Before you buy · Commercial property

Should your company buy its office in Dubai, or rent it?

Owning an office in Dubai costs less than renting it when you stay long enough, when the money in it costs you little, and when the office holds its value. Here are those tests on one office in Business Bay, with every figure shown and a loan included, and the rules that decide the rest: where your licence lets your office be, and whether you or your company should own it.

Oston Property Investment · Last reviewed 12 October 2026

We are a Dubai brokerage, based in Business Bay. We earn a commission when you buy: 2% plus VAT, which the example below counts. If you borrow through a mortgage company we work with, that company pays us a referral commission too. If you rent, we earn nothing: we do not let or manage property. So we show you just as plainly when renting is cheaper, and with a loan it can be. We took every rule from the authority that sets it and say so where we rely on anyone else; every market figure carries the name of whoever published it and when. We read them on 8 October 2026. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

The short version

Paid in cash, owning wins over ten years; over five it is too close to call. One office of 1,000 sq ft in Business Bay costs AED 2 million to buy, or AED 151 per sq ft a year to rent, the area’s published average. Over ten years, owning it costs about AED 262,000 less than renting; over five, about AED 46,000 less. That assumes cash that would otherwise earn the Central Bank’s base rate on deposit, a broker when you buy and when you sell, and a company that recovers VAT.
A loan can tip it to renting. Borrow 70% of the price over 15 years, and owning stays cheaper over ten years only while the loan costs less than about 6% a year; over five years, less than about 4%. Three-month EIBOR, on which banks price most loans, was 4.19% on 9 October 2026, and banks add their margin.
Three numbers decide the rest. How long you stay: buying and selling cost about AED 169,000, which the yearly saving earns back in just under four years. What your cash would earn elsewhere: above about 5.1% a year, renting is cheaper even over ten years. What the office is worth when you leave: a fall of more than 13.4% over ten years, or 2.4% over five, wipes out the saving.
Your licence decides where the office can be. A mainland licence needs an address with a lease registered in Ejari; a free zone company normally takes its premises in its free zone. Our example is for a company licensed on the mainland.
Not every company can own it. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) registers companies owned by foreigners if they are registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, and for most types of company it asks for the owner’s residence permit and UAE ID. Whether a Dubai mainland company owned by foreigners qualifies, its pages do not settle: ask a registration trustee in writing before you plan on it.
You can own it and let it to your company. The company leases it from you under a lease registered in Ejari. It can deduct the rent only up to the market value, because you own it; the rent you receive is outside UAE corporate tax if you neither let it through a trade licence nor need one to let it. For the Golden Visa, the federal authority asks for the property in your own name.
VAT is 5% on the price and on the rent in most cases. A company registered for VAT that uses the office for its taxable business can generally recover both; for one that cannot, the five-year answer turns to renting.
Rents and prices have both risen. Dubai’s average office rent rose 14% and the average sale price 15% in the year to the first half of 2026, though both eased slightly in the latest quarter, Cavendish Maxwell found. Owning ties your money to that market, in both directions.

Owning against renting: one office, every figure shown

We take the office from our guide to buying commercial property: 1,000 sq ft in Business Bay for AED 2 million, and this time your company, licensed on the mainland, uses it. If your company is licensed in a free zone, read Your licence decides where the office can be first. Every figure grows with the area, apart from a few fixed fees: for 2,000 sq ft, roughly double them.

Renting it costs the rent. Owning it costs four things: buying it and one day selling it; the building’s service charge, which the owner pays; repairs inside the unit, which a landlord carries unless the lease says otherwise; and what the money tied up in it would have earned elsewhere. That last cost is the one most comparisons leave out, and it decides the answer more than any fee.

What the cash would earn. We count 3.9% a year: the UAE Central Bank’s base rate since 17 September 2026, as a stand-in for what money on deposit earns. Your bank may pay less. If the money would otherwise stay in your business, count what your business earns on it, which may be far more.

The DLD’s fees as in our commercial guide, with the 4% counted in full, as when the contract puts it on the buyer. The broker: 2% plus VAT, what we charge. Assumed: the price, close to Cavendish Maxwell’s average for all of Dubai, AED 2,012 per sq ft in the first half of 2026; we found no Business Bay sale average from the same data as the rent. Not counted: the developer’s no-objection certificate when you sell.
Paid once	AED
Price, AED 2,000 per sq ft (assumed)	2,000,000
DLD fee 4%, small fees, trustee	84,780
Broker, 2% plus VAT	42,000
Cash tied up	2,126,780
Paid when you sell, at the same price: broker, 2% plus VAT	42,000

Cash on the day: about AED 2.13 million if you pay cash, plus AED 100,000 of VAT if the seller charges it, which a company registered for VAT recovers later. With 70% borrowed, about AED 749,000, including about AED 22,000 of mortgage fees on the figures in our costs guide.

