Dubai skyscrapers: how the skyline grew from the 1979 World Trade Centre to Burj Azizi

Dubai's skyline looks permanent, yet nearly all of it was built within a single generation. In the late 1970s one tower stood above the city; most of the buildings above 300 metres have gone up in the last fifteen years. Tracing the succession of record holders explains a good deal about today's market — why Sheikh Zayed Road became the city's shop window, and why a view of a tower is priced as a feature in its own right.

Five record holders

Building	Year	Height	What it changed
Dubai World Trade Centre	1979	149 m	the city's first high-rise, opened by Queen Elizabeth II on what was then the edge of town
Burj Al Arab	1999	321 m	a hotel on its own island that turned Dubai into a global image
Emirates Office Tower	2000	355 m	the start of the tower wall along Sheikh Zayed Road
Almas Tower	2008	360 m	anchor of JLT and the DMCC diamond exchange
Burj Khalifa	2010	828 m	the world's tallest building and the core of Downtown

Each new record moved the city's centre of gravity. The Trade Centre stood on the outskirts; it is now mid-town. Burj Khalifa rose on empty land beside the highway and pulled Downtown, one of the emirate's most expensive districts, into being around it. How much of a gamble that was at launch is covered in our history of the tower.

Where the UAE ranks

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the UAE had 37 completed buildings above 300 metres in 2025 — second in the world after China with 122, and ahead of the United States with 31. Most are in Dubai and nearly all are less than fifteen years old. The pipeline is still full: see six of the twenty tallest towers under construction.

What comes next

• Burj Azizi on Sheikh Zayed Road, at about 725 metres, will become the world's second-tallest building. The developer targets 2028; earlier statements gave later dates. Details in our Burj Azizi report.
• A 71-storey Sobha tower in Sobha Hartland II, Meydan: around 300 metres and only 105 four- and five-bedroom residences, sold by invitation.

What height means for a buyer

Height does not guarantee appreciation, but it produces two durable effects. The first is the view: an apartment with an open line to Burj Khalifa or the sea trades at a clear premium over the same layout next door, and that premium survives resale if the view is protected — no vacant plot waiting for a tower in front of it. The second is scarcity at the top: a supertall has only a handful of penthouses and sky villas, and those units hold value longest.

The cost is operational. High-speed lifts, facade cleaning at altitude and life-safety systems push service charges above those of a mid-rise. Model your yield after those charges, not before.

Homes in the city's best-known tower are on the Burj Khalifa page, with the corridor explained in our Sheikh Zayed Road guide.