The Greens in Dubai is the office rental market that saw the steepest rental increases in the last 12 months and prices in Dubai Media City returned to pre-COVID levels, according to a leading real estate consultancy. 

Prime headline rates in The Greens rose by 6 percent, while rents in Dubai Media City reached AED 151 per sq.ft, Knight Frank said in its Summer 2021 Dubai Office Market Review. 

However, rents remain at nine-year lows, and the green agenda will be key to preventing voids and obsolescence, the report noted. 

Faisal Durrani, partner - head of middle east research at Knight Frank, said: “The big challenge as we see it will be on how landlords and businesses will attract workers back to their desks in a meaningful way.

“We know the green agenda will be core to this and is likely to influence the real estate decisions of nine out 12 businesses in the future, so landlords are in a way being presented with a roadmap to safeguarding future demand and therefore income.”

He added: “As Dubai’s prime office stock in core location ages, the calls to refurbish and greenify will grow louder, or such assets could potentially face rising voids and potential obsolescence.”

The emirate saw rental stablisation in 14 out of its 26 office submarkets during the second quarter of 2021, the report said.

(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)

(imogen.lillywhite@refinitiv.com)

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