CORE estimates that peripheral communities such as Jumeirah Village and Dubailand will see rents drop by two to four per cent as more supply is delivered. However, rents are likely to remain steady in prime communities in 2017 owing to limited new supply and consistent demand.
"We agree that there may have been a few rental increases witnessed in areas which were below the market, or individual cases where the landlords may have charged slightly higher rents in rent renewals. However, this does not necessarily mean that affected tenants will want to relocate as the rental offset often doesn't match up to the inconvenience and charges incurred when moving to a new property - in turn, sometimes leading tenants to accept the nominal higher rent. This scenario is, however, marginal and not representative of the entire market. Our residential consultants have seen both new rents and lease renewals remain either flat or see marginal contractions," CORE CEO David Godchaux told Khaleej Times.
According to Core, Dubai rents softened across the board this year, with apartments in Business Bay (-3%), The Greens (-2.5%), Discovery Gardens (-2.5%) and Dubai Marina (-2%) all seeing rents fall.
Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) and Jumeirah Village were the only districts to see a marginal rise (1%) in rents.
Villa rents also dropped, with the Palm Jumeirah and Arabian Ranches (-5%); The Springs and The Meadows, Al Barari and Emirates Hills down by three to four per cent.