Business centres and offices in Almaty: rents, vacancy and what to build

How much does office rent cost in Almaty in 2026

According to Bright Rich | CORFAC International data published by bizmedia.kz in March 2026, average rents were: class A 25,500 ₸ per m² a month, B+ 17,400 ₸, B 12,500 ₸. The company's head of research, Galiya Omarova, said in August 2026: "The average cost of renting office space in Almaty has risen 30.9% in 3 years."

Figures in different reviews diverge because of the sample of buildings. At the same company's May forum, the class A rate was given as 22,500 ₸. So for a specific property I compare real listings within a kilometre rather than the city average.

Office vacancy in Almaty: where it's empty and where there's a queue

The overall picture: vacancy in quality offices rose from 2.8% to 4.5% over the year to mid-July 2026. Since early 2024 about 98,000 m² of offices have been built in the city, and empty space has grown roughly 4.5 times, to 62,000 m².

But the distribution is uneven. 47% of all free space is class B+, and 44% class B. Class A+, according to Freedom Broker, was 100% occupied throughout 2025 and early 2026. Large companies can't find big blocks in good buildings, so rents at the top end are rising even as vacancy grows.

Business centre classes: how A differs from B+

According to Colliers data cited by Forbes Kazakhstan, classes B and B+ make up almost 90% of Almaty's office stock, of which more than 70% is class B. Class A and above is in short supply.

In practice a class A tenant pays for predictability: central air conditioning, backup power, underground parking, decent lifts, a professional management company, and an open floor plan without columns every three metres. If even two of these are missing, the building drops to B+ and the rent falls by a third.

Coworking and flexible offices: is there demand

I couldn't find public statistics on Almaty coworking spaces, so I'm judging by what I see. Demand comes from IT teams, foreign companies starting out and freelancers who have moved to the city. Kazakhstan's IT exports passed $1 billion in 2025, and many of these companies start with a few desks in a coworking space before moving into their own office.

For an owner, coworking lets you let B+ space for more per square metre, but it needs management and marketing. More often I advise leasing a floor to a professional operator rather than launching your own coworking space from scratch.

Mixed-use: offices, retail and housing in one project

The mixed format lowers risk: if the offices let poorly, revenue is held up by cafés on the ground floor, shops or serviced apartments. In Almaty such projects work best near metro stations and on major roads, where there's foot traffic all day, not just at lunchtime.

When selecting premises for Kaspi and Magnum, I started with competitors and housing density: how many apartments and people within 500 metres. Then I looked at how people walk, what offices, hotels and schools are nearby, and where the crossings and parking are. The logic in mixed-use is the same: a ground floor with shop windows on people's path often earns more per square metre than the office floors above it.

Where to buy or build offices in Almaty

Demand for quality offices is concentrated in Bostandyk and Medeu districts: Al-Farabi, Dostyk and Abay avenues, the Esentai area and the streets around them. Bank headquarters, IT companies and foreign firms' representative offices work here, and tenants care about the prestige of the address and staff commuting time.

The second belt is buildings near metro stations and on major roads such as Tole Bi and Raiymbek. Rents are lower, but so is the entry price. Before buying, I work out how long a tenant's employee will spend commuting at rush hour and where they'll park. In Almaty these two questions often matter more than the lobby finish.

Example calculation: buying a class B+ office to let

An illustrative example with assumptions; purchase prices in Almaty vary widely, and I check them against real listings. A 200 m² class B+ office at 1.3 million ₸ per m², 260 million ₸ in total.

Rent at the average B+ rate of 17,400 ₸ per m² gives 41.8 million ₸ a year. Minus property tax, void periods between tenants, repairs and commission, say 15%, about 35.5 million ₸ remains. That's about 13.6% a year before income tax. If the space stands empty for six months, that year's yield falls almost by half, so the location and the building's class matter more than a discount on purchase.

Risks of office property: what to watch

• Rising vacancy in classes B and B+: new buildings compete for the same tenants
• Remote work: some companies are cutting their space
• Rents depend on the exchange rate and the economy: in a crisis, tenants are the first to move out of offices
• Seismic risk: old buildings without strengthening lose tenants and value
• Tax on selling commercial property is due however long you've owned it
• Management: without a professional management company, a building's class slips over time