Commercial market reading
Business Bay offices: May 2026
Off-plan office registrations (58) outnumbered completed office transfers (35) in May.
Office activity outweighed retail in May.
The reported average office sale was AED 2,326,250 across 35 completed title-deed transfers and AED 6,781,826 across 58 off-plan registrations. That is a large difference in the reported averages, but the extract does not match unit size, building or delivery stage. It cannot establish an off-plan premium for an equivalent office. The four completed retail transfers averaged AED 6,147,500; such a small group is a poor guide to another shop's price.
The office averages belong to different cohorts.
Share of the two office transaction categories in this report; not a share of occupied office space or total market value.
How this is calculated
(58 off-plan office registrations) ÷ (35 completed plus 58 off-plan office transactions) × 100. Calculated from the reported counts below, rounded to one decimal place.
The figures below refer to the stated reporting period.
Business Bay office and retail transactions reported for May 2026; completed transfers and off-plan registrations are different cohorts
| Measure | May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Completed office transfers | 35 |
| Off-plan office registrations | 58 |
| Average completed office sale | AED 2,326,250 |
| Average off-plan office sale | AED 6,781,826 |
| Completed retail transfers | 4 |
| Off-plan retail registrations | 0 |
An office needs its own building-level comparison.
Registration activity is not occupied space
Together, the completed and off-plan categories recorded 93 office transactions. The larger off-plan count describes purchases registered in May; it does not measure the amount of office space available to a tenant that month. Floor area, occupancy and rental evidence would answer different questions.
The average off-plan ticket was much larger than the completed-office average. It would be misleading to read the difference as price growth or a premium for the same floor: the extract does not control for size, building or fit-out.
Retail needs a separate reading
Four completed retail transfers are too small a group to characterise all of Business Bay's shops. Their AED 6,147,500 average could be strongly affected by an individual transaction. Zero recorded off-plan retail registrations means none in this May category, not that the district has no retail pipeline.
Compare offices of similar usable area in the same building or business district, then account for fit-out, service charges, parking and delivery stage. The May report records activity; it does not identify a live office opportunity or value a particular unit.
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