AED. Sourced: the rent, Engel & Völkers’ Business Bay office average for 2026 to May (Property Monitor data); 3.9%, the Central Bank’s base rate since 17 September 2026. Assumed: the service charge and the repairs. Look up the building’s approved rate in the DLD’s Service Charge Index. Published averages differ widely: Engel & Völkers gives AED 106 per sq ft for all of Dubai, Cavendish Maxwell AED 189. Compare with the offices you would actually rent.
One year	Renting	Owning
Rent, AED 151 per sq ft	151,000	–
Service charge, AED 20 per sq ft (assumed)	–	20,000
Repairs inside the unit, AED 5 per sq ft (assumed)	–	5,000
What AED 2,126,780 would earn at 3.9%	–	82,944
A year	151,000	107,944

AED, paid in cash. We add the figures up without discounting; the cost of tying up the cash is what it would have earned. Discounting would tilt the result slightly further towards owning, so we leave it out. VAT on the price and on the rent is left out on both sides, as for a company registered for VAT that uses the office for its taxable business; the next table shows the case where it is not. We count the VAT on the broker’s and the trustee’s fees, which such a company could recover, and leave out the tenant’s deposit and any letting agent’s fee: small items, and all of them against owning.
Today’s figures, unchanged	5 years	10 years
Renting	755,000	1,510,000
Owning: buying and selling	168,780	168,780
Owning: service charge and repairs	125,000	250,000
Owning: what the cash would have earned	414,722	829,444
Owning	708,502	1,248,224
Owning costs less by	46,498	261,776

What changes the answer

AED. Each row changes one figure of the example, or two that move together, and keeps the others. “Own, by” means owning costs less, by that amount; “Rent, by” means renting does. The loan rates are assumed: banks do not publish their rates for offices. The loan rows include the mortgage fees of our costs guide and the fees for repaying the loan when you sell; the cash you put in still counts at 3.9%. Without VAT recovery, the 5% falls on the price, the rent, the service charge and the repairs.
What if	Over 5 years	Over 10 years
Today’s figures, unchanged	Own, by 46,498	Own, by 261,776
Rents rise 5% a year	Own, by 125,868	Own, by 651,038
Rents and prices both rise 3% a year	Own, by 405,036	Own, by 1,156,210
Rents and prices both fall 3% a year	Rent, by 274,062	Rent, by 440,716
The office sells for 10% less	Rent, by 149,302	Own, by 65,976
The office sells for 20% less	Rent, by 345,102	Rent, by 129,824
Your cash would earn 2% a year	Own, by 248,542	Own, by 665,864
Your cash would earn 6% a year	Rent, by 176,814	Rent, by 184,848
The cash stays in a business earning 15% a year	Rent, by 1,133,865	Rent, by 2,098,950
70% borrowed over 15 years at 5.5% a year	Rent, by 95,078	Own, by 49,822
70% borrowed over 15 years at 7% a year	Rent, by 192,117	Rent, by 118,639
It takes six months to sell after you move out	Rent, by 4,974	Own, by 210,304
No broker on either side	Own, by 138,688	Own, by 362,156
Not registered for VAT: the 5% stays a cost	Rent, by 41,502	Own, by 185,776

How long you stay. The yearly saving, AED 43,056 on these figures, has to earn back AED 168,780 of buying and selling: that takes just under four years. If you may move, or outgrow the office, within three or four years, rent. We also assume the office sells the day you move out. Every month it stands empty costs about AED 8,600 in service charge and cash still tied up, and about five and a half months wipe out the five-year saving.

What the money costs you. Paid in cash, owning stays cheaper over ten years as long as the money would earn less than about 5.1% a year elsewhere; over five years, less than about 4.3%. A young company that needs every dirham in the business should rent: at 15% a year in the business, renting is cheaper by about AED 2.1 million over ten years, in our simple sums.

