Newsflash: "Abu Dhabi Rents Fall to Compete with Dubai" from The National

Today's National reports that rents in the capital (Abu Dhabi) are finally starting to fall as the following occur:

1. People leave Abu Dhabi permanently
2. People choose to leave Abu Dhabi and rent in Dubai
3. 500,000 more new villas have become available at Al Raha Gardens

Abu Dhabi Rents Fall to Compete with Dubai

And Emirates Business24/7 tells us the same:

Tenants in Abu Dhabi Expect 50% Lower Rents

This all seems like great news.  Sort of like the weatherman predicting 78 degrees and sunny.

Then it rains.

See, we can't really ever have complete confidence in the weatherman, because he isn't always right.  Nor can we have much confidence in newspaper reports about rental markets in Abu Dhabi, because they change their minds every couple of weeks.

On 28 June 2009, just two short weeks ago, Emirates Business24/7 reported the following:

Rents Rise in Capital Defying Forecasts

In case you don't feel like reading the articles, here's a one-sentence summary of them:

28 June 2009:   Rents are increasing in Abu Dhabi.

14 July 2009: Rents are decreasing in Abu Dhabi.

The more I think about it, the more it's NOT like the weatherman.  The weatherman doesn't tell us that it will be both sunny and rainy.  Some Abu Dhabi journalists, though, appear to be doing just that.