Dubai Real Estate Rentals Market Report 9 January 2026
Dubai Real Estate Rentals Report: 9 January 2026
Dual-Market Analysis (Institutional vs Retail Leasing)
The following report took much more time from me than the usual due to the anomaly in the data explained below, I had to resort to deep analyzing and aggregate and compare the data with that available publicly to come up with the following reporting, if there is any errors, it would be amended in future reports when the picture is clearer.
The Dubai rental market recorded 4,055 rental transactions on 9 January 2026, with a reported total value of AED 30.08 billion (USD 8.19 billion). While the transaction count aligns with normal daily activity, the value figure represents a structural outlier and does not reflect a single, unified rental market.
FLU1D ONE Dubai Islands | Boutique Residences on Island A
Source: Building Arabia.
A detailed review of transaction-level data clearly shows that rental activity on this date split into two fundamentally different markets:
- Institutional / Workforce Housing Leasing, driven by bulk, portfolio-level registrations across industrial and semi-industrial areas.
- Retail Residential & Commercial Leasing, representing normal tenant-driven demand for apartments, villas, offices, and shops.
The institutional segment overwhelmingly dominated total value due to batch registrations of identical “new” contracts, many with identical lease terms and identical contract values. These registrations reflect administrative formalization of large portfolios, not a sudden repricing of Dubai’s rental market.
1. Performance by Contract Type
New contracts dominated total value due to large-scale institutional registrations, while renewals continued to account for the majority of transaction volume.
| Contract Type | Number of Transactions | Value (AED) | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New | 1,542 | 27,741,391,596 | 7,554,996,492 |
| Renewed | 2,513 | 2,335,981,072 | 636,084,991 |
| Grand Total | 4,055 | 30,077,372,668 | 8,191,081,483 |
2. Performance by Property Ownership Type
Non-Freehold properties accounted for the vast majority of value, reflecting the location of workforce housing and corporate accommodation within government-planned industrial zones.
| Ownership Type | Number of Transactions | Value (AED) | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Hold | 2,078 | 2,092,448,429 | 569,822,863 |
| Non Free Hold | 1,977 | 27,984,924,239 | 7,619,951,460 |
| Grand Total | 4,055 | 30,077,372,668 | 8,191,081,483 |
3. Performance by Usage
The “Residential” classification is materially inflated by workforce housing and labor camps, which are administratively classified as residential despite serving industrial and corporate functions.
| Usage | Number of Transactions | Value (AED) | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | 3,215 | 29,812,418,208 | 8,117,590,371 |
| Commercial | 790 | 173,122,058 | 47,136,238 |
| Industrial | 24 | 85,715,228 | 23,341,541 |
| Health Facility | 1 | 500,000 | 136,151 |
| Storage | 1 | 30,000 | 8,169 |
| Other | 24 | 5,587,174 | 1,521,691 |
| Grand Total | 4,055 | 30,077,372,668 | 8,191,081,483 |
4. Property Type Breakdown
The “Unit” category dominated the day’s activity, driven almost entirely by institutional workforce housing registrations.
| Property Type | Number of Transactions | Value (AED) | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A) Building | 1 | 1,000,000 | 272,260 |
| B) Land | 21 | 4,865,244 | 1,324,845 |
| C) Unit — Total | 3,656 | 29,957,341,869 | 8,158,194,973 |
| └ Labor Camps | 688 | 29,252,745,768 | 7,966,337,109 |
| └ Flats (incl. Corporate) | 2,257 | 449,910,623 | 122,515,997 |
| └ Offices | 310 | 49,495,014 | 13,477,045 |
| └ Shops / Retail | 271 | 62,113,972 | 16,916,325 |
| └ Warehouses / Industrial Units | 55 | 91,275,635 | 24,853,815 |
| └ Other Units (Clinics, Studios, etc) | 75 | 51,800,857 | 14,105,067 |
| D) Villa | 255 | 109,981,882 | 29,946,973 |
| E) Virtual Unit | 122 | 4,183,673 | 1,139,131 |
| Grand Total | 4,055 | 30,077,372,668 | 8,191,081,483 |
Would you like me to generate the "Top 10 Localities" table in the same copy-paste format for Steemit?
5. Institutional Leasing Concentration (Key Insight)
Multiple industrial and semi-industrial localities recorded large batches of identical “new” contracts, all registered on the same day with matching lease terms and values. This pattern extends well beyond labor camps.
Examples include:
- Jabal Ali Industrial First — 277 labor camp contracts at AED 99.36 million each
- Dubai Investment Park Second — 239 labor camp contracts at AED 6.90 million each
- Al Warsan Third — batch labor accommodation registrations
- Jabal Ali First — repeated identical flat contracts
- Muhaisanah Fourth — workforce housing flat clusters
- Al Saffa First — corporate villa leasing blocks
These are not independent tenant decisions. They represent portfolio-level master leases, system-driven batch uploads, or regulatory formalization linked to Ejari and MOHRE compliance.
Without these institutional registrations, daily rental value would have aligned with historical norms rather than reaching AED 30 billion.
6. Top 10 Localities by Reported Rental Value
| Rank | Locality | Number of Transactions | Value (AED) | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jabal Ali Industrial First | 302 | 27,525,800,296 | 7,494,040,804 |
| 2 | Dubai Investment Park Second | 269 | 1,653,885,033 | 450,276,328 |
| 3 | Jabal Ali First | 232 | 250,568,852 | 68,236,381 |
| 4 | Al Warsan Third | 89 | 68,075,160 | 18,537,077 |
| 5 | Al Saffa First | 37 | 54,404,363 | 14,812,814 |
| 6 | Saih Shuaib 3 | 18 | 50,754,702 | 13,821,103 |
| 7 | Saih Shuaib 2 | 16 | 36,191,264 | 9,854,485 |
| 8 | Muhaisanah Fourth | 66 | 34,114,425 | 9,289,352 |
| 9 | Cornich Deira | 3 | 17,908,541 | 4,876,419 |
| 10 | Al Goze Third | 44 | 17,643,737 | 4,804,308 |
7. Retail Residential & Commercial Market Activity
Outside institutional zones, leasing activity remained broad and stable, reflecting genuine tenant demand:
- Business Bay: 169 transactions
- Al Warsan First: 147 transactions
- Al Barsha South Fourth: 132 transactions
- Naif: 116 transactions
- Burj Khalifa: 69 transactions
- Marsa Dubai: 80 transactions
- Al Karama: 86 transactions
These areas were dominated by standard apartment, office, and shop leases, with values consistent with historical ranges and unaffected by institutional batch activity.
Final Assessment
The rental market activity on 9 January 2026 must be interpreted as a dual-market event:
Institutional Market:
Administrative registration of large-scale workforce housing and corporate accommodation portfolios.Retail Market:
Stable, tenant-driven residential and commercial leasing across Dubai.
The AED 30.08 billion headline figure reflects institutional formalization, not market-wide rental growth. Separating these two markets is essential for accurate analysis, investor clarity, and credible reporting.
Disclaimer:
This report is based on publicly available data and Dubai Land Department (DLD) transaction summaries as of the date mentioned in the title of this post.
Final and detailed figures from the DLD may vary upon official release.
1 US Dollar = 3.6725 UAE Dirhams
This report is merely informative, and all investments come with risk. You are responsible for your decisions.