According to real estate brokerage Betterhomes, average rents in Dubai increased by 36% last year.
The difficulties don’t just affect those seeking for properties. All rental markets, including flats, have seen an increase in rent. The burden of rising living expenses is getting worse for the expats who are the engine of the nation’s economy. The roughly 10 million people that call the UAE home are mostly foreigners (almost 90%).
According to Richard Waind, group managing director of Betterhomes, who is based in Dubai, supply is not keeping up with demand in the current market. “There are a lot more people arriving in Dubai than there are homes available in the neighborhoods they wish to reside in. Rents are increasing due to a lack of supply in the market,”
Anti-price-gouging rules in Dubai permit landlords to raise the rent for current renters by a maximum of 20%. Price gouging is the practice of raising prices to unjust levels. Moreover, landlords are not permitted to forcibly remove tenants. Yet, a lot of landlords who said they wished to move into the flat themselves sent eviction orders to tenants. They argued, however, that this was only a cover and that the landlords truly intended to re-rent the units at a higher rate. Nevertheless, the cost of purchasing a house has increased significantly as well, so it’s not just rentals that have reached record highs.
According to estate firm Savills, villa prices have increased by more than 50% within the same period while apartment prices have increased by 35% since the pandemic’s peak in 2020.
In another statement by Katie Burnell, associate director of Savills Middle East, located in Dubai, “sSnce the start of the Ukraine crisis last year, Russian cash has been the main element driving increased demand for real estate, both in terms of buying and leasing.”
For wealthy Russians, including oligarchs, billionaires, and start-up founders, it has become a shelter. Several young Russian nationals have also relocated to the glamorous metropolis in search of better job options.
700,000 Russian citizens have reportedly departed the nation since President Putin ordered partial mobilization, or the call-up to military service, in September of last year, according to a Forbes Russia report. The numbers mentioned in the article have been refuted by the Kremlin.
When the situation in Ukraine began, the UAE took a neutral posture. It did not condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or impose sanctions on it. Despite many Western nations restricting them, it is giving non-sanctioned Russians visas.
The UAE Central Bank also granted the MTS bank in Russia a licence to begin operations last month. Due to Western restrictions on numerous Russian banks, Russian people had been having trouble opening bank accounts and sending money to the UAE. Since the pandemic, the UAE has created a number of new long-term visa alternatives, removing the requirement for a sponsor – helping to draw in a significant influx of investors, remote employees, and entrepreneurs, increasing the number of job prospects.
