Field note · Warehouses · 10 min read · 2026-09-29
Al Quoz, by the square foot
What a new tenant really pays for a warehouse in Al Quoz, from the government’s register of leases and this week’s listings. Explained simply.
By Mohammed Shuhood, founder of FindCommercial
The short answer
- A new tenant in Al Quoz pays about AED 80 per square foot a year for a typical warehouse of 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft. Half of all new deals land between AED 55 and AED 100.
- That is about AED 211,000 a year for the unit, or AED 17,600 a month, before 5% VAT.
- Listings ask a little more. Across 549 warehouses advertised this week, plain warehouses ask a middle of AED 86; showrooms and road-facing units ask AED 125.
- Al Quoz is the dearest industrial area in Dubai. New tenants there signed a middle of AED 80 across all sizes, against AED 50 to AED 64 in the other mainland industrial areas.
I run FindCommercial, a warehouse brokerage in Dubai. The question I hear most is simple: what will a warehouse in Al Quoz cost me? The honest answer needs two sources, so I read both.
The first is the government’s register. In Dubai, leases are registered in a system called Ejari, and the Dubai Land Department publishes them. From 1 January to 28 September 2026, 230 new warehouse leases were registered in Al Quoz. (Most leases in the register are tenants renewing, which says little about the price today, so I set those aside.) I kept the 104 new leases that are one whole unit with a clear size and a real rent.
The second is the market today. On 29 September 2026 I read 1,227 warehouse adverts for Al Quoz on Property Finder, Bayut and Dubizzle, removed the ones posted more than once, and kept 549 real units with a size and a yearly rent.
Signed leases tell you what people really paid. Listings tell you what landlords are asking now. Together, they tell you what you are likely to pay.
What does a new tenant pay for a warehouse in Al Quoz?
Think of one square foot as one floor tile, about 30 cm on each side. For a typical warehouse of 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft, new tenants in 2026 paid a middle of AED 80 per tile for a year. Middle means half paid less and half paid more.
Half of all new deals landed between AED 55 and AED 100 a tile; a quarter paid less and a quarter paid more. The last three months said the same: new leases of that size signed from July to September had a middle of AED 81.
Listings ask a little more. Plain warehouses advertised this week ask a middle of AED 86, and half of them ask between AED 70 and AED 107. The asking price is where the conversation starts; the signed price has usually been lower.
Knight Frank, a property research firm, gives a useful yardstick. In its mid-2026 review it put the newest, best-built warehouses in Al Quoz (Grade A) at AED 90. A year earlier it put older, Grade B units at AED 58. What new tenants signed in the register, AED 80, sits between the two.
You may see lower figures quoted for Al Quoz, often AED 41 to AED 59. Those come mostly from tenants renewing leases they signed years ago, close to their old rent. They are not on offer to someone moving in.
| Registered leases, Al Quoz, 2026 | Leases | Middle (AED per sq ft a year) | Middle half (AED per sq ft) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New tenants, 2,000–3,500 sq ft | 62 | 80 | 55–100 |
| New tenants, all sizes | 104 | 80 | 56–111 |
| Listings, 29 September 2026 | Units | Middle asking (AED per sq ft a year) | Middle half asks (AED per sq ft) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain warehouses | 419 | 86 | 70–107 |
| Showroom or road front | 130 | 125 | 98–158 |
| All | 549 | 95 | 75–121 |
A newcomer pays about AED 80 a tile. The best-built go for about AED 90.
How much is a small warehouse in Al Quoz?
Half of the new leases in Al Quoz were for units between 2,180 and 3,670 sq ft. The typical one is about 2,780 sq ft: roughly one tennis court.
For a newcomer, a 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft unit was signed at a middle of about AED 211,000 a year in 2026, or AED 17,600 a month, plus 5% VAT on commercial rent. Most new leases run a year at a time: 64% were for exactly one year.
The popular size is also the dearest per tile: listings of 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft ask a middle of AED 96. Bigger units ask a little less, AED 80 to AED 88. Listings under 2,000 sq ft are mostly small storage units of around 750 sq ft.
| Size (plain warehouses, asking) | Listings | Middle half asks (AED per sq ft) | Middle (AED per sq ft) | Typical asking rent a year (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2,000 sq ft | 42 | 49–100 | 72 | 46,000 |
| 2,000 – 3,500 | 117 | 83–120 | 96 | 284,000 |
| 3,500 – 5,000 | 75 | 75–100 | 83 | 357,000 |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | 106 | 65–100 | 80 | 519,000 |
| 10,000 and up | 79 | 68–102 | 88 | 1,690,000 |
The popular size costs the most per tile. Bigger is a little cheaper.