With a loan, the borrowed part costs the loan’s rate. Borrow 70% over 15 years, and owning stays cheaper over ten years only while the loan costs less than about 6% a year; over five years, less than about 4%. Three-month EIBOR was 4.19% on 9 October 2026, and banks lend at a margin above it: get a quote before you compare. The mortgage’s own costs are in What a mortgage adds, and what banks lend on offices in Mortgages for an office or a shop.

What the office is worth when you leave. Over ten years, owning stays ahead unless the office loses more than 13.4% of its value; over five, a fall of 2.4% is enough. Owning ties your money to Dubai’s office market: when rents and prices rise together, owning gains a lot, and when they fall together, renting does. Nobody can tell you the next five years; the table shows what each would cost.

What the rent would have been. Rising rents favour the owner: at 5% a year, owning comes out about AED 651,000 ahead over ten years. Turned around: renting a comparable office is cheaper over ten years if it costs less than about AED 125 per sq ft a year, and over five years below about AED 142. The same test works for other offices. On the example’s other figures, if a year’s rent is less than about 6% of the price, renting is cheaper even over ten years; below about 7%, over five. Bayut’s advertised Business Bay figures, AED 2,874 per sq ft to buy and AED 211 a year to rent (September 2026), give almost the same share as ours: 7.3%.

The figures are before tax. Rent is a cost the company deducts, and owning has tax effects of its own. Ask your adviser to run both; the questions are below.

What renting gives you, and what it doesn’t

It gives you room to move. A tenant’s money stays in the business, and leaving costs a notice, not a sale. One year is “the standard duration of a commercial property lease in Dubai”, Bayut writes, with a deposit of 5% of the rent. For a small team that may move within two or three years, a serviced office or a flexi desk is a third way: DMCC, for one, lists both among the premises a company can take.

It does not give you the office. Dubai’s rent law protects a tenant during the lease, and less after it:

The rent can rise at renewal only where it is more than 10% below the average for similar units in RERA’s rental index, and then by 5% to 20% depending on the gap. Ask RERA which average applies to an office.
Either side must give notice of a change at least 90 days before the lease ends, unless agreed otherwise.
At the end of the lease, the landlord can take the office back: to demolish it, with the permits; for major works, confirmed by a Dubai Municipality report; to use it himself or for a first-degree relative, if he owns no other suitable property; or to sell it. He must give twelve months’ notice through a notary public or by registered post.
A sale does not end your lease. The new owner takes the office with your lease in it, if it has a fixed term.
Your fit-out is the landlord’s question. You may change nothing without the landlord’s permission and the licences the authorities require. When you leave, the law asks you to hand the unit back in the condition you received it, apart from ordinary wear and tear, and, unless the parties agree otherwise, you may not remove the improvements you made. A lease can also require you to remove your fit-out at your own cost. Agree in the lease what happens to it.

An owner has none of these limits, and none of the flexibility. The decision is partly arithmetic, and partly what it would cost you to move when someone else decides.

Your licence decides where the office can be

A mainland company needs an address. “All businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate,” says the UAE government’s portal. For a mainland licence, an “Office and warehouse rental agreement must be provided”, and “In Dubai, the agreement must be registered with Ejari”. If you own the office yourself, that agreement is your company’s lease from you. If your company owns it, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) does not say whether its title deed can stand in for an Ejari lease, and one company formation adviser, UpperSetup, writes that buying “does not replace the need for Ejari if the company is mainland”. Ask DET in writing before you buy.

A free zone company normally takes its premises in its free zone, under the free zone’s rules. DMCC’s company set-up FAQ, the latest version we found (2016), says a company’s office “has to be inside the DMCC Free Zone” in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and lists offices for sale among the options. An office outside your free zone may not serve as your licensed address. Since 2025, a Dubai resolution also lets free zone companies work on the mainland with a branch licence or a temporary permit from DET, KPMG reports: ask DET what premises such a branch needs. Ask your free zone, in writing, whether a unit you buy can be your office, and see The DIFC and the free zones.

The size matters beyond the rent. An office can be a condition for employment visas, Engel & Völkers notes, “with the size of the space dictating how many employment visas they can issue”. Ask your licensing authority before you choose the unit.

Buy it ready, and empty. An office bought off-plan cannot be your address until it is handed over, and most office sales in Dubai are off-plan: 65% of deals in the first half of 2026, according to Cavendish Maxwell. An office bought with a tenant in it stays let until the lease ends. You can then take it back for your own use, with twelve months’ notice. The law speaks of the owner’s own use, so ask a lawyer whether use by your company counts.

