Office space vacancies in Dubai have doubled to 16% in the past six months as demand fell and new stock came onto the market, according to a report today by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Companies are scaling back or reducing operations in response to the global credit crisis at a time when many developments are being completed. An additional 4.7 million square feet of office space came on stream in the second half of 2008, bringing the total stock to 29.5 million square feet.

As a result, vacancy rates doubled from 7% in July to 16% by the end of the year.

The National