Insights · Dubai office market
Sheikh Zayed Road offices in 2026: where the market stands
Most 2026 Dubai office reports cover the whole city. Only one publisher we found puts numbers on Sheikh Zayed Road itself. This guide sets out what the reports say about occupancy, rents, supply and demand, which figures apply to the road, and where publishers disagree. It is written for occupiers first, with a section for strata office buyers.
Regulations and market figures change. Confirm anything that affects your decision with the relevant authority or a qualified adviser.
rockefellerdubai.com is an independent marketing website for one tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, not the official website of the developer, LMD, or of Christian A. Rockefeller. This guide is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
01 / The short answer
The short answer: tight at the top, easier underneath
- The road is nearly full. Cushman & Wakefield Core (C&W) counted 95% of office space on Sheikh Zayed Road occupied in Q2 2026, against 93% in Business Bay and 97% to 98% in Downtown and DIFC.
- Rents no longer tell one story. For Q2 2026, C&W reported citywide rents down 2% on the quarter and Savills reported them flat. CBRE reported average rents up about 13% on the year and JLL put Grade A up 26.2%. The bases differ, so we average nothing.
- The softness is underneath. C&W places it in Grade B stock and new-lease rents; Grade A, single-owned and institutional buildings held up. JLL reads Grade B differently (see Rents).
- New supply arrives late. C&W's chart shows about 2.0 million sq ft a year for 2026 and 2027, then about 6.4 to 6.5 million a year for 2028 and 2029. On the road, 2.3 million sq ft is under construction.
- Ownership now shows in leasing. Strata landlords have offered rent-free periods, and C&W and Knight Frank say large occupiers prefer single-owned buildings.
02 / The road in reports
What “Sheikh Zayed Road” means in market reports
The road itself is far longer than the stretch reports measure. C&W's submarket is labelled “SZR (Trade Centre-Interchange 1)” and holds 7,576,689 sq ft of office stock. See what the three names actually mean for how a road, a district and a free zone differ.
Only C&W publishes a road-level row. The Savills, JLL, CBRE and Knight Frank summaries we read name districts such as DIFC, Downtown and Business Bay, not the road. So every road figure here is C&W's and every other figure is citywide. A tower can be on the road and in a district at once, so we place no building inside C&W's boundary.
03 / Occupancy
How full are Sheikh Zayed Road offices?
On C&W's Q2 2026 table the road was 95% occupied, with 378,834 sq ft directly vacant (C&W's earlier editions showed 225,051 sq ft; see the note under the table). Downtown (97%) and DIFC (98%) were fuller; Business Bay (93%) was less full.
Citywide, the measures differ. C&W put occupancy at 92.4% and said it had eased marginally as more strata stock returned. CBRE reported near 94%. JLL reports vacancy: 6.1% citywide, 4.2% in Grade A (edging up) and prime availability of 0.7%. Occupancy and vacancy mirror each other only for the same stock, grades and dates, so we do not convert one into the other. No source gives Grade A vacancy for the road alone.
| Submarket | Occupancy | Asking rent, AED per sq ft | Under construction, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| SZR (Trade Centre-Interchange 1) | 95% | 250 | 2,307,663 |
| Downtown Dubai | 97% | 450 | None listed |
| DIFC | 98% | 530 | 4,154,575 |
| Business Bay | 93% | 185 | 4,409,946 |
Extract from C&W Core, MarketBeat Office Q2 2026 (24 June 2026). Asking rents cover all grades and include service charges. C&W's Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 editions showed the road at 3% vacancy (225,051 sq ft vacant, so 97% occupied) and an asking rent of AED 310 per sq ft. The 75,000 sq ft rise in stock matches the 75,000 sq ft fall in space under construction and is close to the 80,000 sq ft City Tower, which C&W lists in its Q2 handover table on Sheikh Zayed Road. C&W does not explain the fall in occupancy or asking rent.
04 / Rents
Sheikh Zayed Road office rents in 2026: which way?
The one public road-level rent is C&W's asking rent of AED 250 per sq ft (table above). Its Q1 report showed AED 310 for the road, so on C&W's figures the road's asking rent fell between Q1 and Q2; C&W does not say why. For direction across the city, the evidence disagrees.
In the table below, one publisher saw a fall, one no change and two rises. The bases differ, so we neither average nor rank them. The tone is more consistent: C&W called its 2% fall “the first quarterly decline in office rents in nearly five years”, Savills described a flat quarter as stabilisation rather than correction, and JLL said landlords held firm.
