metro Stations when choosing a property. Jumeriah Lake Towers, Executive Towers in Business Bay, TECOM and Dubai Marina are areas that are serviced by the Dubai Metro and also connect these areas to the other parts of Dubai, Dubai Hotel Apartments.
Since Property prices obviously are also a function of the rental rates, property prices also seem to have stabilized in areas that are desirable and in fact there has been a similar trend of an approx 10 percent increase in prices due limited availability as compared to 2008-2010 when prices were on a free fall. Popular areas such as Downtown, Greens, Arabian Ranches, springs, Meadows, The Villa have seen an increased activity in recent times and properties are quickly snapped up by both end users as well as Buy to Let Investors.