Majority of UAE residents prefer renting property

A survey conducted by compareit4me group revealed that over 67% of UAE residents admitted they don’t own property in the region. Though 76% said that they would be interested but several factors, mainly house price, stops them. This is despite apartment sale prices in Dubai going down by 3.6% and villa prices dropping by 3.7% from April 2014 to April 2015.

The survey also noted that 54% of the residents opted for rentals because they were unsure of how long they would live in the region.

That being said, a survey by US executive recruitment company, Stanton Chase, found that expatriates are now staying in the UAE twice as long as they used to five years ago. The average stay of senior professionals has increased to four and a half years.

Jon Richards, CEO of compareit4me.com, said: “The number of people staying beyond two years is increasing, so it’s worth residents doing the sums to calculate if home ownership would be more beneficial for them.”

According to Dubai Land Department, the number of those residents buying property with mortgage has increased by 44%. Recent home financing solutions and competitive mortgage rates given by UAE banks have actively encouraged more residents to buy property.

Richards said: “The long term outlook for the real estate market in Dubai looks favourable for investors, particularly in the run up to the Dubai Expo. However, there’s every chance we could see prices going up and down before that, so it’s important longer-term investments are considered.”