Dubai: Dubai's rental rates may be mostly heading south, but certain areas are still registering increases.

According to the data released by a property portal this week, rents in a number of areas in Dubai continued to fall in July, but bigger apartments in accessible and popular locations are still posting increases of up to 17.5 per cent.

One-bedroom apartments in Bur Dubai, Downtown Dubai, Dubailand and Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) are now cheaper compared to last year’s rates. Those looking for bigger flats, however, can expect to pay more, with rents for two-bedroom apartments in one popular location increasing by more than 15 per cent, according to the data provided by Bayut.com.

Rental rates for properties across Dubai dropped by an average of 2 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, as property sales slowed down. Asteco noted in an earlier report that marked declines were observed in the higher end of the market.

Declines, however, are not across the board.

According to Bayut.com's latest data, one-bedroom flats in Bur Dubai dropped by 26 per cent from Dh80,000 in July 2014 to Dh59,100 last month, while two-bedroom apartments increased from Dh115,000 to Dh 133,714 on average, up 16.2 per cent. Studios, on the other hand, can be had for Dh49,500, which is much cheaper compared to Dh60,000 last year.

An upscale community close to Shaikh Zayed Road and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Downtown Dubai also offers less-costly options for house hunters. One-bedroom apartments in the area now cost Dh121,053 on average, down 8.5 per cent from Dh132,368 last year.

Rents for two-bedroom and three-bedroom flats, as well as studios, however, have registered average increases of 13.9 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

Dubailand, which is becoming increasingly popular among the budget-conscious tenants who don’t mind the long drive to the city centre, can also find some great deals on studio, one-bedroom and three-bedroom units, down by 15 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively. Two-bedroom apartments, however, have gone up from Dh83,000 to Dh100,723.

Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) remain a sought-after location, especially since it still offers affordable options especially for those looking for one-bedroom flats, which have dropped 2.5 per cent, from Dh92,065 to Dh90,215. Two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, as well as studios, have become more expensive, up by 9.9 per cent, 2.6 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively.

Bayut.com said the rental rates are merely stabilizing, thanks to the “cooling measures” introduced by the government. “The market stabilization and the government’s cooling measures have no doubt induced a slowdown in the realty sector of Dubai, making prices normalize compared to inflationary and speculative gains in the preceding years,” the company said in a report.

Haider Ali Khan, the company’s CEO, said tenants are now increasingly looking for properties in the affordable category. Places like JLT and Bur Dubai have moved up in popularity rankings, most probably because they now offer affordable accommodations.

“Earlier, Downtown Dubai and Business Bay traditionally formed the list of most popular localities along with Dubai Marina. However, we have now noticed JLT and Bur Dubai generating more searches, driving their popularity up,” Khan told Gulf News.

“Although we can assume that the affordability of these areas has made them popular, there is no hard evidence to support people having actually moved out of areas higher up on [our] popularity index previously or that a shift actually occurred.”