Apartment rents in Dubai have fallen again in many areas in the past six months, according to the latest data to be published by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, taking levels down by up to 30%.
The figures, revealed in RERAs latest index published on its website, show that the decline is slowing, between December 2008 and April 2009 rents dropped by up to 50% in some areas.
A studio apartment in Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) is among the worst affected with rental guides for October between AED40 to 70,000, compared to a minimum of AED60,000 in April.
Rents have also fallen by at least 10% for some apartments in the Downtown area, the Greens, Palm Jumeirah, Al Barsha and Jumeirah Beach Residence, but rents for villas are holding up with properties in many parts of Dubai stable and even increasing in some locations.
The trend is confirmed in a report from Asteco published this week that shows rental values for apartments in Dubai continued to fall faster than in any other part of the UAE during the third quarter of 2009.
Three bedroom apartments were worst hit, falling 13% between July and September, the report said. While rents for two bedroom apartments were down 8%.
Meanwhile another new report suggests that residential property prices in Saudi Arabia will increase in the next two years as its rising population continues to push up demand and the economy recovers from a drop in oil prices.
The report from Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes said that Saudi Arabia will have an annual demand of 160,000 new units each year and up to 50,000 units. ‘We believe prices have been fairly stable over the past year, but we expect them to start to increase again in 2010 and 2011, particularly if liquidity comes back to the market either through higher oil prices, stock market performance or mortgages,’ the bank said.