Business & Money | Monday 15 July, 2019 12:23 pm |

 Following the overall trends seen in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, prices softened for properties in Sharjah and Ajman for both sales and rentals. Investors will be happy to know that along with increased levels of affordability, average ROI is healthy in both the family-friendly emirates as per Bayut’s latest reports. While key neighbourhoods in Sharjah offer rental yields of around 5-7%, Ajman offers even better ROI of over 10% in notable areas. 

Price trends for H1 2019 reveal that apartments in Sharjah have witnessed decreases on average for both sales and rentals, with most units displaying modest dips of 2-7%.

The only noticeable price decrease for apartment sales have been for the 1-beds in Al Khan, where prices dropped by 9.5%. 

For renting apartments, popular locations like Al Majaz and Al Taawun have seen price declines ranging from 10-13% across most units. These fluctuations can be attributed to the increased supply of smaller units in these areas for both sales and rentals in the first six months of 2019.

According to search trends, Al Nahda is the preferred area for tenants to rent apartments in Sharjah while Al Majaz is the most popular choice for potential investors interested in buying apartments. Al Majaz also offers the highest average rental yields in Sharjah at the 6.8% mark, which can vary depending on the type of property you own.  

As for the villas in Sharjah, the area of Hoshi received the most number of searches from investors and Al Sabkha is now the most popular choice for renters. 

For further details take a look at the full H1 Sharjah market report by Bayut. 

In Ajman, prices for apartments have declined across sales and rentals. 

In terms of sales, notable declines can be seen for 1-bedroom apartments in Emirates City, where prices dropped by 9.5%, which is expected considering the large number of off-plan handovers in the neighbourhood. 

There are also certain areas where demand is increasing; average prices of 2-bedroom units in Al Bustan and Corniche Ajman went up by 8% and 12% respectively, which could be associated with the increased inventory of larger units with higher square footage. 

Investor favourite Ajman Downtown however has only experienced marginal decreases for apartments sales prices within the 2-6% margin. 

The most popular area with tenants looking at apartments in Ajman is Al Nuaimiya, where prices are more or less stable. The apartments for rent in other areas such as Ajman Downtown, Garden City and Corniche Ajman, however experienced decreases between 8-15%, pointing to an extremely favourable market for upgrading to a larger unit for tenants. 

Keeping in line with the trends seen in the last year, Al Mowaihat is the most popular option for villa sales, while tenants are most interested in the rental villas in Al Rawda. 

Besides the average ROI of 13.3% for apartments in Al Nuaimiya, other key areas such as Al Sawan, Ajman Downtown, Corniche Ajman and Emirates City are also delivering healthy rental yields of 8 -11%.