Rents touch new low

Dubai: Rents in Dubai this month touched a new low as desperate real estate agents make a dash to fill up empty homes in several localities.

International City studios have fallen to Dh22,000 a year, said Grace Homes Real Estate agent Munaz Umar. "We are charging Dh22,000 for a studio in Morocco and Persia [clusters]," Umar said. "They are sitting empty, it's better to get something than nothing."

Umar said tenants get the low Dh22,000 rate if they give one cheque, but the rental rate climbs higher depending on the number of cheques paid by the tenant for a yearly contract.

Prices have also fallen drastically in Discovery Gardens since the peak of the property boom, when flat owners were charging up to Dh95,000 per year for a studio. Real estate agent Murha Canli said the rent for a studio at the Mogul cluster at Discovery Gardens was dropped to attract tenants. "We changed it from Dh34,000 to Dh30,000 per year a week ago. It's tough. People want cheaper rent and more cheques [instalments]."

According to reports, prices may go down further by 2011-end. In a February report property consultancy firm Landmark Advisory said: "Average rents are likely to decline as more residential supply is delivered at a time of weak demand fundamentals."

The report said while beachfront properties fared better, "inland communities experienced rent declines on an average of 4.8 per cent".