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If you want to buy to avoid paying rent, now might not be the best time. Whilst a mortgage might seem cheaper, there's the hidden costs you need to factor in. A few years ago I came across quite a good spreadsheet that could tell you whether you were in front or behind on a property purchase when taken all the costs of ownership into account versus renting. You'd be surprised just how marginal the difference is. Wish I still had it but could easily recreate it I suppose.


I would love to be a ginnea pig for your spreadsheet analysis. I have been reading this forum for the past couple of hours and although this was back in march and here it is august, i doubt i will be reading much difference as i continue on. My husband who is on his way to UAE now is an airline pilot and I who will be there as soon as job offer or husband sponsorship ( which ever comes first) are trying to sort out where to live, whether or not to rent or buy the first year there and if we take the housing which is cheap but free we can take our salary and invest in property there. Where do we begin ? As i stated, I have been following this forum and the replies and see so many of you have made money, have investments etc. did you all have alot of money to invest ? What is the minimal dollar investment we can make ? I welcome all your replies and feel free to educate me. I admit to being ignorant when it comes to economics and have no financial strategies except to possibly have a nice nest egg when hubby has to retire in 13 years or take a lower position in the flight deck. I am a Paramedic who will more than likely finish my education to include a BSN in Nursing to make better money. What we would like to do is own a villa approx 3k sq ft, pool, garage and own a boat at the marina no less than 32 ft.

Already started ...

Certain areas go down price per square feet ...

State Area 18-Sep PPSF 10-Sep PPSF Change %
Dubai Culture Village 3,061 3,153 -3.02%
Dubai Dubai Pearl 4,314 4,617 -7.02%
Dubai Emirates Hills 2,323 2,424 -4.35%
Dubai Jumeirah Beach Residence 2,195 2,392 -8.98%
Dubai The Palm, Jebel Ali 2,140 2,229 -4.18%

There's a great updated list from yesterday on uaelist dot com

Yes, it's the high end properties first, who's going to buy an Emirates Villa for 60+Mill. AED ...in other words, who's going to pay almost a 10 mill. english pound for a villa in the desert in the Middle East?

The market is small for these properties, but it's starting to cool down, it starts at the top and will slowly go down to the bottom of each housing segment....

JBR with almost 9% down compared to April says something ...