DUBAI: While Dubai continues to pump out sumptuous new apartment blocks, for a rising number of expatriates the city no longer offers the luxury lifestyle that lured many foreigners to the Gulf.

A shortage of affordable homes and a reduction in overseas allowances since the financial crisis are pushing foreign staff on middle incomes out to less glamorous areas of the city far from the office, or to neighbouring Sharjah.

Investment bankers, lawyers and top managers at multinationals may enjoy seven-figure salaries but other expats — from architects, accountants and IT managers to legal secretaries and HR executives — are often on household incomes of $2,720-$8,170 a month.