Residential sales and rental prices in the UAE have continued to fall between April and October, enticing renters to consider buying properties, according to a new report from UAE-based property search website Propertyfinder.ae.
“Falling prices, as we’ve seen, makes buying more feasible for a larger percentage of the population,” said Michael Lahyani, chief executive of Propertyfinder Group.
“We’re seeing the ‘forever renters’ moving into the buyer category, preferring to pay off their own mortgage rather than someone else’s.”
Residential real estate prices and rents in the UAE have started sliding in the past two years due to the economic slowdown, jobs cuts and lower housing allowances amid an increase in supply in some communities.
The steepest drop in rental prices during the April-October period was in Dubai villas, with declines in Al Furjan neighbourhood (13.9 per cent), followed by Al Barsha (12 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), at 11.8 per cent, and Dubai Sports City (10.7 per cent).
"Dubai villa rents have experienced the biggest decline of all the categories in this report, but the decline is shallowing for other categories when compared to January 2016," the report said. "This may be due to a significant amount of affordable villas released to the market in areas such as JVC and Al Furjan."
Almost all of Dubai apartment communities monitored in the website’s 2017 Trends study saw rental declines, attributed to high levels of new stock. The exception was Dubai Investment Park, which saw an increase of 3.5 per cent, according to the report.
The biggest apartment rental drop was in Discovery Gardens (9.3 per cent). Historically one of the most affordable developments in Dubai, this neighbourhood now faces increasing competition from new “affordable” projects across Dubai.
Meanwhile, Dubai sales prices have seen low single-digit declines in most areas of the emirate in the six-month period. The biggest drop for Dubai apartments was in The Views (5.2 per cent), while Dubai Marina saw a more modest 2.4 per cent decline.
The up-and-coming area of Business Bay bucked the trend with a 0.5 per cent increase in sales prices over the period, possibly boosted by recent development activity alongside the new Dubai Canal.
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Dubai villa sales prices also experienced significant declines, according to the report, with The Meadows prices dropping by 9.3 per cent, Dubai Land by 8.2 per cent, Al Furjan by 8.1 per cent and Jumeirah Islands by 7.1 per cent.
Villa sales prices in the upscale Emirates Hills and Jumeirah Park neighbourhoods remained stable, while the midmarket areas of JVC and Al Barsha were the only two Dubai villa communities that saw sales increases in the past six months, of 4 per cent and 0.69 per cent respectively.
The Abu Dhabi villa rental market has seen a rapid decline from relatively stable levels in 2016 because of a larger number of handovers, according to Propertyfinder.ae.
Villa rental prices declined by 12 per cent in Al Salam Street, 7.7 per cent in Al Reef and 5.9 per cent in Al Raha Gardens. On the apartment front, the report shows a mixed picture, with Mohamed Bin Zayed City, Al Mushrif and Electra Street all seeing large rental increases of 13.8 per cent, 12.8 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.
However, rents dropped in other Abu Dhabi communities, with the steepest declines recorded in the Corniche Area (7.8 per cent), Al Ghadeer (7.7 per cent), Al Raha Beach (6.6 per cent, and Al Reem Island (5 per cent).
Abu Dhabi villa sales prices witnessed low-to-mid single-digit declines over the six-month period with the biggest drops seen in Al Reef (6.6 per cent) and Al Raha Golf Gardens (6.2 per cent).
match info
Southampton 2 (Ings 32' & pen 89') Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Son 45', 47', 64', & 73', Kane 82')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
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Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
RESULT
Aston Villa 1
Samatta (41')
Manchester City 2
Aguero (20')
Rodri (30')
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
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Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nicola%20Coughlan%2C%20Luke%20Newton%2C%20Jonathan%20Bailey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