The softness is concentrated. C&W said renewal rents stayed stable while new-lease rents softened, mainly in Grade B stock, which it puts at nearly 70% of Dubai's offices. JLL's Q2 release reads Grade B differently: rents up 31.5% and vacancy down to 8% from 10.9% on the year. C&W's reading is quarterly and covers new leases, so the two measure different things. In Q1 C&W noted strata landlords offering rent-free periods while holding headline rents. For how rents and supply compare by district, see our Business Bay and DIFC guide.
| Publisher | Reading | Basis | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| C&W Core | AED 205 per sq ft in Q2, down 2% on the quarter and up 9% on the year | Citywide average | 24 Jun 2026 |
| Savills | Flat at AED 238 in Q2; “stable” at AED 241 in Q3 | Average market rent, citywide | 21 Jul and 15 Oct 2026 |
| CBRE | Average rents up about 13% on the year; prime up about 16% | Average and prime rents, Dubai; no level given | 28 Jul 2026 (Arab News Pakistan); 29 Jul 2026 (TradeArabia via Zawya) |
| JLL | Grade A up 26.2% on the year and 8.8% on the quarter | Rents by grade, Dubai; no level given | 5 Aug 2026 (release); 30 Aug 2026 (Khaleej Times, for the 8.8% quarterly figure) |
Savills' Q3 is included as the latest; the others cover Q2 2026.
05 / Supply
What is being built, and when it lands
Publishers agree on the shape: light deliveries in 2026 and 2027, then a wave. C&W's Q2 chart shows about 2.0 million sq ft in each of 2026 (0.88 million delivered so far, 1.13 million due by year-end) and 2027, then about 6.4 to 6.5 million in each of 2028 and 2029. Savills expects development to increase from 2028 onwards, and C&W says much near-term supply is already pre-let.
On the road, C&W lists 2,307,663 sq ft under construction, about 30% of existing stock by our arithmetic (DIFC about 53%, Business Bay about 26%).
Totals to 2030 do not match: about 20.4 million sq ft in press coverage of Savills' Q3 report, about 19.1 million summing C&W's Q2 chart, and about 24.2 million in Knight Frank's April 2026 release against 13.2 million by the end of 2030 in its December 2025 review. None explains the gap; scope probably differs. Dates also move: C&W's Q1 chart put 8.06 million sq ft in 2028, and its Q2 chart 6.43 million.
Ownership is disputed too. Press coverage of Savills' Q3 report says strata schemes are 86% of new supply in 2028 and 78% in 2029, with single-owned schemes predominating by 2030. C&W's Q4 2025 report said about two-thirds of the pipeline is single-owned. These conflict: applied to the 2028 and 2029 volumes in C&W's Q2 chart, Savills' shares give about 10.6 million sq ft of strata, more than the one-third that C&W's split leaves for its whole pipeline (about 6.4 million of the 19.1 million sq ft in its Q2 chart). Neither publisher explains its basis in what we could read. Strata offices vs single-owner towers covers what that means for a tenant or buyer.
06 / Demand
Who is taking space
By sector, Knight Frank said banking and finance (32.5%) and technology (23.1%) made up over half of new requirements in H2 2025. Savills adds trading and professional services, and press coverage of its Q3 report names corporate relocations, fintech and Chinese firms. C&W says flex operators are now among the largest occupier groups. Most deals are small: Savills put offices below 1,000 sq ft at 66% of Q3 transactions (contracts, not floor area).
Occupiers are waiting, not leaving. C&W saw no meaningful downsizing by global occupiers, JLL called downsizing minimal, and Savills said larger requirements were deferred, not cancelled.
Beside the road, the only public company counts we found come from free zones: over 2,500 active companies at the DWTC Free Zone (December 2025) and 10,018 at DIFC (end of H1 2026). We found no tenant mix for mainland buildings. A company's licence decides which buildings it can use; see free zone or mainland licence.
07 / Strata buyers
If you are weighing a strata office purchase
This section mixes sourced context with our own reading, and says which is which. It gives no prices or yields.
Sales are mostly off-plan. Reidin recorded 2,572 office sales in H1 2026 against 1,864 a year earlier, with off-plan at 57% to 75% of monthly volume (5% to 26% in 2025). Al Masdar Al Aqaari's analysis of Dubai Land Department data ranked Trade Centre Second, a sales area next to the road, second for H1 off-plan office sales by value (76 transactions). CRC Property reported secondary-office prices down 3.4% in Q2 and 1.2% in Q3, calling Q3 “a quarter of stabilisation rather than recovery”. Reidin's average office sales price (it does not say it excludes off-plan) was flat in Q2 and 20% higher than a year earlier; CRC measures secondary sales only, so the bases differ.
