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Economic headwinds in 2017 may have tempered housing allowances, but it didn't stop residents of the UAE from searching for the right place to live.
Propertyfinder Group, the leading property portal in the Middle East, reported a 32% increase in both users and the number of online sessions it logged to its UAE portal, year over year October 2016 and October 2017.
In Abu Dhabi, consumers found a mixed bag in terms of price trends, with some communities seeing big price jumps, and others relatively stable, with only slight price declines.
In its most recent edition of Propertyfinder Trends, Propertyfinder Group compiled data from Q2 and Q3 to help house hunters in their property search. Here is the data and key takeaways,
APARTMENTS
"Abu Dhabi apartments for rent are a tale of two cities," says Lukman Hajje, Chief Commercial Officer of Propertyfinder Group. "Almost half of the tracked apartment communities experienced increases in their asking rents over the past six months [covering Q2 and Q3 of 2017]," while several other areas saw larger upticks.
Mohamed Bin Zayed City (+13.8%), Al Mushrif (+12.8%), and Electra Street (+8%), all saw statistically large increases. All are non-freehold and relatively affordable communities with limited stock, so these rises in the median price shouldn't be read as a market recovery, Hajje adds.
MBZ City is Abu Dhabi's most affordable apartment community where asking rents are just AED 55 per square foot. It, as well as Al Mushrif, is full of large villas, some recently been converted into studios and one-bedroom apartments as landlords re-evaluate their leasing strategies.
Meanwhile, rents dropped in Corniche Area (-7.8%), Al Ghadeer (-7.7%), Al Raha Beach (-6.6%), Al Reem Island (=5%), and Al Bateen (-4.7%), which is more in line with the rest of the country.
VILLAS
Asking prices to rent a villa in Abu Dhabi continue to see a decline, with Al Salam Street (-12%), Al Reef (-7.7%), and Al Raha Gardens (-5.9%) seeing the biggest falls in prices over the reported period. Al Raha golf Gardens was the only villa community to see an increase (+3%).
Mohamed Bin Zayed City (AED 44 per square foot) remains the least expensive place to rent a villa in Abu Dhabi, with Khalifa City (AED 47 per square foot), and Hydra Village (AED 49 per square foot) not far behind.
By far the most expensive is Saadiyat Island, asking AED 73 per square foot (-2.5%). The runner-up is Al Raha Golf Gardens, asking AED 60 per square foot.
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