By Parag Deulgaonkar www.emirates247.com
Rents in Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, have fallen by almost 25 per cent in the first half of 2011 compared to last year, as unit owners prefer to rent rather than sell at lower prices.
According to Harbor Real Estate, a studio, leased for Dh120,000 a year in 2010, is now being rented for Dh90,000, while Elysian Real Estate puts studio rents in the range of Dh75,000-Dh85,000.
One beds, as per Harbor data, are available for Dh120,000 as compared to Dh160,000 pa in 2010; two-beds can be rented for Dh180,000 (Dh240,000), while three- and four- beds are available for Dh240,000 (Dh300,000) and Dh320,000 (Dh350,000), respectively.
Elysian’s data reveals one-beds are being rented for between Dh110,000 and Dh120,000 compared to Dh130,000-Dh140,000 last year; two-beds are being leased for Dh140,000-Dh210,000 (Dh180,000-Dh240,000), three-beds start from Dh270,000-Dh300,000 (Dh300,00-Dh350,000), while four-beds, which are rare to market, remain at around Dh550,000-Dh650,000.
Asked which apartments (size and view wise) witness the highest demand, George Malakos, Sales & Leasing Consultant, Elysian told Emirates 24|7 that the most popular apartment is the Type F measuring 1,778 square feet and found on floors 43-72.
“They offer both fountain and sea views. Good size apartment, great panoramic window with no pillars. More popular are still the lower floors, particularly fountain view. Anything above 50 is considered an inferior view of the fountain so sea view is preferred on the higher floors.”
Mohanad Alwadiya, Managing Director of Harbor Real Estate, adds that the most sought after units are units with fountain view in lower floors and units in high floors with sea view (high floors are the ones above the 50th floor).
This website reported in May that Emaar Properties, the developer of the tower, had increased service charge for residential, office and Armani units for 2011 by between four and seven per cent.
Service charge for residential units were hiked by over four per cent for the year and now stand at Dh55 per sq ft compared to Dh52.77 per sq ft last year.
