For families weighing space, community, and daily convenience in Dubai, the choices made by one household in Damac Hills 2 offer a concrete picture of what outer-community living actually costs and delivers.
Benjamin Owen, 39, a leadership coach, and his wife Poppy, 34, a family-focused content creator, pay Dh120,000 a year to rent a three-bedroom villa with a maid’s room, four bathrooms, two balconies, a garden, and parking in the development’s Pacifica cluster. They have lived there since arriving in the UAE four years ago and say they have no plans to leave.
The location was a deliberate choice. Both Owen and Poppy were accustomed to living slightly outside an urban area in the UK, comfortable with a 45-minute commute, and they wanted something similar in Dubai: space outside the urban core without the isolation that can come with it. “We didn’t want to live in a city; we wanted to live in Dubai, but we didn’t want to be in traffic jams or to be in the centre,” Owen says. The development sits directly beside desert landscape, which matters to Owen personally. “I run in the desert and I like to be in nature,” he explains.
What has changed most visibly for residents since the family arrived is connectivity. A journey to Souk Madinat that once took 50 minutes now takes 20 via the new Umm Suqeim Street route. Travel time to Dubai Hills Mall has fallen from 45 to 50 minutes down to 25. For families who depend on reliable access to schools, shops, and workplaces, that kind of infrastructure shift is not a minor convenience.
The Dh120,000 annual rent sits above the cluster’s going rate. An identical villa rented for Dh100,000 just a year or two earlier, Owen acknowledges. The premium reflects a deliberate decision about who to rent from. After an early experience with an unreliable agent who collected rent without passing it to the property owner, Owen made landlord reliability a priority. His current landlord, an Emirati who handles all maintenance and responds to any issue within 24 hours, charges more. “We feel like we’re getting exactly what we’re paying for,” Owen says. The annual rent, he notes, matches what the family charges tenants at their UK home, making the arrangement economically neutral.
The couple has invested in the space itself. They installed a media wall with shelving, panelling, and lighting, wrapped the kitchen, added built-in bunk beds to the children’s bedrooms, and laid turf with a barbecue area in the garden. Both work online from home, and both say their businesses are growing. Poppy produces community content for Damac in addition to her broader family-focused work. Owen runs leadership seminars and workshops for international clients, many of whom he hosts at the development’s hotel, which he describes as turning Dubai into an aspirational destination for visitors.
Beyond the villa itself, residents share access to a gym, swimming pool, Water Town water park, and a 7-kilometre running track around the development’s centre. Sports facilities include tennis courts, padel courts, basketball courts, a cricket ground, and an outdoor gym. A local mall covers everyday needs. For families with children, the breadth of that shared infrastructure matters as much as the private square footage.
The family’s only real frustration is the villa’s layout. Owen would prefer a larger, open-plan kitchen in place of the current compact one, and he would reconfigure the downstairs bathroom and balcony space. These are minor complaints. Their daughters are settled in school, the community feels established, and the combination of space, amenities, and improved road access meets the family’s daily needs.
Owen says they plan to stay as long as they remain in Dubai. The only scenario that might prompt a move is a decision to buy, either a larger villa or property elsewhere in the emirate. Whether the rental market in outer communities like Damac Hills 2 continues to absorb demand at these price points, as infrastructure keeps improving and more families make the same calculation, remains the open question.