Warehouse or showroom: two prices in one district
Not everything leased in Al Quoz is a warehouse. Out of every 100 leases registered in its four industrial areas this year, 44 were warehouses or warehouse compounds, 31 were offices, 16 were shops and 5 were showrooms.
A front costs more. Listings with a showroom, a glass front or a main-road position ask a middle of AED 125 a tile, against AED 86 for a plain warehouse. Cushman & Wakefield, another research firm, says Al Quoz keeps “premium pricing for its smaller, high-visibility units”.
So there are two Al Quozes: the back room and the front window. Know which one you need before you pay for it.
- 38 of every 100: Warehouses
- 6 of every 100: Warehouse compounds
- 31 of every 100: Offices
- 16 of every 100: Shops
- 5 of every 100: Showrooms
- 4 of every 100: Everything else
The back room: about AED 86. The front window: about AED 125.
Is Al Quoz expensive?
Yes. Whichever way you measure it, Al Quoz sits at the top. In this week’s listings, plain warehouses in Al Quoz ask a middle of AED 86 a tile; Al Qusais Industrial asks AED 75, Dubai Investment Park AED 69 and Dubai Industrial City AED 62. Al Khabaisi asks almost as much as Al Quoz, but it is a small market, with 25 listings.
In new leases signed in 2026, Al Quoz was also first, at AED 80 across all sizes. Ras Al Khor, Umm Ramool and Al Qusais Industrial came next, at AED 63 to AED 64; Dubai Investment Park was AED 56.
In every area, what new tenants signed sat below what landlords are asking today. The gap was widest in Al Khabaisi: AED 62 signed against AED 85 asked. Jebel Ali Industrial came next, at AED 50 against AED 70.
Jebel Ali has two sides of one fence. The mainland side, Jebel Ali Industrial, is in the register: new tenants signed a middle of AED 50 a tile there this year, and listings ask AED 70. The other side is JAFZA, the Jebel Ali Free Zone. Its leases follow the free zone’s own rules, and the Land Department’s 2026 register has none of them. So for JAFZA there is no signed price to show, only what adverts ask.
JAFZA adverts ask a middle of AED 51 a tile for units up to 60,000 sq ft, the same sizes as the other areas, and AED 43 across all sizes. Cheaper per tile, but a different kind of building: the middle JAFZA unit in that range is 26,000 sq ft, about nine tennis courts, against about 4,200 sq ft on the mainland. Knight Frank put Grade A rents in JAFZA North and South between AED 40 and AED 45 in 2025, up about 22%. A free-zone lease normally goes with a company licensed in that free zone.
Knight Frank reaches the same verdict on Al Quoz from its own research: it calls Al Quoz “Dubai’s most expensive industrial location”.
| Area | Asking today, plain warehouses (AED per sq ft a year) | Listings | Signed in new leases, 2026 (AED per sq ft a year) | New leases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Quoz | 86 | 419 | 80 | 104 |
| Al Khabaisi | 85 | 25 | 62 | 72 |
| Al Qusais Industrial | 75 | 120 | 63 | 84 |
| Umm Ramool | 72 | 117 | 64 | 36 |
| Jebel Ali Industrial (mainland) | 70 | 135 | 50 | 63 |
| Ras Al Khor | 69 | 162 | 64 | 145 |
| Dubai Investment Park | 69 | 186 | 56 | 499 |
| Dubai Industrial City | 62 | 123 | 50 | 84 |
| Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), free zone | 51 | 56 | Not in the register | 0 |
Al Quoz is the dearest warehouse address in Dubai.
What to check before you rent a warehouse in Al Quoz
The numbers tell you the price. They cannot tell you whether a unit works for you. Five things decide that; get each one in writing before you pay a dirham.
Power, in kilowatts
Ask how many kilowatts (kW) the unit has. Air-conditioning for a gym, ovens for a kitchen, machines for a workshop: each needs power, and adding more later takes time and money.
