Rising rents? Your HRA could go up this year

A common complain that unites many tenants in the UAE is the ever increasing rents in the country. Many rue having to pay a 30, 40 and even 50 per cent more in accommodation costs in the course of a year as switching places do not make much sense for many since rent is going up everywhere, leaving few options to choose from.

In the midst of rising rents, there seems to be some good news coming our way – housing rent allowance (HRA) may go up too to offset the hikes being slapped on my landlords in the country.

According to a general industry survey released by Towers Watson, a human resources consultancy, 2014 could well be a year of change for employees’ remuneration in the UAE, to help them foot the increasing bills.

The survey reveals that salary increases are projected to average 5 per cent during 2014 and a significant number of organisations are considering reviewing their housing allowance in the face of rising rents in the country.

The survey states that a majority (83 per cent) of companies that responded to their survey plan to increase the housing allowances currently being paid to employees, with almost half looking at an increase of 5-10 per cent.

More than half of the companies (60 per cent) reported providing housing allowance to their employees in the form of a lump sum and a majority of companies (77 per cent) reported providing housing allowances to employees on a monthly basis.

Allowances such as housing and education make up 25 to 40 per cent of an employee’s total pay package in the country.

Towers Watson figures show that the current median housing allowances in Dubai are $54,000 (Dh198,347) per annum for executives and $29,000 (Dh106,519) per annum for professionals, while in Abu Dhabi, they are slightly higher, at $58,000 (Dh213,039) and $31,000 (Dh113,866) per year, respectively.

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