The kind of rental growth that Dubai’s short-stay rentals used to have has stabilized. This is the other factor landlords need to decide on when they choose between long-term rental and short.Courtesy: Dubai Media office
Dubai: Another factor – the star rating system – has started to show up in Dubai landlords wanting to choose between renting out for a year or preferring to go for short-stay letting.
According to market sources, there has been a slowing down in the number of new homes coming for short-term rentals since the start of the year. Dubai’s new digital Rental Index and the star rating system that’s part of it is being cited by some landlords in choosing the 1-year annual rental option.
“Three of the landlords I represent decided to withdraw from short lets and put all their properties for long lease,” said an estate agent. “Together, these three landlords placed around 30-40 units for one-year leases, and got tenants immediately at higher than market averages.
“Buildings with high star ratings are able to command much more in the current market situation. Our clients felt this was too good to miss out on.”
Star rating adds a new factor
Under Dubai’s new Rental Index, a star rating assigned to each building should dictate what landlords can ask for – and on existing leases, sets ranges on how much more they can demand. What this has done is create fresh possibilities for landlords in the longer term rental.
It is also a conversation that more landlords with properties in Dubai are having, and with more when new apartments are delivered in the coming weeks. It’s more or less a given that newer buildings will have a higher rating – giving their landlords the latitude to ask for a higher rents.
