Employers are seeking pricier and larger office footprints in Dubai as they combine multiple locations into single, high-end regional hubs in a tight market for top-quality space, a new real-estate report has found.
A preference for bigger offices is increasingly on display in Riyadh, too, amid an influx of foreign corporations.
In the first six months of this year, 83 office sales in Dubai have been valued at more than AED10 million ($2.72 million), up from 27 in the first half of 2024 and continuing a surge that began in 2020, according to the report issued on Wednesday by real-estate consultancy Knight Frank.
Individual companies’ “strong demand” for “entire floors or buildings” of new and upcoming developments in sought-after areas such as Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and Business Bay comes as prime properties in the emirate are reporting “near-total occupancy”, Adam Wynne, head of Knight Frank’s commercial agency for the UAE, said in a statement.
“Market dynamics are driving a clear trend towards consolidation and rightsizing,” he said. “With existing grade-A space effectively full, large corporations are leveraging the new development pipeline to consolidate their regional operations into more efficient and higher-quality headquarters.”
This trend reflects findings last month by other real-estate advisories.
Savills said in a July 24 report that 44 percent of client enquiries it received in Dubai in the second quarter of 2025 involved offices from 10,000 to 20,000 square feet, and only 38 percent were for spaces below 10,000 sq ft.
“We’re seeing clear evidence that businesses continue to commit to Dubai, with larger footprint requirements becoming more common,” Toby Hall, who heads Savills’ commercial agency for the Middle East, said at the time.
Nearly 800 office sales took place in Dubai from April to June, 25.4 percent higher than the same period in 2024, according to a ValuStrat analysis also from last month, with the average price reaching a record-high AED1,841 per sq ft, up 35 percent year on year.
Median asking rents in the second quarter of this year rose nearly 30 percent over last year and almost 70 percent over 2023. DIFC and Business Bay recorded the highest price tags for larger offices, which ValuStrat pegs at between 1,000 and 2,000 sq ft.
In Riyadh, half of commercial deals completed from April to June encompassed footprint expansions, according to a different report from Savills that also came out in late July.
Some 50 percent of leasing enquiries in the Saudi capital during the second quarter similarly focused on spaces above 1,000 square metres (10,800 sq ft), up from 28 percent the previous quarter. Nearly a third involved offices of over 4,000 sqm (43,000 sq ft).
“This trend reflects occupiers’ need for larger footprints, aligned with ongoing workforce growth and business expansion,” the report said.
As the office segment in these cities faces continued demand pressure, supply is bound to increase substantially in coming years, all three real-estate advisories projected.
Knight Frank pegs growth in Dubai at almost 16 million sq ft by the end of the decade, with more than 7 million sq ft concentrated in DIFC.
Nearly 1 million sq ft of new offices should be delivered in the emirate between the end of this year and the first quarter of 2026, according to Savills.
ValuStrat puts the forthcoming gross leasing area at a higher 2.5 million sq ft.
“Any easing of supply constraints is likely to occur not at handover but once existing occupiers relocate, releasing older stock to the market,” Savills said.
In Riyadh, tight occupancy and price growth for the best office spaces may relax by the end of 2026, when some 9.7 million sq ft of new grade-A spaces is slated to become available, according to Savills.
For a detailed perspective on the property market, visit: Dubai - Real Estate Review Q2 2025
