Renting in Dubai
Will Dubai rents go down in 2026?
For new tenants, they have started to.A new tenancy now costs a typical AED 72,000 a year — rent per square foot 3% less than a year ago — on the Land Department’s Ejari register.
The short answer
For new tenants, they have started to. McCone Properties’ count of the 71,205 new leases on the Dubai Land Department’s Ejari register over the three months to September 2026 puts a new tenancy in Dubai at a typical AED 87 a square foot a year — 3% less than the same months a year earlier. A typical new lease now costs about AED 72,000 a year. Renewals are moving the other way: a tenant renewing paid 6% more than a year earlier, because a renewal rise is capped by the RERA index and catches up with the market a year or more late.
By Sam McCone, Managing Partner · Updated 20 Oct 2026
The direction
Are Dubai rents falling?
Rent per square foot a year on every tenancy registered in Dubai, over each three months of the last two years — new leases and renewals apart. Switch between them: they are not moving the same way.
Hover overTap the chart for any month. The axis starts at AED 80, not zero, so the direction shows.
New-lease rents peaked at AED 93 a square foot in the three months to November 2025 and stand at AED 87 now — 6% below the high. The price of buying, read the same way from the sales register, is on will Dubai property prices go down?
Where
Where Dubai rents are falling, and where they are rising
One-bedroom rents over the last twelve months against the twelve before, in the 64 areas with a hundred or more contracts: 12 cheaper, 42 dearer.
- Arabian RanchesAED 65,000 a year, from AED 68,000−5%
- Dubai Studio CityAED 65,000 a year, from AED 68,000−5%
- Umm SuqeimAED 119,000 a year, from AED 125,000−5%
- Dubai Design DistrictAED 115,000 a year, from AED 120,000−4%
- Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai Harbour and BluewatersAED 93,000 a year, from AED 95,000−2%
Every area, by layout, with new leases and renewals apart, is on Dubai rent prices.
These count every one-bedroom contract, renewals included, over twelve months — slower to turn than the new-lease reading above.
Questions
Dubai rents: the questions people ask next
Why is my rent going up at renewal when new rents are falling?
Because a renewal is not priced like a new lease. The RERA rental index caps how much a landlord can add at renewal, by how far your rent sits below the index’s average for a similar home — nothing if you are within 10% of it, up to 20% if you are more than 40% below. So renewals rise slowly and keep rising after the market has turned: in McCone Properties’ count of the Ejari register over the three months to September 2026, new leases were 3% less than a year earlier, and renewals 6% more than a year earlier. The landlord has to give ninety days’ written notice before the contract ends.
Which areas of Dubai are seeing rents fall?
Of the 64 areas with a hundred or more one-bedroom contracts in the year, McCone Properties’ count of the Ejari register finds 12 cheaper over the last twelve months than the twelve before and 42 dearer. The steepest falls: Arabian Ranches (−5%), Dubai Studio City (−5%), Umm Suqeim (−5%), Dubai Design District (−4%) and Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai Harbour and Bluewaters (−2%). Those figures count every one-bedroom contract, renewals included, so they turn later than the new-lease reading.
How much can my landlord increase the rent in Dubai?
It depends on how far your current rent sits below the RERA index’s average for a similar property. Up to 10% below: no increase. 11% to 20% below: up to 5%. 21% to 30%: up to 10%. 31% to 40%: up to 15%. More than 40% below: up to 20%. The landlord must give ninety days’ written notice before the contract ends.
Will Dubai rents go down in 2027?
We do not publish a forecast — nobody can read 2027 off a register of contracts already signed. What McCone Properties’ reading of it shows going in: new-lease rents 3% less than a year earlier, up 15% in the number of new leases signed, and renewals still catching up. A market where more tenants are moving and new rents are easing is one where tenants have more choice; this page re-reads the register every night.
Work out your own renewal on the RERA rent increase calculator, or read how the rental index works.
Every residential tenancy registered on Ejari with the Dubai Land Department, apartments and villas, to 20 Oct 2026; a month appears once it is over. Each month’s median rent per square foot a year, three months averaged and weighted by their contracts — not a true three-month median. Other figures on the register’s reports.
