Housing rents in Abu Dhabi fell 2 per cent in the three months to the end of July as the global fall in oil prices continued to bite.
According to new figures from the property data company Reidin, average rents fell 0.61 per cent in the month of July.
Rents in the capital now stand at the same levels they were two years ago and about 1 per cent lower than a year ago.
Reidin, whose data is used by many of the big property brokers in the UAE such as JLL and CBRE, said that average rents in Dubai fell by a similar rate, down 0.62 per cent in July and down 1 per cent during the three months.
Unlike in Abu Dhabi, rents in Dubai have been falling for the past two years and now stand 4 per cent lower than they did a year ago and 5 per cent lower than they were two years ago, Reidin added.
Last week, data from property portal Bayut.com found that asking rents for the apartments listed on its website in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai were falling steadily.
Bayut.com reported that in the year to the end of July this year, rents for studio apartments in Abu Dhabi fell 5 per cent to Dh56,000 while average rents for one-bedroom apartments sank 6 per cent to Dh91,000.
Average rents for two-bedroom apartments in the capital fell 4 per cent over the past year to Dh129,000.
In Dubai, Bayut.com said that rents for studio apartments fell 6 per cent year-on-year to Dh57,000 while average rents for one-bedroom apartments in the city fell 7 per cent to Dh92,000.
Average rents for two-bedroom apartments in Dubai fell 3 per cent in the year to the end of July to stand at Dh145,000.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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