Living in a furnished apartment may come cheaper than renting unfurnished one independently

 Furnished apartment buildings in Dubai are plenty due to the transit lifestyle in the city. People come and go for defined or undefined periods of time. Some arrive with temporary few months contracts, while others manage to stay for few decades.

Many of the foreign residents, who are by the way approximately 90% of the city’s population, prefer the hassle-free and not so expensive comfort of furnished apartments. Yes, you have read it right: furnished apartments now are not much more expensive than normal unfurnished apartments. If you break the monthly bills of a household into details such as water and electricity, telecom services, house cleaning and cooling, it may come even cheaper to live in a furnished apartment than to rent one on annual basis.

There are plenty of new buildings with furnished apartments in different hotel classification categories, with most of it rated as 3 or four star hotel apartments. As of today, the average rent for one-bedroom apartment on a monthly basis is AED8,000 (US $2174). You may also find 1 bedroom fully furnished apartment for AED5,000 or AED16,000. The middle value of AED8,000 was obtained in a one minute conversations over the phone with the reservation departments of 10 different furnished apartment oprators. Usually, when it comes to actual renting, smart negotiation skills can get you 10% of even 15% discount. Surprisingly, during the summer months many of the furnished apartments offer further discounts, which indicates that they expect limited occupancy.

The main priority of renting a furnished apartment is the easiness. You just have to pay the rent, get the key, open the door and start living. Someone else takes care about the daily cleaning, furnishing and repairs, electricity and telecom bills. If you rent a regular apartment, you will have to pay an anual deposit of 5% and AED1,000 water and electricity deposit, which in a furnished apartment you can save. In addition, you will have to spend on furniture and household accessories. House cleaning is not so cheap either at AED30 an hour. If you need household help 3 times a week (as many of the furnished apartments include in their offers), you can easily end up paying between AED1,000 and AED1,500 a month.

Compareson

One bedroom apartment in Downtown Dubai now can be rented for AED80,000 (US $21,740) a year. The real estate broker’s commission is 5% and the security deposit is another 5% of that amount. It totals additional to the rent amount of AED8,000 (US $2,174). To furnish a one bedroom apartment from IKEA, you will have to spend an absolute minimum of around AED10,000 (US $2,717). Monthly you will have to pay around AED400 (US $110) in water and electricity bill, and nearly the same for telecom services, including television and Internet. With a regular 3 days a week house cleaning, the bill can top AED120,000 (US $32,608) per anum.

On the other hand, one bedroom furnished apartment with average monthly rent of AED8,000 comes to AED96,000 (US $26,087). Additional bonus is that you do not have to waste any time in setting up water and electricity or telecom bill accounts, shopping for households and cleaning or maintaining a home.

The best source for to find and compare rental options for furnished apartments in Dubai is to research Booking.com. Of course, the rates there are including agent’s commissions and if you visit the place personally, you will be able to obtain a better rate.

One and two bedroom apartments on monthly and annual basis are currently available in all of the 10 furnished apartments we called.