Steepest rent decline seen in The Springs
Rent decline is almost one-andhalf times The Meadows and Lakes
The Dubai’s residential sector faced a challenging second quarter of 2020, with social distancing measures, coupled with Covid-19’s economic impact, affecting market performance. While landlords are showing some flexibility on rents and payment terms, tenants are increasingly seeking shorter lease lengths and payment through four to six cheques becoming the trend.
In its Dubai Residential Report Q2 2020, Chesterton reports that Dubai’s apartment rental market, rates declined by 3.9 per cent in the second quarter with all areas showing declines in average rental rates, a direct result of the economic impact of COVID-19. In the Emirates Living community, on an annual basis, average rents across The Views saw an average declines of 13.2 per cent, while The Greens saw double-digit falls since second quarter of last year with rents for a one-bedroom unit falling to Dh59,250.
The villa rental market witnessed a decline of 2.6 per cent quarterly with The Springs showing a decline of 3.3 per cent with threebedroom rents standing at Dh130,000. On an annual basis, the sharpest rental rate falls were witnessed across The Springs and The Meadows, with annual rents falling by 12.2 per cent and 12.7 per cent respectively, compared to the second quarter of last year, with three-bedroom rents in The Meadows standing at Dh165,000. Jumeirah Islands, and The Lakes saw the lowest annual declines in average rents, with threebedroom units available for Dh138,000 and Dh163,000, respectively.
Affordable segment
Ozan Demir, director, operations and research, Reidin says, “Average villa rent price drops have reached 10 per cent in the last one year in Dubai. Year to date, average rental prices in Springs dropped by 6 per cent while The Meadows and The Lakes villa rent prices dropped by 2 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.” While two and three bedrooms are in demand for The Springs community, four and five bedrooms are in demand in The Meadows, and three and four bedrooms are in demand in the Lakes community, says Demir.
Cesar Alvarenga, luxury rentals specialist at Luxhabitat Sotheby’s International Realty observes that some areas are hit more than the other within the Emirates Living communities, namely Springs, Meadows, Lakes (Hattan). “The biggest drop has been in The Springs, where the decline is almost 1.5 times the other two areas.”