Clear height, in metres
Height decides whether you can fit racking, a forklift or a mezzanine you plan to add. Measure it from the floor to the lowest beam, not to the roof.
The ground floor, on its own
Some sizes include a mezzanine floor. A mezzanine is useful, but it is not the same as floor space. Ask for the ground-floor area separately and work out the price per tile on that.
Your activity, approved
Your trade licence activity has to be allowed in that unit. Food, fitness and vehicle work each need their own approvals. Check before you sign, not after.
The whole bill, not the rent
Rent is quoted per year, before 5% VAT. Then come the security deposit, service charges, Ejari registration, the electricity and water connection and, if a broker is involved, the fee. Ask for the first-year total on one page.
Measure twice. Sign once.
Warehouses in Al Quoz, asked and answered
How much is a warehouse for rent in Al Quoz?
For a new tenant, a typical 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft warehouse in Al Quoz was signed at a middle of AED 80 per sq ft a year in 2026, and half of all new deals landed between AED 55 and AED 100. Listings on 29 September 2026 asked a middle of AED 86 for plain warehouses and AED 125 for showrooms and road-facing units.
How much is a small warehouse in Al Quoz?
A 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft unit was signed by new tenants at a middle of about AED 211,000 a year in 2026 (AED 80 per sq ft). Listings of that size ask a middle of AED 96 per sq ft. Listings under 2,000 sq ft are mostly small storage units.
How much is a warehouse in Al Quoz per month?
For a new tenant, a typical 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft unit works out at about AED 17,600 a month, plus 5% VAT. Most new leases run a year at a time: 64% were for exactly one year.
Why do some reports show lower warehouse rents in Al Quoz?
Most leases registered each year are existing tenants renewing, usually close to the rent they signed years ago; in 2026 half of Al Quoz renewals were between AED 41 and AED 59 per sq ft. An average over all leases mixes those in. Someone moving in pays today’s price: about AED 80 for a typical unit.
Is Al Quoz more expensive than Dubai Investment Park?
Yes. On 29 September 2026, plain warehouses in Al Quoz asked a middle of AED 86 per sq ft a year against AED 69 in Dubai Investment Park. In new leases signed in 2026, the middle was AED 80 in Al Quoz against AED 56 in Dubai Investment Park.
Is a warehouse in JAFZA cheaper than in Jebel Ali Industrial?
Per square foot, usually yes, but it is a different product. On 29 September 2026, warehouses in JAFZA, the Jebel Ali Free Zone, asked a middle of AED 51 per sq ft a year for units up to 60,000 sq ft (AED 43 across all sizes), against AED 70 for plain warehouses in Jebel Ali Industrial on the mainland, where new tenants signed a middle of AED 50 in 2026. JAFZA units are mostly large logistics buildings, its leases are not in the Land Department’s register, and a lease there normally goes with a JAFZA company licence. Knight Frank put Grade A rents in JAFZA North and South between AED 40 and AED 45 per sq ft in 2025.
Are warehouse rents in Dubai going up?
Still up, but much more slowly. Knight Frank measured Grade A rents in Al Quoz up 6% in the year to mid-2026, after 31% the year before, and JLL measured Dubai industrial rents up 6.8% in the year to Q2 2026, with landlords offering concessions of up to 15% in some areas. Knight Frank says new supply is putting tenants “very much in the driving seat” and expects Dubai industrial rents to find a floor within the next 12 months. In the register, new Al Quoz leases of 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft had a middle of about AED 80 in January to March and AED 81 in July to September, with a dip to AED 75 in April to June, when fewer were signed.
Can a warehouse in Al Quoz be a showroom, shop or gym?
The register shows offices, shops, showrooms, restaurants and gyms all leased in Al Quoz’s industrial areas this year. Whether your activity is allowed in a particular unit depends on that unit’s approvals, so check before you sign.
Where does this data come from?
Two places: the Dubai Land Department’s open data (the new warehouse leases registered in Ejari from 1 January to 28 September 2026), and 549 Al Quoz warehouse listings on Property Finder, Bayut and Dubizzle read on 29 September 2026. The method is at the end of this page.
A warehouse is four walls and a door. The price is everything else.
