With residential rental rates in Dubai on the decline, the moving market has been reshaped by a large degree over the last couple of years. ServiceMarket, the UAE’s largest marketplace for moving services, estimates that tenants move every 2-3 years, and recently conducted a survey to find out why Dubai residents moved during the last six months. The study revealed several major shifts in moving trends in Dubai. Here are some of the interesting and surprising findings to help you understand the main reasons for why Dubai residents decided to move.
Dubai residents are leveraging lower rent rates to upsize
Contrary to what you might expect, most Dubai residents who moved rented bigger homes in 2018. Previously, when rental rates were going up, we saw a trend where people were moving to the newly developed suburbs of Dubai to get better value for money. But the emerging trend is to leverage the declining market by staying within the property for longer and renegotiating rates, or moving to a larger property for the same rate. With rental rates declining, 61.4% of Dubai residents who moved upsized their homes, 16.2% downsized, and 23.4% moved into a house with the same size. Rental rates have been decreasing due to increased supply of new units, enabling an increasing number of Dubai residents to move to bigger and better homes. It has also become easier for growing families to find bigger homes that fit within their existing budget. Over 80% of those who moved during the last six months lived with their families.
Tenants are getting better rent deals
In general, Dubai residents who moved are paying lower or same rent even though most of them moved to larger units. Only 35.5% of them are paying higher rents. With such economic trends, it’s hardly surprising that only 29.9% of Dubai residents moved to cut down the cost of rent in 2018. Many tenants are now “right sizing”, which means that they can move to apartments that were out of their reach earlier due to budgetary constraints. Compared to the previous years, Dubai residents are getting much better value for money for their rent in terms of the size and quality of their homes.
What drives people to move?
- Bigger and better homes: For 40.6% of the respondents, moving to a larger house was the primary reason for their move, while 27.9% wanted to live in a house that’s better in terms of quality, and 20.8% moved to live in a better neighbourhood. Decrease in rents is the primary driving factor behind most of these moves because now more people can afford bigger, higher-quality homes in upscale communities.
- To live closer to their workplace or children’s school: A lot of people moved to reduce the time spent on daily commutes. This was the case for 32.0% of the respondents, out of which 20.3% moved to live near their workplace and 11.7% moved to a home that was closer to their children’s school.
- To cut down the cost of rent: Since residential rental rates are on the decline, only 29.9% of Dubai residents who moved did so to cut down the cost of rent in 2018. Instead, most of them used their existing budget to upsize their home.
- Maintenance issues are a major concern: It might not seem like a big reason for moving to a new home, but 12.7% of Dubai residents who moved were so distressed by maintenance issues they were facing in their current home that they chose to move to a new home. It’s recommended that you should thoroughly inspect a home for maintenance issues before moving in to avoid such hassles which can cost you thousands of dirhams. You should also consider signing up for an annual maintenance contract to keep your home in good condition.
- Other driving factors:
- 2% said they moved because they were not happy with their landlord
- 5% moved because they had bought their own house
- 5% has to move because their landlord was selling the house
Here are some interesting facts about moving in Dubai:
- Saturday is the most popular day for moving, which makes sense because most people prefer to move on the weekend when they have more free time. Movers and packers in Dubai charge higher rates on Fridays because it is a non-working day, so Saturday is the most popular choice. On the other hand, the lowest frequency of moves is in the middle of the week.
- Most popular moving sizes in Dubai: The largest number of moving requests in 2018 were for 1 bedroom apartments, followed by studios apartments.
- How much do people pay on average? The average cost of moving ranges from AED 1000-2000 for 1 bedroom apartments, given that most people live in smaller homes. Of course, the exact cost of your move would depend on the type of moving service in Dubai you choose and the amount of furniture in your home.
If you’ve been planning to upsize or move to an upscale community, then now is the right time to do so. Be sure to hire reliable movers and packers through ServiceMarket, which only features vetted and licensed moving companies in Dubai. You can also read reviews and compare moving companies on ServiceMarket to make an informed decision.