Where did most people move to in 2017?

Dubailand has climbed to the top position on the list of most popular areas in Dubai, an analysis by ServiceMarket, the UAE’s leading, has revealed. It’s a major shift in Dubai’s moving trends because an increasing number of people now seem to prefer newly developed suburbs compared to highly populated established areas like Dubai Marina and Downtown.

Based on thousands of residential moving requests placed through the online marketplace for home services, this annual moving trends report highlights neighbourhoods with highest influx of residents and draws comparisons with earlier studies to find out how the moving-in and moving-out activity has shifted recently. 

With Dubailand emerging as the most popular area, Dubai Marina, which had held the top position during the two previous years, has been pushed to the second place. While Dubai Marina is densely-populated and more developed, Dubailand offers more affordable rents. These two areas are followed by Downtown, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and JVC/JVT. 

It’s not surprising that popular areas like Dubai Marina and Downtown also see a lot of moving-out activity since they have more residential towers and apartments compared to other areas, and consequently see a higher turnover. We need to keep in mind that a lot of people who move out of a apartment in these areas move to another house in the same area.

However, Dubai Marina/JBR and Downtown witnessed more moving-out activity compared to moving-in activity, and as a result lost a significant number of residents in 2017. On the other hand, Dubailand experienced more moving-in activity.  

The influx of residents to Dubai Marina/JBR was almost as much as that of Dubailand and Downtown combined in 2016. But this year, Dubailand has overtaken Dubai Marina, and Downtown is not far behind. Quickly gaining popularity in the region, Dubai Silicon Oasis has also risen from the seventh to the fourth position in just a year.

Established areas: Dubai Marina and some of the other densely-populated areas have remained popular for many years because of the sheer volume of residential buildings available there. In addition, they have a greater variety of shopping malls, restaurants and other facilities. But due to relatively higher rents and more traffic, such areas are quickly losing their residents to newer, more affordable areas like Dubailand.

Newly developed areas: The most likely explanation for why suburbs like Dubailand and Dubai Silicon Oasis are overtaking developed areas in popularity is that residents have to face lower rents, there’s less traffic and facilities like malls, schools, and theme parks are quickly emerging. What’s more, freehold properties in these areas are available at much lower prices.

-Obed Suhail is a Senior Writer for Service Market