The Short-term Alternative

Better Homes Short-term Rentals has always offered a unique service – attractive both to those landlords who want flexibility and to tenants visiting for business or holiday breaks who required a “home away from home” at a reasonable price. Now, however, a new type of tenant has arrived.

In certain locations, short-term furnished accommodation is now more cost effective to the tenant than a long-term lease – and provides not only the inclusion of utilities and weekly housekeeping, but also the flexibility of not committing to a location. In the past few months, this has been highly attractive to the many residents who are “waiting to see what happens” regarding employment. 

“This short-term solution has been attractive for long-term residents who are either waiting for rents to drop or for their companies to finish restructuring,” says Janine Crisp, Head of Short-term Rentals within Better Homes, “With reduced numbers of business and holiday travelers, short-term rents were bound to drop.  The result of this is that many residents are moving into short-term accommodation while they wait and see what happens in the market.” As evidence of this phenomenon, Better Homes experienced a 200% increase in short-term transactions in April.

As for the landlords, they have been generally satisfied with the situation.  While their revenue per property is dropping, their rooms are staying full and this has prevented them from feeling the need to reorganize their property portfolio strategy (which can be a costly and time-consuming process). “The landlords have been great to work with,” says Janine, “they understand the need to reduce prices in order to maintain occupancy. This is all part of the market adjusting.”

Great short-term deals currently available:

Studio in Marina Diamond 3 – AED 7,000 per month

1 bedroom in The Greens – AED 9,000 per month

2 bedroom w/ study in JBR – AED 14,000 per month

[1] Click here for more information about furnished short-term rental solutions.