Housing Continues to be THE Wild card in your employment package
Big Geordie is correct.
Housing is a wild card.
Do not take the Utility Allowance . It has never kept up with the real cost of Renting a Villa and the way that the company conduct an annual review and make an adjustment is way behind what actually has happened with Inflation and the cost of living.
As our Senior management never have to rent a Villa using the Allowance so it will never come close to watch you actually ness to rent a Villa if you do not like the company one.
Does not help that the Government use an out dated formulae since 1994 to calculate inflation which the International Monetary Fund have said is not transparent or Reflecting what is happening in the streets.
The man in the street is now paying for a 4 bedroom Villa built by Arabtech (they built Silicon oasis Villas) in Arabian ranches 4 million AED (just over 1 million US $) and you do not have to pay Electricity, water or Municipality or Service charges in this Tax free country…..
Housing has and continues to be the wild card in the Emirates Employment package with often what being shown to you bearing absolutely no resemblance to your final home however you will have done well to land in a home located in the Silicon Oasis.
Despite what so called property experts have written over the past year there will be no flood of apartments and Villas in 2007 and down ward rent adjustment is just a figment of the imagination.
With no audited figures on projected housing projects and with the companies unable to deliver promised houses and apartments as scheduled on time the continued short supply of housing and accomadation will carry on into 2007. Projects such as JBR or the Palm or International City were supposodly going to flood the market, however take a drive out to any of these developments and you will see they have a long way to go.
What you can be sure of is that come profit Sharing Time the company Spin Doctors sharpen the pencils for yet another belt tightning company news letter despite announcing record profits but leaving out the record Inflation cost of living and continued up ward spiral of living in Dubai.