How much an office in Dubai actually costs

3 min read
How much an office in Dubai actually costs

This is a pricing guide built on live asking rates rather than brochure averages: 126 buildings and 1,728 current offers across Dubai, 807 of them private offices. The entry ticket is $86 a month (about 316 AED) for the smallest serviced units, and the citywide median is $2,370 a month — 8,704 AED. Everything below unpacks where, between those two numbers, your own office is likely to land.

The price map, district by district

Median monthly asking prices in the catalogue split the city into clear tiers:

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  • Business Bay — 20 buildings, 123 offices; from $130 a month, median $2,750 (10,099 AED). The most expensive address in the list.
  • Downtown & DIFC — 13 buildings, 88 offices; from $130, median $2,700 (9,916 AED). Practically level with Business Bay.
  • Deira & Bur Dubai — 32 buildings, 191 offices; from $130, median $2,370 (8,704 AED).
  • Sheikh Zayed Road — 21 buildings, 133 offices; from $130, median $2,150 (7,896 AED).
  • Dubai Marina & JLT — 13 buildings, 88 offices; from $113, median $1,870 (6,868 AED).
  • Al Barsha & Media City — 12 buildings, 74 offices; from $86, median $1,580 (5,803 AED).

The counterintuitive row is Deira & Bur Dubai. The old commercial core holds the largest stock in the catalogue — 32 buildings and 191 offices — yet its median sits exactly at the citywide level, not below it. Age does not automatically mean cheap here: what the creek-side towers lack in glass and lobby, they recover in location. If you came looking for a discount, the numbers point south-west instead. Al Barsha & Media City runs about 43% below Business Bay on the median, and Dubai Marina & JLT saves roughly $880 a month against the same benchmark while keeping a waterfront address on the letterhead.

Dollars, dirhams and the peg

Every price on this site is shown in both currencies at the official peg of 3.6725 dirhams to the dollar. The rate is fixed, not floating, so there is no exchange risk hiding inside a dollar quote: $2,150 on Sheikh Zayed Road is 7,896 AED this month and will be 7,896 AED next month too. Budget in whichever currency your revenue arrives in, and stop converting.

What the monthly figure does not include

Dubai landlords traditionally quote office rent per square metre per year; the monthly figure on each card translates that convention into what actually leaves your account. Three costs usually sit on top of it: the building service charge, the chiller fee for air-conditioning, and DEWA — electricity and water. On a fitted floor these can add a meaningful share, so ask for all three in writing before comparing two shortlisted buildings. A lower headline rent carrying a heavy service charge loses that comparison more often than it wins it.

What $86 a month actually buys

The bottom of the range is not a conventional office floor. Alongside the 807 private offices, the catalogue's 1,728 offers include 126 coworking places and 126 virtual-office packages, and it is these formats that fill the lowest price bands. Under roughly $150 a month you are buying a registered business address or a desk in a shared space — a legitimate way to hold a trade licence, but not four walls with your name on the door. A team that needs its own lockable suite should treat the district medians above as the realistic starting point, and the $86 line as what it is: the cost of arriving in the market, not of settling in it.

How to use these numbers

Shortlist by district first, because the medians differ by up to $1,170 a month for comparable space. Then judge each card against its district median rather than the citywide one: an office asking $2,400 is unremarkable in Business Bay and expensive in Media City. Finally, look at the metro column — every building card here shows the nearest station and the walk in minutes, and in a city where a short drive can outlast a metro ride, that line often decides between two otherwise equal offers.

How much an office in Dubai actually costs — Boulevard Plaza 2
Boulevard Plaza 2
How much an office in Dubai actually costs — Exchange Tower
Exchange Tower

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Frequently asked questions

The lowest asking price in the Dubai catalogue is $130 a month for a lot of 8 m² in Dubai. It is not a one-off: a quarter of all 1,119 offices listed in Dubai are advertised below $661 a month, mostly small serviced rooms outside the central business district.

Coworking is listed in 125 of the 144 Dubai buildings in the catalogue, with prices from $385 a month. A desk is billed per person, so a team of three pays for three desks instead of a whole room plus its deposit — the cheaper entry point when a private office is above budget.

For serviced and flexible offices the monthly figure normally covers the office itself, the service charge, building insurance, cleaning of the common areas, reception and security, heating, lighting and internet. Outside it: parking, meeting rooms beyond the included credits, dedicated IT and any fit-out you ask for. A conventional lease includes almost none of this.

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