Dubai’s Office Market Heading For Major Reset

Dubai’s flourishing commercial real estate sector is heading for a major reset which will see a two-tier office market emerge by 2028, with older buildings facing pressure as new Grade A properties command premium pricing.

While commercial real estate has seen significant growth this year, climbing 77.9% in terms of sales value and 35.1%in transaction volume over the first 11 months, for more than 15 years it has not kept pace with the residential market in adopting luxury design and construction quality.

“Since 2008, Dubai has not seen a real new generation of office buildings,” said Firs Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties. “In contrast, the residential market went through a major transformation – new design language, new architecture, new luxury standards, and new construction codes.

“The commercial sector did not have a reset, but that’s now on the way. The first wave of next-generation Grade A offices will only start handing over from 2028 onward.

“That will be the moment of truth, as we see how secondary offices perform when tenants finally have modern, efficient, architecturally relevant options.

“The gap between old and new will widen, and the entire commercial sector will reprice itself around quality, creating a two-tier office market, with older buildings facing pressure as new Grade A properties command premium pricing.”

Al Msaddi points to Vision Tower in Business Bay as one of the clearest indicators of demand for real Grade A office space in Dubai. “It has consistently outperformed the market because it attracts real, established corporates,” he said.

“The smallest unit is a half-floor, which naturally filters for serious companies, and the performance of that building tells you exactly how strong true Grade A demand really is.”

The Dubai real estate market has already had a record-breaking year in the residential sector, with 197,263 transactions worth AED624.1 billion surpassing the previous full year results with a month to spare in 2025.

Meanwhile, data from DXBinteract shows there has also been impressive growth in the commercial market over the first 11 months of the year.

Total commercial real estate sales value reached AED 15.5 billion, a 77.91% leap from AED 8.7 billion last year, while overall transaction volume rose by 35.1% from 3,970 deals last year to 5,364.

DUBAI REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL MARKET: JANUARY-NOVEMBER 2025

Property type	Sales value	Volume
Office	AED 11.2B	4,012
Shop	AED 3.8B	1,321
Showrooms	AED 70.2M	13
Warehouse	AED 24.4M	7
Workshop	AED 3.3M	6
Clinic	AED 4.8M	2
Sized Partition	AED 105M	1
Building	AED 245M	1
Gymnasium	AED 865,067	1