Dubai releases first-ever official residential rental performance index

The Dubai Land Department (DLD), along with with Property Finder, has launched the inaugural edition of the emirate’s first-ever official Residential Rental Performance Index (RRPI).

In January 2022, the overall monthly Index recorded 0.938 and an index price of Dhs51,101. The apartments monthly Index recorded 0.943 and an index price of Dhs46,994, while villas/townhouses monthly Index recorded 0.868 and an index price of Dhs131,882.

The base year for RPPI is 2013 and the base month for the monthly index is January 2013, with the base quarter for the quarterly index being Q1 2013, according to Dubai Media Office.

According to the index, 51,452 leases were recorded in January 2022, 52 per cent of which were new contracts, and 48 per cent were renewed contracts, while 81 per cent of them were annual contracts, and 19 per cent were for non-annual, according to Dubai Media Office.

In 2021, there were 564,036 leases throughout the year, breaking a 12-year record in terms of volume for real estate rental contracts.

Annual leases increased by 50.3 per cent and non-annual leases increased by 75.5 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.

On average, the annual number of leases have increased by approximately 7 per cent over the past five years, but in 2021 it increased by 56 per cent compared to 2020.

However, in 2020, annual leases grew by 2 per cent compared to 2019 and non-annual leases increased by 115.2 per cent.

In January 2022, there were over 51,452 rental contracts in the Dubai market with an even split between new and renewal contracts.

As per Property Finder data, the most popular apartments rental contracts were for two-bedroom apartments with one bedroom trailing right behind and the most popular villa/townhouse rental contracts were for three bedrooms with four bedrooms coming in second place.

#Dubai @Land_Department (DLD), in cooperation with Property Finder, launches the 1st edition of Dubai’s first ever official Residential Rental Performance Index (RRPI).https://t.co/zg49pzZ9zl pic.twitter.com/u6NkkNLZl9

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) February 27, 2022

Top areas by ejari registration
The top areas that saw the most rental contracts registration in January 2022 according to Ejari Registrations were Jabal Ali First with 1,811 registrations followed by Naif with 1,760.

Al Karama (1,754), Al Warsan First (1,601) and Al Suq Al Kabeer (1,457) were also part of the top five areas in 2021. These were followed by Business Bay (1,317), Al Nahda Second (1,276), Barsha South (1,192), Marsa Dubai (1,174) and Nadd Hessa (1,098). In total the top 10 areas accounted for 28 per cent of all rental transactions in January 2022.

Top areas by residential demand
According to proprietary Property Finder residential search data for rental searches on the platform in 2021, Dubai Marina was the highest searched area, accounting for more than 11 per cent of all searches. This was followed by Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Jumeirah Village Circle and Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

For villa/townhouse searches in 2021 for rental properties, Jumeirah, Dubai Hills Estate and The Springs dominated the list accounting for approximately 18 per cent of all searches. This was followed by Arabian Ranches and Umm Suqeim showing the extent of demand for properties on Umm Suqeim Road.

Overall, DLD noted that a total of 35 real estate projects with a value exceeding Dhs11bn were completed in 2021 and 319 projects were in progress as of the start of last month. Additionally, 602,714 Ejari contracts were registered in 2021, of which 315,222 were new contracts.

Read: Dubai records real estate transactions worth Dhs300bn in 2021