Rent, Schment.

In the weekend, Gypsy Boy and I decided to check out some of the new buildings in our neighbourhood. There's a lot of construction in this developing area and we've noticed some very swanky, new apartment blocks coming up.

As the lease on the apartment we are renting is coming up for renewal in December, I thought it would be a good idea to check out what is available in the market. Rents have been crazy over the last year, but given that there are now so many new apartments almost ready to be released in the rental market, one would think that there'd be some sort of glut prompting market forces to bring down rents in Dubai.

Well, this is clearly not the case. Not yet anyway. One of the new apartment blocks nearby, is a pretty terracotta building with Parisian style balconies finished with ornate wrought iron railings. Inside, the apartments were spacious, light and really would've met all our needs and more. What is interesting is, 2 weeks ago a friend had enquired and found out any 2 bedroom in this same building was going for 100,000 dirhams per year. Now, they are asking for 115,000 dirhams!

Such is the current rental situation here. To put things into perspective, 115,000 dirhams a year works out to be approximately 940NZD per week - in rent! We're talking no sea views, no views at all really. Good area, but still 15 kilometres to the CBD...

It will be interesting to see what the rent will be for the new year in our apartment. Apparently the renewal letter is already in the mail. Oh, the suspense!