An Answer (Five Months Late)

Back in July, I wrote about people living in Al Ain and working in Dubai, and in the comments it was asked about average rent in Al Ain, which I didn't know. The Gulf News had an article the other day that seems to answer this question;

According to Asteco's latest figures, annual rent for a new three-bedroom villa at the town centre now hovers around Dh60,000 to Dh75,000, or about Dh15,000 to Dh25,000 more expensive than last year.

On average, current rates for old three-, four- and five-bedroom villas are at Dh45,000, Dh60,000 and Dh70,000 while prices for new villas are at Dh60,000, Dh75,000 and Dh85,000. The figures represent a 35 to 40 per cent rise from last year.

Some new residential properties fetch an annual rent of Dh100,000 to Dh120,000 while office space commands Dh500 to 750 per square metre, depending on location.

So there you go. It is cheaper than Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but getting more expensive (up 30% this year). The story lists several reasons for the increase in demand, but leaves out one really big factor. The additional restrictions on the Al Ain-Buraimi border crossing caused many people who had formerly lived in Buraimi (which has lower rents) and worked in Al Ain to move to Al Ain.

Also, when considering the article, there is one small mistake and one big mistake. It lists the population of Al Ain as 300,000. The Al Ain Times had reported that the population, according to the most recent census, is 400,000. But that is nothing compared to "property prices in Al Ain may be rising, but the emirate is still much cheaper compared to Dubai and Abu Dhabi". Unless I missed it, Al Ain is still just the second largest city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Goodbye Hilton

I checked out of the Hilton this morning, so I am now officially living in my villa. I ordered my furniture and appliances yesterday, but they will not be delivered until at Thursday (Thursday is the day that I was promised, but I have learned to take such promises with a grain of salt), so I will be living in style with a camp chair to sit in and a small foam mattress to sleep on.

House Pics

Here, finally, are some pics of the house I have been assigned:

The villa is one of eight surrounded by a wall. It looks like this from the road:



This is a better view of the front from the neighbor's carport:



This is the front door:



Half of the living room:


To give you some idea of the scale, the ceiling is about 3 meters, or 10 feet, high. The floor tiles are about 2 1/2 feet square.

The other half


The kitchen


The view from the Master Bedroom


The view from the roof


The street sign showing the district the house is in, Khabisi


The main street outside the neighborhood. This is about three blocks from the house. I have to walk here to get a taxi until I get a car.

Housing assigned

I have been assigned a villa and it is huge. I mean really huge. It is white with stone tile floors and huge windows.

It has two living room type rooms on the first floor, both with their own door to the porch. (The reason that the house has two living rooms is that in a traditional Arab family, you needed a room to recieve non-family guests, because non-family males could not see the women of the family.)
The smaller of the two, designed to the the guest living room, is about 18 feet by 14 feet, and it has it's own full bathroom with two extra sinks. The other one is almost half again as large.

Then there is a guest bedroom type room, a room for the washing machine and table, and another guest bedroom or den room, which also has a full bathroom. Then there is another part of the house behind the washing room that is designed for a maid. It has the kitchen, which is about 24 feet by 14 feet, a huge pantry room, and three smaller rooms (about 10 by 10), one of which has a bathroom with shower only.

Then upstairs are four more bedrooms. The master bedroom is about 18 by 16 with a full bath and a balcony. There is a full bath in the hallway, and another in one of the other three bedrooms. So, not counting the maid part of the house, this house has two living rooms, six bedrooms, and 5 full baths. I'll post some pics when I get the ability to upload photos.