Dubai's best offices are close to full, landlord filings show

Dubai's institutional office stock is close to full, and the landlords' own accounts show it. TECOM Group, the largest listed business-park owner in the emirate, reported 98% occupancy at 31 March 2026. Emirates REIT ended 2025 at 96% and ENBD REIT at 95%.

Demand is coming through the free zones. DIFC had 8,844 active companies at the end of 2025, up 28% in a year, and its newest office building was 98.45% committed when it opened.

Key figures at a glance

How full is the Dubai office market?

No Dubai government body publishes an office vacancy rate. So the filings of the three listed landlords are the best public read we have: TECOM at 98% (Q1 2026), Emirates REIT at 96% (December 2025) and ENBD REIT at 95% (March 2026).

TECOM's 98% needs a caveat. It covers commercial and industrial space together (TECOM Q1 2026 results). The last office-only figure it gave was 90% at end-2024, when the blended rate was 94% and warehouses were pulling the average up (TECOM FY2024). Office occupancy has probably tightened since: the blend moved from 94% to 98%, and commercial customer retention was 94% in Q1 2026. TECOM has not published the office figure, though, so we don't quote the blend as an office rate.

The two REITs are easier to read. Emirates REIT owns Index Tower and other Dubai office and education assets, about 1.8 million sq ft of net lettable area. Its occupancy rose from 94% at end-2024 to 96% at end-2025 (Emirates REIT FY2025 fact sheet). The portfolio was also revalued 20% higher, to USD 1,172.7 million.

ENBD REIT is now 72% office by value. It held 95% for the year to 31 March 2026, with The Edge in Dubai Internet City at 99% (ENBD REIT FY results).

Omran occupancy proxy (from listed-landlord filings). Across the three listed Dubai landlords with real office exposure, occupancy sits at 95-98% (Q1 2026, December 2025 and March 2026 respectively). It is best read as a floor for prime, professionally managed stock; older buildings across the city are likely emptier. The only recent office-only figure, TECOM's 90% for FY2024, is below all three. On what counts as institutional grade, see what Grade A means in the Gulf.

DIFC points the same way. Its newest 600,000 sq ft Grade A building was 98.45% committed at handover in early 2026, so tenants signed before it was finished (DIFC, March 2026).

Demand shows up in the company registers

DIFC added 2,525 active companies in 2025, a 39% rise (DIFC 2025 results). The people working there grew too, to 50,200.

Other free zones are growing as well. DMCC registered 2,300 new companies in 2025, taking the JLT cluster above 26,000 (DMCC annual report). JAFZA hosts over 11,000 businesses, though that base leans to logistics rather than offices (JAFZA).

New supply is limited and mostly pre-let

The public pipeline is narrow. DIFC has 1.7 million sq ft of commercial space under construction in its Gate District expansion (DIFC). It delivered the first Grade A phase early and plans to hand over 1.6 million sq ft across 2026 and 2027 (delivery announcement).

After that comes the Zabeel District expansion, announced in 2025: 17.7 million sq ft of offices, homes, hotels, shops and cultural space, with no office-only split.

Landlords are also buying finished buildings. TECOM bought two operational Grade A buildings in Dubai Internet City for AED 420 million, adding 334,000 sq ft of GLA (TECOM, Feb 2025). With its parks nearly full and new build taking years, buying was the quicker route.

No primary source publishes a citywide office pipeline. Any "Dubai office supply 2026" total you see comes from a private survey, and headline pipelines usually overstate what actually gets delivered.

What DLD's transaction data shows, and what it hides

Dubai publishes more transaction data than any other Gulf market. Property deals reached a record AED 917 billion in 2025, up 20% (DLD via UAE MoF), and the first quarter of 2026 was up 31% on a year earlier (DLD, April 2026).

None of this is split out for offices. DLD releases mix sales, mortgages, gifts and leases across all property types. Its Smart Rental Index covers homes only, and there is no office rent index. The raw DLD open data does have a property-usage field, and filtering on it is the honest way to get an office-only view. We do that extraction for clients.

The one published rent signal from a filing is Emirates REIT's 17% year-on-year rise in commercial and retail rental rates in Q1 2025 (via Khaleej Times). That is one landlord in one year, so it tells you which way rents moved but not what they are.