Ownership structure now matters to leasing. C&W's Q2 report linked easing occupancy to returning strata stock. Knight Frank's Adam Wynne said blue-chip occupiers prefer well-managed, single-owned buildings. C&W wrote in June 2025 that large occupiers have limited single-owned choice in locations such as Business Bay and along Sheikh Zayed Road.
Questions to ask (our judgement, not findings):
- Who else owns, and who manages? Ask how many owners the building has, how much is owner-occupied, and what the owners' association and service charges are.
- What could a tenant rent instead? Compare the unit with what will be on offer when the 2028 and 2029 deliveries arrive.
- When does it hand over? A unit completing after the supply wave meets a different market from today's.
Christian A. Rockefeller Business Tower, the project this site covers, is on Sheikh Zayed Road. The developer's factsheet describes its location as between DIFC, Downtown and Business Bay and gives expected handover as Q2 2031, after the 2028 to 2030 deliveries above; the FAQ also covers freehold ownership. None of the sources we read forecasts the market that far out, and neither do we.
08 / What next
What to watch next
C&W's Q3 2026 report is the next road-level data point. Its Q3 2025 report was dated 4 November 2025, so early November is likely; it had not appeared when this guide was prepared, and we found no Q3 2026 report from JLL or CBRE. Watch whether C&W's road row moves again and whether the 2028 and 2029 deliveries slip.
09 / Sources
Sources and method
Prepared 26 October 2026. Figures are quoted as published, with each publisher's basis and date. C&W's Q3 2026 report was not yet published. We could not open Savills' full Q3 PDF (the download was refused), so Savills' Q3 supply and ownership shares are as reported by mid-east.info. Knight Frank's full H2 2025 report is behind a form, so we read only its release. Reports can be revised, so check the original before you rely on a number.
- Cushman & Wakefield Core, MarketBeat Office Q2 2026, Dubai (PDF report) and web summary, 24 Jun 2026; the source of the “SZR (Trade Centre-Interchange 1)” row.
- Cushman & Wakefield Core, MarketBeat Office Q1 2026, Dubai (web summary) and PDF report, 27 Apr 2026.
- Cushman & Wakefield Core, MarketBeat Office Q4 2025, Dubai (web summary) and PDF report, page dated 16 Mar 2026.
- Cushman & Wakefield Core, MarketBeat Office Q3 2025, Dubai (web summary), 4 Nov 2025 (used for its date).
- Cushman & Wakefield Core, Strata vs. Leasing: The Case for Long-Term Plays in Dubai's Office Market, 19 Jun 2025.
- Savills Middle East, Dubai Office Market Report Q3 2026 (web summary), 15 Oct 2026.
- mid-east.info (reporting Savills Q3 2026), Dubai office leasing remains resilient in Q3 2026 as occupiers prioritise quality, says Savills, 22 Oct 2026.
- Savills, Dubai office market enters more balanced phase as Grade A demand remains resilient in Q2 2026, 21 Jul 2026.
- JLL, UAE Market Dynamics Q2 2026, as reported by Khaleej Times, Dubai, Abu Dhabi landlords keep upper hand as tenants compete in UAE office market, 30 Aug 2026; JLL's release on Zawya, 5 Aug 2026.
- CBRE Middle East, as reported by TradeArabia via Zawya, Tight office supply drives UAE rental growth despite Mideast turmoil, 29 Jul 2026; and by the Pakistan edition of Arab News, UAE office rents surge as residential, hospitality cool: CBRE, 28 Jul 2026. The figures match.
- Knight Frank, Dubai Office Market Review H2 2025 (news release), 15 Apr 2026.
- Knight Frank, GCC Office Market Review 2025 (news release), 3 Dec 2025.
- Reidin, Dubai Office Market Analysis, H1 2026 vs H1 2025, undated; the file path shows August 2026.
- CRC Property, as reported by Khaleej Times, Smaller investors return to market as Dubai office sales jump in Q3, 13 Oct 2026.
- Al Masdar Al Aqaari analysis of Dubai Land Department data, as reported by Khaleej Times, Dubai off-plan office sales hit Dh13.1b in H1, surpass previous seven years combined, 2 Jul 2026. A private analysis, not a Land Department publication.
- Dubai Media Office (DWTC Free Zone), DWTC Free Zone records strong growth in 2025, 18 May 2026.
- DIFC, via Dubai Media Office, DIFC records industry-leading achievements in H1 2026, 28 Jul 2026.
- rockefellerdubai.com, citing the developer's factsheet, FAQ: location and handover, figures indicative, checked 26 Oct 2026.