Dubai: Further rent drops are likely in Sharjah’s apartment space on top of the 5.5 per cent average decline in the last 12 months, according to a new update from property consultancy Cluttons.
The upcoming drops — by 5-7 per cent — could mirror those in Dubai, “as landlords move to remain competitive”.
For those tenants looking for a new apartment to move into, rents in Al Nahda “lost the most ground”, falling by 10.9 per cent in the first six months. It is a location where a number of new towers were completed in recent quarters.
A one-bedroom unit there can now be secured for Dh38,000, dropping by a fifth from what it was at the start of the year. Interestingly, there was a demand spike for three-bed units in the area, currently leasing for Dh70,000 a year.
Even more of a surprise given the soft market conditions, villa rentals in Sharjah seems to be recovering lost ground... and handsomely at that.
In the first-half, these properties have seen a gain by 11.7 per cent on average (to around the Dh112,000-a-year mark).
“This is the first rise in villa rents since late 2015 and reflects the growing awareness of the cost advantages offered by villas in Sharjah when compared to rentals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” Cluttons reports.
This would also play well on freehold sales. “Demand for villas is likely to continue rising, fuelled by the relative affordability of homes, which will remain a key catalyst behind the multitude of mixed-use freehold projects bubbling through.”
