Dubai Commercial Property 2025 Review: Resale Holds 72% of the Market, Offices Lead

Year-end reports on Dubai's commercial property market for 2025 agree on the headline: the sector went through a sharp rise in transaction volumes and prices, and that rise was built on fundamentals rather than sentiment.

Market structure: resale versus off-plan

A 72:28 split in favour of resale is the number worth reading the whole report for. In Dubai's residential market it's the opposite — off-plan sets the price there, and there's now so much of it that oversupply has slowed growth. In commercial property, almost no new supply is coming online, so resale of existing buildings sets the price.

The practical takeaway is simple. As long as new office and retail projects launch only in small numbers, the shortage will keep supporting prices. Once large-scale new supply starts landing, the mechanics will shift toward the residential pattern — with all its consequences.

Why offices came out on top

• Corporate relocation into the emirate is ongoing, and every relocating company takes space off the market.
• Expansion by companies already based here — the less visible half of the same demand.
• Capital inflow into the sector from investors who previously looked only at residential.
• A multi-year shortage of quality Grade A space in strong locations — the base everything else builds on.

Off-plan offices: growth of nearly 600%

Interest in under-construction office projects grew almost sevenfold over the year. The reason isn't fashion — it's access: until recently there was almost nowhere to buy an office at the construction stage in Dubai, since government developers don't sell commercial space and private developers had barely built any. A handful of major office launches opened the segment to investors who wanted volume, and they arrived immediately.

One telling data point: a single premium-segment developer sold out two office towers worth a combined AED 2 billion-plus in a matter of months.

What's driving the growth

The rise in deals and prices rested on the expansion of the non-oil economy, steady population growth, and continued inflows of global capital. The drivers are spread widely — finance, professional services, logistics, technology, tourism — which makes the picture more resilient than if it all rested on a single sector.

Notably, the number of leasing transactions barely grew over the same period. The explanation is largely technical: there's simply no vacant space left, and commercial leases run long, so tenant turnover can't physically be high.

Based on Engel & Völkers' annual review of Dubai's commercial property market for 2025.