Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 Dubai rental report: Dubai’s luxury housing market records impressive recovery

• Affordable Apartments
• Luxury Apartments
• Affordable Villas
• Luxury Villas

As we enter the second quarter of the year, Bayut & dubizzle returns with our comprehensive analysis of rental prices in Dubai for apartments and villas in Q1 2021.

For our Q1 2021 Dubai real estate market report, our data engineers have compared rental prices from the first three months of 2021 on Bayut & dubizzle (excluding room share) to those from the last three months of 2020, to identify prevailing trends and consumer preferences in the emirate of Dubai.

When it comes to popular locations attracting a high volume of interest, tenants searching for affordable accommodation have remained keen on older neighbourhoods and suburbs such as Jumeirah Village Circle, Al Nahda, Mirdif and Akoya Oxygen. On the other hand, renters interested in luxurious properties have continued to favour historically popular areas including Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah and Al Barsha.

According to the combined data released by Bayut & dubizzle, the Dubai rental market has seen promising signs of stability and recovery in Q1 2021. While popular areas for affordable apartments and villas have seen moderate decreases between 3% to 13% in the first quarter, Dubai’s luxury housing segment has experienced an uptick between 2% to 10% in rental prices overall in Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 Dubai real estate market report.

This positive trend has likely been driven by increasing demand for larger living spaces, convenient access to recreational amenities and private outdoor spaces. Additionally, government initiatives such as the launch of remote working visas and widespread vaccination campaigns have played a part in enhancing the appeal of Dubai as a place to call home, further increasing demand for rental homes.

Bayut & dubizzle’s combined report compares the asking rents from Q1 2021 to Q4 2020, to provide the average rental prices in Dubai for apartments and villas. We have also further segregated the popular areas for rental apartments and villas into ‘Affordable’ and ‘Luxury’ to offer a more tailored view of the Dubai rental market.

Next, our report will offer an in-depth analysis of rents in popular neighbourhoods for apartments and villas in this quarterly Dubai property market report 2021.

Jumeirah Village Circle continues to hold the most interest for affordable apartments

Average rents in Dubai for affordable flats in popular locations – Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 Market Report

Bayut & dubizzle’s combined data for Q1 2021 has revealed that Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) continued to hold the attention of tenants interested in affordable apartments for rent in Dubai. The average rental prices for flats in JVC have remained stable across the board in the first quarter of 2021, pointing to further recovery of the market. Tenants keen to rent apartments in JVC can expect to pay an average of AED 27k for studios, AED 42k for 1-bedroom flats and AED 63k for 2-bedroom units.

Al Nahda has ranked second for affordable apartments, as per Bayut & dubizzle’s Dubai rental report for Q1 2021. This established neighbourhood has seen moderate declines in rental prices over the last quarter. This could be attributed to landlords keeping rental prices competitive due to increasing interest for more upscale neighbourhoods. The studio flats for rent in Al Nahda have gone from AED 25k in Q4 2020 to AED 22k in Q1 2021, while 1-bedroom apartments have reduced from AED 33k to AED 30k. The rental costs for 2-bedroom apartments in Al Nahda have remained steady at AED 44k in Q1 2021.

Tenants have shown interest in older neighbourhoods and affordable suburbs such as Dubai Silicon Oasis, Bur Dubai and Deira. According to rental trends in Dubai, the average prices in these popular areas have remained largely stable, experiencing minor declines under 5% across the board.

Dubai Marina holds the top position for luxury apartment rentals

Rental prices in Dubai for luxury apartments for rent – Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 property market report for Dubai

Dubai Marina has remained the firm favourite for luxury apartments for rent in Q1 2021, as per Bayut & dubizzle’s Dubai real estate market report. The 1 and 2-bedroom apartments for rent in Dubai Marina have seen an uptick of 2.59% and 6.24% respectively in average rents, while 3-bedroom flats have stayed steady in the first quarter of the year. This could be the result of landlords capitalising on increased interest in luxury properties over the last year. Tenants can expect to pay an average of AED 61k for 1-bedroom apartments, AED 92k for 2-bedroom flats and AED 129k for 3-bedroom units.

Bayut & dubizzle’s real estate trends in Dubai have also revealed that waterfront communities and centrally-located districts continue to be popular with renters keen on upscale properties. Ranking second for luxury apartments for rent in Dubai, Downtown Dubai has also seen prices remain steady or increase slightly in Q1 2021. The apartments in Downtown Dubai for rent command average rents of AED 76k for 1-bedroom units, AED 118k for 2-bedroom flats and AED 203k for 3-bedroom apartments.

