First apartments in Dubai’s new “Expo Village” now available for rent

At the ‘Expo Village’ (the location of Expo 2020), the first apartment complexes are being released on the Dubai real estate market, and prospective tenants will be hoping to sign up fast for rental terms that would be on the more affordable side.
The Expo Village will have 2,273 apartments within four designated residential clusters, all of which are designated for leases. The communities are ‘minutes away from the Expo 2020 Metro Station and the Dubai Exhibition Centre’, and with Savills appointed as the main leasing agent.
“By the looks of it, these apartments will be released in phases and generate ready demand from those working at ‘Expo City’ or within Dubai South,” said an industry source. “Even then, these units would appeal to those who work at offices in the wider Jebel Ali area – what’s most important is that these many units are arriving in Dubai’s rental market at a time when most other locations are going through 20-30 percent rent increases
“The Metro directly serving the Expo Village will be a major USP for tenants.”
Currently, at Dubai South, brand new one-bedroom apartments of around 800 square feet are listed for Dh28,000 or thereabouts (and with one-month rent-free). The Expo Village rentals are yet to be formally published, but chances are there would be at a premium on comparable Dubai South rates.
So far, rent gains at Dubai South have not seen the sort of markups recorded by mid-market locations elsewhere in the city. The likes of Deira, Discovery Gardens, and Jumeirah Village have seen rents up 13-, 8- and 20 percent in the 12 months to the end of September, according to the property services firm Asteco.
It means that a one-bedroom in Deira is averaging Dh30,000-Dh55,000 as popular neighborhoods see buildings going through makeovers or new ones coming up for lease. The areas in and around the Deira Corniche is particularly active, with the Gold Souk Ext. and the wider Deira Enrichment Project providing new rental options.
Jumeirah Village – one of the major options for mid-income tenants for the better part of the last five years – has seen rent increases of 20 percent on average over the 12 months to September, says the Asteco report, which means that a one-bedroom is commanding Dh33,000-Dh60,000.
“Asteco anticipates rental rates to remain elevated towards the end of the year and into 2023,” the report adds, saying any slowdown in rent increases will happen only with oversupply. But the way Dubai has been seeing newcomers being added to the existing resident base, it could be some time before supply shoots past demand.
The last three quarters have seen an average of roughly 6,000 new apartment handovers; Expo Village’s apartments are the newest to enter the rental market. Additionally, they add some nice elements.