Dubai Office Rents Hold at AED 238 per Square Foot in Q2 2026, the First Flat Quarter in Five Years

Dubai's office rental boom has finally paused for breath. Average office rents across the city held at AED 238 per square foot in the second quarter of 2026, according to consultancy Savills, making it the first quarter without rental growth since the first half of 2021.

The pause does not read like a downturn. Dubai Land Department figures cited in the report show 38,082 office leasing transactions in the quarter, 4 percent more than in the first three months of the year. Of those, 27,121 were new leases, up 16 percent, while 10,961 tenants renewed in place.

Small offices are doing the heavy lifting

The most striking number sits at the bottom of the size ladder. Units of less than 500 square feet accounted for 66 percent of all leasing activity, and deals in that bracket grew 17 percent quarter on quarter. That is the signature of small and medium-sized firms, startups and first-time market entrants setting up in Dubai, rather than multinationals taking whole floors.

Larger occupiers have not walked away, Savills says. In an uncertain regional moment they are simply taking longer over expansion decisions, deferring rather than cancelling.

Why rents stopped rising

Savills frames the flat quarter as stabilisation rather than correction. Grade A space in the prime districts remains scarce, vacancy is low, and the firm expects much of the incoming premium stock to be pre-leased before it opens. Around 1.9 million square feet of new office space is due for delivery during 2026, with the development pipeline growing to more than 4.2 million square feet by 2030. In the words of Toby Hall of Savills Middle East, the market is settling into a more balanced phase after several years of exceptional growth.

What it means for property investors

A wave of sub-500 square foot leases is a leading indicator: behind every new trade licence are employees who need somewhere to live, usually close to where the company sits. For residential buyers and landlords, the districts absorbing that small-business demand are the ones to watch, and you can compare them side by side in Doment's Dubai area guides.