Eighty-two per cent of Dubai residents faced an increase in their rental costs when they last renewed their rental contracts in 2014, a report said.

Those who renewed their lease less than three months ago faced a smaller rate of increase than those who renewed their lease six to 12 months ago, showed the latest survey of Dubai residents’ rental costs released by MoveSouq.com, a Dubai-based comparison site for home services.

The proportion of Dubai residents who faced more than a 10 per cent increase in their rent costs was 28 per cent of those who renewed their lease less than three months ago, compared to 40 per cent of those who renewed their lease six to 12 months ago, the report explained.

The survey also showed that Dubai residents are still very likely to move homes due to continued rent increases.  Sixty-three per cent of all respondents plan to move to a new home upon their next lease renewal.

The proportion of people planning to move was significantly higher among those who faced a higher rate of rent increase in the last year. Eighty-one per cent of respondents who faced more than a 15 per cent rent increase plan to move to a new home.

“This quarter’s results tally with the overall perception in the market that real estate prices are stabilising,” said Bana Shomali, MoveSouq.com.

“The data shows that Dubai tenants are still facing rent increases with each renewal, however, we see now that the rate of increase in rental costs has slowed down compared to end of last year. It would be interesting to see how the market will behave in the next quarter, but we expect this trend to continue.” – TradeArabia News Service