And check its use. Asked whether a flat can be let as an office, the DLD answers that “units listed as residential can’t be used for commercial activities”. Buy a unit the DLD lists as commercial, and get that in writing.

Who should own it: you, or your company

In your own name, let to your company

You can own the office yourself and let it to your company. The DLD registers a commercial lease in Ejari only for a tenant with a valid trade licence, as your company is.

Corporate tax. Rent an individual earns from property held privately is real estate investment income, which UAE corporate tax leaves out, as long as you neither let it through a trade licence nor need one to let it. Your company deducts the rent, but under the corporate tax law a payment to its owner, or to a director, is deductible only to the extent it matches the market value. Set the rent at what the office would fetch from a stranger, and keep the evidence: comparable office leases registered in Ejari, or a valuation.
VAT. If you live in the UAE, you must register for VAT once your taxable supplies, including the rent you charge your company, pass AED 375,000 in twelve months. You may register once your taxable supplies or expenses pass AED 187,500, and buying the office can be enough. Registered, you can generally recover the 5% on the price; you then add 5% to the rent, which your company recovers if it is registered. If you live abroad, other rules apply: see VAT on commercial property.
The Golden Visa. An office worth at least AED 2 million in your own name can count. GDRFA Dubai then places a lien on it, and the property “may not be disposed of” during the ten years of the residence permit: plan a sale and the visa together. See The Golden Visa with an office.
When your company moves out, the office is yours to let to someone else: see Letting it.

Through a company

A company registers with the DLD at a registration trustee office before it buys. The fee is AED 500 for a sole establishment, AED 2,000 for a limited liability company and AED 4,000 for a company with foreign shareholders, each plus VAT and on top of the trustee’s fee for the sale. For most types of company the DLD asks for the trade licence and the owner’s passport, residence permit and UAE ID, so ask first if you do not live in the UAE. A free zone company also needs a no-objection certificate from its free zone “to own a property”.

Which companies. The DLD’s registration page names foreign companies registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, and GCC companies registered with Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, now the Department of Economy and Tourism. Its FAQ allows companies owned by non-UAE citizens to own in the freehold areas “provided that such companies are registered in one of Dubai free zones or any of the other emirates as per memorandums of understanding concluded thereof”. Neither page says in so many words whether a Dubai mainland company owned by foreigners qualifies, although the registration page lists the documents for a limited liability company and a fee for one with foreign shareholders. Ask a registration trustee, in writing, before you set up or use a company to buy.

Tax. Under the standard regime a company pays 9% corporate tax on taxable income above AED 375,000, and a free zone company may be taxed differently. A company’s taxable income starts from its accounting income, and running costs incurred wholly for the business, such as the service charge and repairs, reduce it; the price of the office is capital, and is not deducted when it is paid. How the office’s cost and a loan’s interest count over the years, and how a gain is taxed when the company sells, are questions for your adviser.

The Golden Visa asks for property “registered in the investor’s name”, in the words of the federal authority, ICP: an office your company owns may not count.

Questions for your tax adviser

Should I or my company own the office, given the company’s tax position and my own country’s taxes?
If I own it and let it to my company, what rent can the company deduct, and what evidence of the market rent should I keep?
Should I register for VAT to recover the VAT on the price, and what does that mean for the rent I charge?
If my company owns it, how do its cost and a loan’s interest count, and how is a gain taxed when it sells?
If I live abroad, or move abroad later, what changes for the rent and for a sale?

Claims you will meet, checked

“If you plan to be operational for more than 7-10 years, buying usually makes more financial sense.” Paid in cash, our example office earns back its buying and selling costs in under four years at 3.9% on the cash, and not within ten years if the cash would earn more than about 5.1%. With 70% borrowed at more than about 6%, not even ten years are enough. The years follow from the rates, not the other way round.
“If the cost of your office fit-out exceeds 25% of the property value, you should own the asset to protect that investment.” No source is given for the 25%. The point behind it is real: what happens to a tenant’s fit-out is up to the lease, and by default the improvements stay with the landlord.

Both claims are from West Gate Dubai’s guide to buying or renting commercial property (24 January 2026).

