Dubai office transactions rise 11.5% QoQ in Q3 2026 as prices gain 8.9%

Deal activity

The average Dubai office sales price reached AED2,005 per square foot in Q3 2026, 8.9% higher than a year earlier. Investors spent AED4.3 billion across 1,100 office transactions between July and September. The transaction count was 11.5% above Q2 2026, though 3.6% below the same quarter a year earlier. Sales values rose almost 40% year on year but fell 42% quarter on quarter.

The quarterly fall in value was largely due to fewer high-value deals. More than 200 office transactions worth AED10 million or more were recorded in Q2 2026. In Q3, that number fell to around 80. The drop in big-ticket sales pulled total value down even as the number of deals increased from the previous quarter. That split matters for pricing: a market can post more transactions and still record a lower total value when the mix shifts away from large deals.

Downtown Jebel Ali takes the lead

Downtown Jebel Ali overtook Business Bay as Dubai’s most active office sales location. It recorded 326 transactions, all off-plan, and accounted for almost 30% of all Dubai office sales in Q3. Raw District by Imtiaz and Samana Business Hub were major contributors to the area’s new launches. Business Bay ranked second with 271 transactions. Jumeirah Lakes Towers recorded 160, Motor City 70 and Dubai Sports City 41.

Off-plan sales took the majority share of Dubai office purchases. Around 700 off-plan transactions represented 63% of all sales in Q3. A year earlier, ready offices accounted for nearly 66% of sales. An increase in new launches significantly changed the composition of buying activity. Off-plan demand for offices below 1,000 square feet rose more than 190% year on year, and those units made up more than half of total Q3 office sales. Off-plan activity for units between 2,001 and 5,000 square feet surged 376%. Ready sales were dominated by mid-sized offices, which made up over half of that segment.

The location and size data point to a market increasingly driven by new projects rather than completed stock. Downtown Jebel Ali’s 326 sales were entirely off-plan, so its rise to the top spot reflects launch activity as much as occupier demand. The same pattern appears in the size bands, where the strongest off-plan growth came from small units and from larger offices between 2,001 and 5,000 square feet.

Rents and supply

Average office rents reached AED187.5 per square foot, up 6.5% year on year. DIFC recorded the highest increase at 14.7%, more than double the citywide average. Barsha Heights followed with 9.1% and Downtown Dubai with 8.1%. Business Bay and Jumeirah Lakes Towers also posted above-average rent increases. Prices and rents rose year on year, but both eased marginally for a second consecutive quarter, pointing to moderation after strong growth in 2024 and 2025.

Vidhi Shah MRICS, Director and Head of Commercial Valuation at Cavendish Maxwell, said the office market had a “mixed performance” in Q3 2026. Transaction volumes showed signs of recovery after a subdued Q2 but remained below earlier-year elevated levels, she said. Price and rental growth were moderating, signaling normalization after sustained recent-quarter growth. Shah said uncertainty remained about the near-term trajectory of the market, and that coming quarters should provide greater clarity on emerging trends and the broader outlook.

About 44,100 square metres of new office space was delivered in Q3. Deliveries since January reached 136,400 square metres, taking Dubai’s total office stock above 9.5 million square metres. Another 106,400 square metres is due by the end of 2026. The pipeline includes 400,000 square metres in 2027 and 528,000 square metres in 2028. Some project handovers scheduled for 2028 have been pushed to 2029. Construction delays and extended delivery timelines affected large-scale projects at early stages of construction.

The shift toward off-plan and smaller units changes what is being sold, not just how much. A market led by new launches and sub-1,000 square foot offices is more exposed to delivery timelines than one driven by ready stock. The delays already affecting early-stage projects show where that risk sits. For occupiers, the rent data still points to firm conditions in prime areas such as DIFC, even as the pace of growth slows.