I founded FindCommercial, a warehouse brokerage in Dubai. The numbers in this note come from the government’s register and from every portal’s listings, not only mine. When you are ready to see what is free in Al Quoz today, that is what FindCommercial is for.
See warehouses for rent in Al Quoz
How I counted
- Register: Dubai Land Department open data, rent contracts registered in Ejari from 1 January to 28 September 2026 (read on 29 September 2026). Al Quoz means every Land Department area named Al Goze or Al Qoaz; the leases kept are in Al Quoz Industrial 1 to 4 and Al Quoz 1 and 3.
- A warehouse is a lease with the property type “Warehouse”; a new lease is one the register labels “New” (now and then that is an existing tenant signing a fresh contract). From 1 January to 28 September 2026 there were 230 new warehouse leases in Al Quoz, and I kept 104. I left out 40 contracts covering several units, 54 identical units registered together by one development, and 32 that are not a whole unit at a real rent: under 500 sq ft, or a rent under AED 25,000 a year or AED 30 per sq ft, which no advert comes close to. Those are mostly a shared or licence space inside a bigger unit, recorded against the whole unit’s size. The headline uses new leases of 2,000 to 3,500 sq ft (62 of them).
- Listings: on 29 September 2026 I read 1,227 adverts for warehouses for rent in Al Quoz on Property Finder, Bayut and Dubizzle. I removed repeats and the same unit posted on more than one site, and kept 549 units of 500 to 60,000 sq ft with a rent of AED 10 to 600 per sq ft. “Front” units have showroom, road-facing, main road, glass, retail, F&B or gallery in their title. Asking prices are not signed prices.
- Photographs: taken on warehouse viewings in Al Quoz in 2026, and graded to match this page. Nothing was added or removed.
- Map: land and sea from the OpenStreetMap coastline; the eight mainland areas are Dubai Municipality communities (Al Quoz Industrial 1 to 4 with Al Quoz 1 and 3, Saih Shuaib 2 to 4 for Dubai Industrial City, where its registered leases are); JAFZA is its OpenStreetMap outline. Motorways from OpenStreetMap.
- Price per sq ft is the annual rent divided by the size (the register gives square metres; one square metre is 10.764 sq ft). “Middle” is the median; “half” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
- Area comparison: for each area, the middle asking rent of plain warehouses in listings on Property Finder and Bayut (up to five pages each, read on 29 September 2026, repeats removed), next to the middle rent in new warehouse leases registered in 2026, cleaned the same way. Only adverts whose location names the area are kept, and land, open yards and adverts for sale are left out. Al Quoz uses the full Al Quoz read above, which also includes Dubizzle. Areas need at least 25 of each; Nad Al Hamar had too few listings and is left out. Jebel Ali Industrial is the mainland side of Jebel Ali (the Land Department’s Jabal Ali Industrial areas).
- Free zone: JAFZA leases are not in the Land Department’s register (its 2026 data has no free-zone leases), so JAFZA shows asking rents only. I read 251 JAFZA warehouse adverts on Property Finder and Bayut on 29 September 2026 (up to five pages each) and kept 134 different units, with the same rules as the other areas but no upper size; 56 of them are 500 to 60,000 sq ft. Dubai South and other free zones are not included.
Download the 104 new leases (CSV)
Sources
- Dubai Land Department: Open Data (rent contracts, Ejari)
- Dubai Pulse: DLD rent contracts dataset
- Property Finder: warehouses for rent in Al Quoz
- Bayut: warehouses for rent in Al Quoz
- Dubizzle: warehouses for rent
- Dubai Pulse: Dubai Municipality community boundaries (map)
- OpenStreetMap contributors: coastline, JAFZA and roads (map, ODbL)
- Knight Frank: Dubai industrial demand rises to 12.3 million sq ft during H1 2026 (29 July 2026)
- Knight Frank: Dubai and Abu Dhabi industrial market review H1 2025 (29 July 2025)
- Knight Frank: further rental growth forecast in the UAE’s industrial and logistics market (9 February 2026)
- Property Finder: warehouses for rent in Jebel Ali Freezone
- Bayut: warehouses for rent in Jebel Ali Freezone
- JLL: UAE Industrial Market Dynamics, Q2 2026
- Cushman & Wakefield: MarketBeat Industrial Q3 2025, Dubai
- Federal Tax Authority: VAT on commercial property