Offices and retail in Jumeirah Lake Towers

Jumeirah Lake Towers is Dubai's most liquid office market: nearly five thousand lease contracts registered in twelve months, more than any other district. Completed-stock prices stay below Business Bay and the gross yield approaches 9%, with the DMCC free zone supplying the demand.

Offices, gross on completed stock

8.8%

EJARI rent over completed-stock price

Median rent Per sqm: AED 1,490/m²≈ $405/m²
Median price Per sqm: AED 16,920/m²≈ $4,610/m²
Contracts / sales: 5,075 / 1,712

Retail, gross on completed stock

8.7%

EJARI rent over completed-stock price

Median rent Per sqm: AED 1,800/m²≈ $490/m²
Median price Per sqm: AED 20,700/m²≈ $5,640/m²
Contracts / sales: 578 / 90

Residential in the same district returns 4.9% gross, on the same registered contracts. See the residential profile

Liquidity is JLT's real argument

The number that matters here is not the price, it is how often the market moves. JLT registers more office lease contracts every year than any other district in Dubai, across dozens of towers. For a buyer that means two practical things: a vacant unit finds a tenant quickly, and there is a real comparable for almost any size.

The reason is the DMCC free zone, headquartered here, which requires registered companies to hold physical space in the district. That demand renews itself with every licence and does not depend on one sector's fortunes.

Different towers, different markets

JLT is not one single block. Towers built as offices, with regular floors and lifts sized for a working day, trade and let at different levels from mixed towers where offices sit alongside homes and the lift is a problem every morning.

The price-per-square-foot comparison has to be made between peers, same vintage and same original use. Comparing a recent purpose-built office tower with a mixed one from 2008 leads to wrong conclusions in both directions.

Ground-floor retail in the towers

Retail in JLT lives off the district's workers, so it runs on daytime hours and weekdays. Cafés, quick food, personal services: buying retail here means buying a predictable clientele that nevertheless empties out at the weekend.

It is a different profile from residential-neighbourhood retail, where footfall is evening-weighted and steady all week, and it should be priced knowing that.

The real numbers on a unit here

Send me the office or retail unit you are considering in this district. I will compare it with registered prices and rents in its own building and the ones around it, not with the city median.

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