Dubai Property Hunt

Sharjah is Dubai’s neighbouring emirate. It is is an attractive location for people because of considerably lower rents-almost half of what you pay in Dubai.Sharjah offers a wide range of housing options, from small apartments to big villas. Downtown of Sharjah mainly consists of rise apartment blocks. Newer blocks command higher rents while the older ones are a bit cheaper. Out of town there’s some big independent villas, and smaller, older villas. The rent for a one-bedroom apartment in town is around Dhs.40,000, while the rent of a three-bedroom villa can be around Dhs.100,000. Like Dubai Sharjah also offers fabulous opportunities for shopping. Sharjah City Centre, Sharjah Mega Mall, and the Sahara Centre have international brands and stores (such as M&S and Debenhams), and there are several smaller shopping centres. For traditional shopping, the big Central Souk (aka Blue Souk) has chains of jewellery shops and stores selling Arabian knick-knacks and almost everything you could imagine. The Souk Al Arsah in the Heritage Area is another traditional Arabian market. Sharjah’ fruit, vegetable and fish markets are in Al Jubail, with many stalls of fresh products.

There’s also a big Carrefour hypermarket in the City Centre mall and a Spinneys in the Sahara Centre. One can also find plenty of small grocery stores dotted around the residential areas, as well as dry cleaners and laundries. Sharjah has a reputation of a bit quiet city but it has its share of dining and leisure options, with several good independent restaurants. There are branches of well-known chains and fast-food restaurants, and the shopping malls all have foodcourts.

A popular destination for expats in Sharjah is the Sharjah Wanderer Sports Club. The club has a host of sporting and leisure facilities and licensed bars and restaurants(The club is only accessible to members, and guests of members).

Star Cineplex at City Centre and Century Cinema at the Sahara Centre are famous cinemas of Sharjah. For outdoor leisure, Sharjah has some big green parks and good beaches, Qanat Al Qasba is one of the famous for a leisurely stroll. The Heritage and Arts areas are worth visiting, with number of art galleries and museums showing how life used to be. Sharjah has several government health clinics for subsidized medical care, couple with private clinics and hospitals. The two government hospitals with emergency facilities are the Qassimi (06 538 6444) and Kuwaiti hospitals (065242111), while Al Zahra, Zulekha (06 565 8866), and the Central Private (06 563 9900) are the main private hospitals with 24hr emergency care. Sharjah English School, Wesgreen International School, The Sharjah American International School, The Lycée Georges Pompidou de Sharjah, the German School Sharjah are some of the famous international school chains operating in Sharjah..furthermore Sharjah University City is home to a number of higher education institutions including the American University of Sharjah. Thousands of people travel between Sharjah and Dubai every day. The E11 Al Ittihad Road links central Sharjah and central Dubai, crossing Dubai Creek over Garhoud Bridge, and for most of the morning it gets fully packed with the traffic leaving Sharjah and the same happens in the other direction at evening. The E31 1 Emirates Road is one alternative, but it is a long route, and it too gets busy at rush hour. Finding space for parking in downtown can be tricky, as there’s not ample space for the purpose. Much of the roadside parking is charged. The local taxis are not as clean or modern as those in Dubai, but they are considerably cheaper and fairly easy to flag down in the built-up residential areas. The ratio of crime is almost negligible. Because of density of buildings downtown is not ideal for families but Out of town is quieter. Ongoing construction boom may cause noise and disruption.