The numbers Dubai still does not publish

Four figures that an occupier or an investment committee needs exist only in private broker surveys. We don't reuse them:

• A citywide office vacancy rate. We publish the 95-98% listed-landlord proxy above, clearly labelled as three portfolios.
• Grade A rents in AED per sq ft by district. Not published by DLD, DIFC or any free zone. We won't divide REIT rental income by area to fake one, because those portfolios mix offices, retail and schools at different rents.
• Net absorption. TECOM's blended occupancy rising from 94% (FY2024) to 98% (Q1 2026), and Emirates REIT's from 94% to 96%, imply positive take-up in those portfolios. Nobody publishes the citywide figure (see absorption rate).
• Total office space. No primary source says how much office space Dubai has (on measurement, see gross leasable area).

Omran estimate (TECOM commercial-only leasing area). TECOM disclosed 22.6 million sq ft of commercial and industrial leasing area, with revenue split 51% commercial leasing and 15% industrial (31 March 2026, investor relations). If area followed revenue, commercial space would be 51 / (51 + 15), about 77% of the total, or roughly 17 million sq ft. Land leasing (23% of revenue) and services (11%) are left out, since the 22.6 million sq ft covers leasing area only. Offices rent for more per sq ft than warehouses, so the real commercial share is probably lower. It gives the scale, and TECOM has not disclosed the figure itself.

Where a figure only exists in private broker surveys, we say so and leave it out. For a client, we filter DLD data to office use and track occupancy filing by filing, with the working shown for every estimate. Scope a Dubai office data briefing or ask us for the source table behind this page.

FAQ

What is the Dubai office occupancy rate? There is no official citywide rate. Listed landlords report TECOM at 98% across commercial and industrial space (Q1 2026), Emirates REIT at 96% (December 2025) and ENBD REIT at 95%, with The Edge at 99% (March 2026). Treat these as a floor for prime stock. TECOM's last office-only figure was 90% at end-2024.

What is the Dubai office vacancy rate? No government body or listed landlord publishes one. Turning the occupancy figures around gives about 2-5% vacancy across the three listed portfolios as of Q1 2026. Older multi-tenant buildings are not covered.

How much is office rent in Dubai? No primary source publishes a Dubai office rent level, and DLD's Smart Rental Index covers homes only. The one signal from a filing is Emirates REIT's 17% year-on-year rise in commercial and retail rents in Q1 2025. Rents per sq ft by district exist only in private broker surveys.

Is DIFC running out of office space? Its own releases suggest pressure. Its company count rose 28% in 2025, and a new 600,000 sq ft building was 98.45% committed at handover in early 2026. More space is coming: 1.7 million sq ft is under construction, and the larger Zabeel District expansion was announced in 2025.

What did the Dubai office market show in 2025? It tightened on every primary measure. TECOM's blended occupancy climbed toward 98%, Emirates REIT rose from 94% to 96%, and DIFC and DMCC added 2,525 and 2,300 companies. Dubai property transactions hit a record AED 917 billion, with no office-only split.

Sources

• DIFC Authority, 2025 annual results (8,844 companies; 50,200 workforce; AED 2.13bn revenue; 1.7M sq ft under construction; Zabeel 17.7M sq ft): link
• DIFC 600,000 sq ft Grade A delivery, 98.45% committed, 1.6M sq ft 2026-2027 (via Dubai Standard): link
• TECOM Group PJSC, Q1 2026 results (98% occupancy; 94% commercial retention; AED 755M revenue): link
• TECOM Group PJSC, FY2024 results (90% commercial occupancy; AED 420M DIC acquisition, 334,000 sq ft): link
• TECOM Group investor relations (22.6M sq ft leasing area; 51%/15% revenue mix): link
• Emirates REIT, FY2025 fact sheet (96% occupancy; 1.8M sq ft NLA; USD 1,172.7M portfolio): link
• Emirates REIT Q1 2025 (17% rise in commercial and retail rental rates), via Khaleej Times: link
• ENBD REIT, full-year results to 31 March 2026 (95% occupancy; The Edge 99%; 72% office by value): link
• Dubai Land Department via UAE MoF PDMO, FY2025 transactions (AED 917bn; 3.11M procedures): link
• Dubai Land Department, Q1 2026 transactions (AED 252bn; foreign AED 148.35bn): link
• DMCC annual report 2025 (26,000+ companies; 2,300 new): link
• JAFZA (11,000+ businesses; 130,000+ jobs): link
• Dubai Department of Finance / PDMO, 9M 2025 GDP (AED 355bn, +4.7%): link