Abu Dhabi has frozen rent rises on residential, commercial and industrial properties as the UAE capital moves to ease affordability pressures caused by rapid population growth and a shortage of housing supply.
The Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre (Adrec) said this week that all tenancy renewals would be processed at a 0 percent increase for the duration of the measure. New contracts on a previously rented house or apartment will be pegged to the preceding contract’s value.
Saudi Arabia made a similar decision last year, introducing a five-year freeze in Riyadh.
The Abu Dhabi move arrives at a time of pressure in the residential market. The emirate’s population has grown rapidly — reaching 4.3 million in 2025, official data shows, up more than half over the past decade — while housing supply has struggled to keep pace.
Abu Dhabi’s population gained 8 percent in 2024 alone, yet housing stock rose just 2.4 percent. Occupied units grew at more than double the rate of new supply between 2022 and 2025, according to Adrec data, and rents for new tenants rose by a fifth from 2024 to 2025.
Unlike Dubai, which has built lower-cost suburban stock in areas such as Jumeirah Village Circle and Jumeirah Village Triangle, Abu Dhabi’s residential pipeline remains skewed towards the high end. Affordable supply falls short of the scale the population demands.