Before you buy an office for your company: nine checks

The licence: your licensing authority confirms, in writing, that this unit can be your licensed office, and how many visas its size allows.
The owner: you, or a company the DLD registers, and your adviser has run the tax for both.
Ready and empty, or a lease that ends when you need the office.
Commercial use, in the DLD’s records.
The service charge: the approved rate in the DLD’s Service Charge Index, times the registered area, and paid up by the seller.
VAT: whether the seller charges it, whether the price includes it, and whether you or your company can recover it.
The rent you would pay instead, for a comparable office: on the example’s other figures, below about AED 125 per sq ft a year renting is cheaper even over ten years.
The loan, if you borrow: a quote in writing; above about 6% on 70% of the price, renting is cheaper even over ten years.
Your horizon and your cash: how long you will stay, and what the money would earn if it stayed in the business.

Questions and answers

Is it better to buy or rent an office in Dubai?

It depends on how long you stay, what the money would earn elsewhere or cost to borrow, and what the office is worth when you leave. Our example is a 1,000 sq ft office in Business Bay at AED 2 million against the area’s average rent, bought with cash that would otherwise sit on deposit, by a company that recovers VAT. On those figures, owning costs about AED 262,000 less than renting over ten years and about AED 46,000 less over five, and buying and selling take just under four years to earn back. Renting can come out cheaper if you may move sooner, if you borrow most of the price, if the money would earn more in your business, if your company cannot recover VAT, or if the price falls.

Can my company buy an office in Dubai?

Some companies can. The Land Department registers companies owned by foreigners if they are registered in a free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, and for most types of company it asks for the owner’s residence permit and UAE ID; a free zone company also needs a no-objection certificate from its free zone. Whether a Dubai mainland company owned by foreigners qualifies, its pages do not settle, so ask a registration trustee in writing.

Can I buy an office in my own name and rent it to my company?

Yes, if your company has a mainland licence: it leases the office from you under a lease registered in Ejari. Because you own the company, it can deduct the rent only up to the market value; the rent you receive as an individual is outside UAE corporate tax if you neither let it through a trade licence nor need one to let it. Whether you register for VAT depends on the rent and on where you live.

Does my company need an Ejari if it owns its office?

A mainland licence needs a rental agreement registered in Ejari. Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism does not say whether a company’s own title deed can stand in for it, and one company formation adviser writes that buying does not replace the need for Ejari for a mainland company. Ask the department in writing before you buy. If you own the office personally, your company’s lease from you is registered in Ejari.

Can a free zone company buy an office and use it?

Normally only in its own free zone: a free zone company’s licensed office is in the free zone and arranged through it. DMCC’s company set-up FAQ, for example, requires a company’s office inside its free zone in Jumeirah Lakes Towers and lists offices for sale among the options. Since 2025, a Dubai free zone company can also work on the mainland with a branch licence or a temporary permit from the Department of Economy and Tourism; ask what premises that needs. Ask your free zone in writing whether a unit you buy can be your licensed office; the Land Department also asks for its no-objection certificate.

Is there VAT when a company buys an office in Dubai?

Usually: 5% on the price when the seller is registered for VAT or must be. A company registered for VAT that uses the office for its taxable business can generally recover it; a company that is not registered cannot. Ask whether the price you are quoted includes VAT.

How long do I need to stay for buying an office to pay off?

Paid in cash, our example office earns back about AED 169,000 of buying and selling costs in just under four years, with the cash counted at 3.9% a year. If your money would earn more, it takes longer: above about 5.1% a year, renting stays cheaper even over ten years. With 70% borrowed over 15 years, owning stays cheaper over ten years only while the loan costs less than about 6% a year.

Can I get a Golden Visa with my company’s office?

Probably not through the company: the federal authority, ICP, asks for property “registered in the investor’s name”. An office worth at least AED 2 million in your own name can count, since GDRFA Dubai’s property route “includes all types of properties”. GDRFA then places a lien on the property, and it may not be sold while the ten-year residence runs. Ask in writing before you buy.

Can a company get a mortgage for an office in Dubai?

Some banks lend for commercial property on their own terms: the Central Bank’s mortgage rules cover homes only. Emirates Islamic publishes up to 70% for completed commercial properties and Dubai Islamic Bank up to 70% for ready office and retail space, each over up to 15 years; both list these products under personal banking, so ask whether a company can borrow. Commercial Bank of Dubai’s commercial property finance is for businesses registered in the UAE. Get the terms for the unit in writing.

Related guides

Sources · 35

Next step

Get this comparison on your numbers

Send us the office you are looking at, or your current lease, and how long you expect to stay. We will send back this comparison on your figures: renting against owning over five and ten years, in cash and with a loan, the rent and the price at which the answer changes, and the questions to take to your adviser.

Send us the office