Mubasher: Landlords in Abu Dhabi are facing increasing pressures as tenants search for more affordable rental rates against a backdrop of “macroeconomic uncertainty”, according to a report by Asteco.
Abu Dhabi’s villa rents were down, on average, by 2% from the previous quarter.
Demand for older villas inside Abu Dhabi City has also dampened down with premium units most affected, with an average decline of 10% since the same period last year.
“The ongoing redundancies across various industry sectors and the reduction of staff housing allowances continues to negatively affect demand in Abu Dhabi with a number of tenants opting to downsize and/or move to more affordable developments,” according to the company’s managing director John Stevens.
The rental gap for high-end apartments between Dubai and Abu Dhabi reduced significantly over the last quarter as Abu Dhabi recorded further declines, coming more in line with Dubai.
Abu Dhabi’s rates in the affordable and mid-range residential segments reduced moderately, by AED 5,000 on average, since Q1-16, whereas Dubai’s rates were marginally down by AED 1,000.
