Research undertaken for a March 2005 survey entitled "UAE Rent Inflation & Impact on the Job Market"1 pointed towards an overall 27% increase year-on-year for rentals in Dubai, 25% for Sharjah and 23% for Abu Dhabi. In the two-year period 2003-2005, rentals have increased by at least 40% 2 . As a share of total salary, according to the survey, rental...

Inter-connected with rental inflation over 2004/2005, the burgeoning freehold market took off during the same period, with price increases on properties anywhere between 30 - 50% for new villas, and as much as 100% on selected apartment developments.

Transport in Dubai, particularly running a car, shares the same paradox as household and utility costs - quite cheap per se, but potentially expensive when considering the nature of life in the city.

Surveying a basket of goods and typical consumer items, Dubai' shopping basket is inexpensive compared to other international cities around the world. Fierce competition by cost-cutting hypermarket giants like Carrefour
and Géant (who have big expansion plans in the region) is putting downward price pressure on many consumer items, meaning residents can shop widely and cheaply - for essentials. Likewise, FMCG and consumer electronic items are all cheap by international standards.

Like education, medical healthcare is big business in Dubai. It's about to become bigger too, with the imminent opening of Dubai HealthCare City and the international names, and international prices, that DHC will bring.

In a city where almost everything has a price, education has a particularly high one. With no State-provided education system, and the business of educating children being both profitable and in-demand, Dubai's schools are booming.

Lifestyle, of course, is a matter of individual preference and will therefore vary widely. It is possible to live modestly in Sharjah and Dubai - just as it is possible to live very lavishly. But modest or lavish, the costs of doing both are certainly more than they were ten or even two years ago.