Property | General
The Al Ain Beat
We decided to bring you a new series taking a look at the rental markets in other cities and towns around the UAE.
- By Annie Cudmore, Editor
- Published: 19:44 November 6, 2008
- Image Credit: Silvia Baron/ANM
Despite rumours of a slowdown, the rental market in Dubai is still hitting expatriates in their pockets, so we decided to bring you a new series taking a look at the rental markets in other cities and towns around the UAE. To kick off we visit the UAE's garden city, Al Ain.
It always seems strange to me that nearly everyone who works in Dubai wants to live in Dubai, or as close to it as they can possibly get.
In just about every large city in the world, workers live in the suburbs, or even way outside the city, and commute to work daily. For many Londoners, for example, a one-hour commute is the norm.
Here in the UAE, that has not historically been the case, probably because of the transport infrastructure, and the necessity of owning a reliable car.
However, times are changing, and more and more people are finding it preferable to live outside of Dubai, pay lower rents and commute for maybe an hour or an hour and a half, rather than sit in traffic snarl-ups for the same period of time. One place that has its fair share of Dubai commuters is Al Ain and its environs.
Al Ain has a more local feel than Dubai, and it certainly offers a slower and calmer pace of life.
And while it is slightly less cosmopolitan than Dubai or Abu Dhabi, it has its own share of attractions and facilities to tempt would-be residents into making the daily journey to their offices in the UAE's larger, bustling metropolis.
Henrietta Snapper, an expat Dubai resident who lived in Al Ain for four years explains further.
"I lived for a few months in Al Tawam compound and then I moved to town and lived near to the old clock tower. Living in Al Ain was nice - I think we had a lot more contact with people. We all made a lot of friends - we got together a lot because at that time there wasn't a lot else to do!"
She left Al Ain in 2000 to come to Dubai for another job, but has fond memories of the place and goes back there regularly to get away from the hectic Dubai lifestyle.
"In those days it was a very calm place with no traffic. There's a little bit more traffic now and Al Ain has changed a little because when I lived there there were no malls, very little shopping and not even a cinema!"
The main differences between the two cities, she says is that Dubai is "busy, busy, busy! There's a lot more to do, but you see people a lot less."
And if she could go back to Al Ain? "I would live in an apartment in the town centre, or there are some nice new houses in town now, behind Al Ain Mall."
She says that Al Ain is a nice place to walk around. "If you live in the town centre, there are lots of places to walk to - shops and restaurants - and it's easier to walk there than it is here in Dubai. And now there's three movie theatres, and also new hotels, which means many more places to go out for dinner."
And she's right - these days there is nothing that is not available or on offer in Al Ain, from the city's own quirky version of Pizza Hut to five-star dining.
There are also modern malls with big brand offerings, parks, nightclubs, a zoo and weekend escapes in the form of green oases where one can dangle one's feet in lakes before heading off across to a restaurant.
It all sounds a bit like a peaceful haven, but if that's not reason enough to relocate there, there are serious economic reasons for doing so.
How do you fancy a brand new two-bedroom apartment for an annual rent of Dhs71,000? Or a two-bedroom pad on the Buraimi border, one hours drive from Dubai, for just Dhs21,600?
More searching on my behalf unearths a three-bedroom, two-bathroom place costing a mere Dhs27,600.
In their quarterly real estate report, property company Asteco, which has had an office in Al Ain since 2005, revealed that three-bedroom villas in popular areas such as Zaker are available to rent at an average price of Dhs68,750 and four-bedroom homes are going for Dhs90,000.
Surely, the quality of life, and the huge financial savings are worth a one-hour commute to the office?
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