Other popular areas such as Palm Jumeirah and Sheikh Zayed Road have also seen average rents remain steady across the board, while Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) has experienced an increase in rental prices in Dubai over the last quarter. This could be the result of more luxurious units such as The Address Jumeirah Resort and Spa and 1 JBR entering the rental market.

Mirdif is the most popular for renting villas in Dubai

Popular areas to rent villas in Dubai – Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 Dubai real estate market report

In the first quarter of 2021, the family-friendly suburb of Mirdif has retained its popularity with renters, according to Bayut & dubizzle’s property trends in Dubai. While 3 and 5-bedroom villas have seen moderate declines in rental prices under 12%, 4-bedroom villas for rent in Mirdif have remained largely unchanged. Tenants interested in renting in Mirdif can expect to pay an average of AED 84k for 3-bedroom houses, AED 108k for 4-bedroom homes and AED 111k for 5-bedroom villas.

Akoya Oxygen has also continued to draw the attention of tenants due to its highly competitive rental prices. While 3-bedroom villas for rent in Akoya Oxygen have seen prices drop from AED 60k to AED 52k in Q1 2021, the average rents for 4 and 5-bedroom houses have been steady at AED 77k and AED 80k respectively.

Following similar Dubai rental trends observed in 2020, tenants have focussed their attention on suburban communities. JVC, in particular, has seen a slight increase in prices, reflecting the sustained interest in the area from budget-conscious tenants. Mudon and Dubai South also rank among the popular areas for affordably-priced villas for rent, as per our Dubai real estate market report 2021.

Jumeirah remains the favourite for luxury villas for rent in Dubai

Popular communities to rent luxury houses in Dubai – Bayut & dubizzle’s Q1 2021 Dubai property market report

Bayut & dubizzle’s combined market report for Dubai real estate 2021 reveals that the luxury villa segment has experienced signs of recovery over the last quarter. The villas for rent in Jumeirah have remained the first choice for tenants with prices for 4 and 5-bedroom homes experiencing small increases in Q1 2021, averaging at AED 167k and AED 225k respectively. The 6-bedroom houses in Jumeirah have seen rents rise by around 14% to AED 334k in Q1 2021.

Other established family-friendly neighbourhoods such as Al Barsha have also seen rental prices increase between 2% to 11% in the last quarter. This could be the effect of increased demand for bigger homes post the lifting of lockdown measures last year.

Umm Suqeim, Dubai Hills Estate and Arabian Ranches have also remained popular for luxury houses for rent in Dubai. These neighbourhoods have also recorded minor increases for certain bed-types over the last quarter, in line with the overall trend.

Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut & dubizzle and Head of EMPG MENA, commented on the performance of the Dubai real estate market:

“This year has really started off on a good note for the Dubai real estate market. In the first quarter of 2021, we have seen an impressive growth in demand; prices have increased in most of the key areas and the volume of transactions have also gone up. In fact, some of the sales prices for popular areas in Dubai are the highest we have seen in the market since 2014, which is a good measure of the confidence that property seekers currently have in Dubai’s real estate market.

“We have also noticed that there is a lot of positive sentiment in the market, thanks to the recent announcements from the government, both locally and internationally. We have seen the impact of this on the traffic to both our portals as well. The combined traffic for Bayut & dubizzle property in the last three months alone, exceeded 21 million sessions. All of this points to the fact that there is a growing appetite for residential space in the city; a trend that we could see transitioning into the rest of the year as well.”

That concludes our report on rental prices in Dubai in the first quarter of 2021. You can also view Bayut & dubizzle’s analysis on properties for sale in Dubai, which reveals popular areas to buy luxury and affordable properties, the evolution of prices in Q1 2021, ROI and notable off-plan projects in the emirate.

We will soon be releasing Bayut & dubizzle’s property market reports for Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Sharjah, so make sure to follow MyBayut.

In the meantime, you can take a look at the latest real estate news in the UAE from March 2021.

Disclaimer: The above report is based on Dubai property prices advertised by real estate agencies on behalf of their clients on Bayut.com & dubizzle property (excluding room share), and not representative of actual real estate transactions conducted in Dubai.