Felix Reinberg

I’m planning to move to Abu Dhabi and was surprised at the outrageous rental prices for villas.

Does anyone from the Dubai/Abu Dhabi area know what the commute is like from, say Jebel Ali, to Abu Dhabi?

The prices of freehold property in the Dubai area make it much more feasible to buy over renting. However, I don’t want to regret the commute.

Appreciate your views.

Face81

Moving to Abu Dhabi can always be very stressful Felix. It is a well known fact that rental prices in AD, as I affectionaletly like to call our capital, are about 10% to 20% higher than Dubai. You will also notice that AD is a fair few ranks above Dubai in the 100 most expensive cities in the World.

Well if you plan to live in Jebel Ali (ie around the vicinity of Juntion 5), you have about 130-140 km's to go b4 you hit downtown AD. The commute has been known to be hazardous due to the somewhat unique driving skills of the people of this great nation. I wouldnt be able to make that commute everyday. I would probably die of fear along the way. :scared: And there is no chance of flying down the highway either, as it is full of detours, speed breaker, cameras and coppers hiding under junctions once you are in AD territory.

From personal experience, getting to AD always seems to take longer than getting back. So you might be looking at a 90 to 100 minute commute (whilst driving at about 120kmph non-stop) from junction 5 and a little less on the way back.

If I were you and I really wanted to continue living in Dubai, you could perhaps look into living at the Green Community at Juntion 8. Its owned by Union Properties:

http://www.up.ae/up/

This way you would be closer to AD, but still have the comforts of DXB. I reckon that living by junction 8 should cut down the commute time by 20 minutes or so.

Hope this has been of some help. Do not hesitate to ask me anything else

-Face81

Felix Reinberg

Many thanks for the information & advice.

Would anyone know of other freehold/leasehold communities further down towards AD or in the Jebel Ali area?

Face81

Dont mean to upset you Felix, but The Green Commnity by Junction 8 is Dubais most distant freehold property development. Beyond that, a couple of Junctions or so away, you hit the AD border. So no, there are no more freehold developments in that area or beyond.

I have heard that it is a very peaceful community, with a plan to have 10,000 units there soon. I think about 4000 units are already built and many are occupied. Price wise, they are very competitive with EMAAR and Nakheel. I think their price range is just below what you would pay for a property around Junction 5.

Hope that helps.

-Face81

DubaiExpat

Hiya
I live at the Green Community and it is very nice area. There are only 600 villas here in the current phase but it will expand I believe so it has a very nice community feel. You really do get the impression you are out in the suburbs which I enjoy over the hustle and bustle of Dubai.

We bought our villa and the GC is the cheapest villa freehold property available at the moment per square footage. Our house cost us Dhs1.4million with 4200sq feet, compare that to buying a 3,000sq foot townhouse in The Springs for Dhs1.1mil or a 3,500sq detached in The Meadows for Dhs1.7million and you'll see that it is good value for money.
I suggest you take a look at all the different areas before making your decision as its hard to do things like choosing a house over the Internet and so on. Most of the people that bought here use the company's rental allowance given to them, as it makes a lot more sense than just renting a villa.

Just to remind you though, Green Community properties are on a 99-year lease for now because the law for expats owning freehold hasn't come to pass yet, but according to the developers, the status for GC will be converted to freehold once that comes through.

Hope I didn't ramble