Renting in Abu Dhabi just became easier

Abu Dhabi has welcomed newcomers for decades and is always on the lookout for ways to make their move as comfortable as possible. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Every year, thousands of people come to Abu Dhabi to start a new life. August is a particularly busy time, with many – some of whom will be new to the UAE – arriving before the start of the school year.

Moving anywhere can be quite stressful, and the transition is compounded by one unavoidable task – finding the right place to live in. Unfamiliar with local prices and geography, and confronted by the fact that some landlords require a year’s rent up front, deciding how much to pay is a big decision for newcomers. Spending too much, especially before receiving that first paycheque, can get a new life in a new city off to a challenging start.

Abu Dhabi has welcomed newcomers for decades and is always on the lookout for ways to make their move as comfortable as possible. Therefore, Abu Dhabi’s new residential index is a welcome development that adds more transparency to the capital’s property market.

Available at the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre’s website, the index highlights rents in different areas, providing indicative rental values for tenants and landlords alike. Providing people with accurate and unbiased information about average rents for apartments and villas will help them make an informed decision that will save time, energy and – hopefully – money.

It is not just newcomers who will benefit; residents will find it easier to scrutinise average rents before taking the plunge of moving. Landlords also stand to gain; following the 2019 changes to the UAE’s rules about foreign property ownership, the buy-to-let market has become a popular choice for investors. An open and accessible rental index will encourage the setting of competitive but realistic rents, and help investors assess what kind of income they could make on their rental property.

The addition of a rental index to Abu Dhabi’s property market is timely – demand is increasing. Matthew Green, head of research at CBRE Mena, told The National this week that with the market’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, rents and sale prices are recording “reasonable growth” in Abu Dhabi as the non-oil economy expands.

The economy is not the only thing that is expanding. According to census results released in June, Abu Dhabi’s population has grown to reach almost 3.8 million people, with the number of those in employment rising by 82 per cent since 2011 to reach more than 2.5 million individuals. This growth spurs demand for housing, making a clear and comprehensible rental market more important than ever.

This focus on helping people make informed choices can also be seen in the UAE’s largest population centre: Dubai. There, the emirate’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority updated its Rera rent calculator on March 1 to become more representative of open-market pricing, helping reflect current market rental rates.

Of course, indexes are just a guide, and rely on the data used to calculate averages. Nevertheless, this development will be an important part of the toolkit for anyone wishing to move to or within Abu Dhabi. As the population grows courtesy of the emirate’s work opportunities, attractive quality of life and long-term residency options, having a clear guide about rental costs will help make that big decision a little less daunting.