Drove V. to MOE today which used to be a regular haunt for us when we lived in Al Safa. The occasion was the leaving bowling party for one of her friends. As I have commented elsewhere on this blog, the expat lifestyle unfortunately lends itself to leaving parties although the longer we have lived outside the UK (17 years and counting…..) the fewer leaving ‘dos” we seem to be invited to - either fewer of our friends are leaving or we have fewer friends!
In this case, V.’s friend had already departed a few years ago, only to unexpectedly re-appear some 12 months later after his parents had a change of heart about heading to the UK. This time, the move seems to be driven by the fact that it is much cheaper to live in recessionary UK rather than booming Dubai.
It is certainly true that rentals have gone through the roof in Dubai in the last 2 years (as have property prices). Whilst there have been some warning signs - inflation does not really get reported here in any great detail - the signs are that it is climbing (currently around 7 or 8 %).
Whilst there has been a tide of investment from Eastern Europe and other parts o the Middle East, there does seem to be a note of caution when one discusses finances with residents. The AED (pegged to the USD) is also very strong at the moment - particularly in comparison with the GBP - when I arrived in May 2009 the GBP was worth just under 6AED. Today it is worth AED4.17. For those payed in GBP that is quite the change in income. Whilst we are seeing nothing like the level of departures prompted by the the Covid Pandemic in early 2020, I suspect this will not be the last of the leaving parties.
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