Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Saudi Arabia
SUMMARY
Jeddah will probably not benefit more than Riyadh from foreign buyers overall. Riyadh is better placed to attract the larger amount of foreign capital and owner-occupier demand, while Jeddah could experience the bigger change relative to the size and character of its existing residential market.
The strongest early evidence still points toward Riyadh. Knight Frank and YouGov found 55% of prospective Saudi property buyers interested in the capital versus 46% in Jeddah, and Riyadh leads across international, Saudi-based expatriate and UAE-based expatriate groups.
Jeddah does not need to attract as much money as Riyadh to feel its impact. Riyadh's residential transaction market was roughly 2.6 times larger by value in 2025, so the same amount of new foreign purchasing would represent a much larger share of Jeddah's market.
Price is probably Jeddah's clearest competitive advantage. Recent apartment measures put Jeddah roughly 30% to 34% below Riyadh, which gives international buyers substantially more space for the same budget and leaves the city less exposed to the affordability problem now visible in the capital.
Riyadh's problem is not weak underlying demand. Residential values have risen dramatically since 2019 while transaction activity has fallen hard, suggesting that the city has reached a point where plenty of people still want housing but fewer are willing or able to buy it at current prices.
The capital nevertheless has something Jeddah cannot easily reproduce: an enormous international employment engine. Multinational regional headquarters, professional-services firms and corporate relocations keep sending foreign executives and specialists to Riyadh, giving ownership reform a ready-made population of potential long-term buyers.
Jeddah has the stronger lifestyle proposition. Waterfront homes, marina developments, Red Sea access, a huge international airport and projects such as Jeddah Central and MARAFY make it much easier to market the city to a foreign buyer who does not need to live in Saudi Arabia for work.
Jeddah also looks stronger today for investors who care primarily about rental income. Several yield methodologies place it ahead of Riyadh, purchase prices are lower, and Jeddah does not currently face Riyadh's five-year suspension on rent increases.
The catch is supply. Jeddah has enough developable land and enough large masterplans that rising foreign demand can be met with thousands of new homes, meaning developers may capture much of the upside before scarcity pushes ordinary citywide apartment prices sharply higher.
Riyadh and Jeddah may therefore benefit in different ways. Riyadh is more likely to win on total buyer numbers, capital and employment-backed housing demand; Jeddah has the better chance of seeing foreign ownership visibly reshape waterfront development, branded residences, rental investment and the international profile of its housing market.
The real test has barely started. Completed foreign purchases by city, nationality, property type and transaction value will matter far more than surveys once enough transactions accumulate, and Jeddah would need to outperform Riyadh in actual absorption rather than simply offer cheaper property and a stronger lifestyle story.
Thinking of buying real estate in Saudi Arabia?
Acquiring property in a different country is a complex task. Don't fall into common traps – grab our guide and make better decisions.
Why does foreign property buying matter in Riyadh and Jeddah now?
Foreign buyers can finally enter Riyadh and Jeddah at a scale that could change both residential markets.
Saudi Arabia’s updated property-ownership law is now fully operational. Non-Saudi residents, overseas individuals and foreign entities can apply through REGA’s Saudi Properties platform, and the Cabinet has approved the geographical zones and implementing rules that determine where foreigners can buy.
The difference from the old system is substantial. A non-resident no longer needs to move to Saudi Arabia first and become part of the local expatriate community before considering a home. Overseas buyers can obtain the required digital identity and enter approved projects directly. Foreign companies can also participate after completing their investment registration.
Riyadh and Jeddah are central to the reform. Riyadh’s approved areas include projects such as Diriyah Gate, New Murabba, King Salman Park, KAFD, Qiddiya, Sedra and the Sports Boulevard area. Jeddah includes Central Jeddah and dozens of designated development areas across the governorate.
Buying still comes with meaningful friction. REGA clarified during the summer that non-Saudi transactions in the designated areas of Riyadh and Jeddah face the standard 5% real-estate transaction tax plus an additional 2% fee linked to foreign ownership.
The timing also matters. Saudi housing activity has cooled sharply from its previous pace. Knight Frank recorded a 50% year-on-year fall in national residential transaction volumes in Q1 2026, while REGA recorded 53,663 property sales worth SAR 72.3 billion across all property types in Q2. The newest price measures even disagree on direction: REGA’s residential index fell 1.9% quarter-on-quarter, while GASTAT’s separate residential index rose 3.7%.
Foreign buyers are therefore entering during a more complicated phase than the boom years. Riyadh has an affordability problem, Jeddah still has substantial development ahead, and Saudi Arabia is deliberately opening both markets while trying to avoid another uncontrolled jump in housing costs.
Are foreign buyers more interested in Riyadh or Jeddah right now?
Riyadh currently has the clearer lead: foreign buyers show substantially more interest in the capital than in Jeddah.
Knight Frank and YouGov interviewed 1,550 potential Saudi property buyers across international markets, Saudi-based expatriates and UAE-based expatriates. Riyadh was selected by 55% of respondents, making it the most popular Saudi city. Jeddah came second at 46%.
The result holds across several buyer groups. Among international respondents living outside the GCC, 54% chose Riyadh and 48% chose Jeddah. UAE-based expatriates favoured Riyadh 57% to 47%. Saudi-based expatriates produced the widest gap, with roughly 54% interested in Riyadh and 36% in Jeddah.
Even religion does little to reverse the comparison. Among Muslim international respondents, 55% selected Riyadh and 50% Jeddah. Among non-Muslims, Riyadh led 53% to 46%.
That nine-point overall gap is large enough to take seriously. Jeddah has considerable international appeal, but the evidence currently available does not show foreign buyers shifting away from Riyadh toward the Red Sea city.
| Buyer group | Riyadh | Jeddah | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All respondents | 55% | 46% | Riyadh +9 pts |
| International respondents | 54% | 48% | Riyadh +6 pts |
| Saudi-based expats | ~54% | 36% | Riyadh +18 pts |
| UAE-based expats | 57% | 47% | Riyadh +10 pts |
| Muslim international buyers | 55% | 50% | Riyadh +5 pts |
| Non-Muslim international buyers | 53% | 46% | Riyadh +7 pts |
Don't buy the wrong property, in the wrong area of Saudi Arabia
Buying real estate is a significant investment. Don't rely solely on your intuition. Gather the right information to make the best decision.
Could Jeddah still benefit more even if Riyadh gets more foreign buyers?
Yes. Jeddah could feel the effect of foreign buying more strongly because its residential market is much smaller.
This distinction is easy to miss. More foreigners can buy in Riyadh while the additional money has a larger percentage impact on Jeddah.
Residential transactions in Riyadh were worth roughly SAR 96 billion in 2025, compared with around SAR 37 billion in Jeddah according to market data compiled from Saudi transaction records. Riyadh was therefore about 2.6 times larger by transaction value.
Suppose each city attracted an additional SAR 5 billion of foreign purchases. Against those 2025 numbers, the new demand would equal only around 5% of Riyadh’s market but almost 14% of Jeddah’s.
Nobody knows yet whether both cities will actually receive equal foreign capital. The example simply shows how differently the same amount of money could hit each market.
That leaves us with a useful distinction for the rest of the comparison. Riyadh has the better chance of attracting the most foreign money in absolute terms. Jeddah has a realistic chance of experiencing the bigger change relative to its existing market.
Is Jeddah much cheaper than Riyadh for foreign property buyers?
Yes. Jeddah currently gives foreign buyers considerably more residential property for the same budget.
Knight Frank put average apartment prices at around SAR 6,175 per square metre in Riyadh versus SAR 4,324 in Jeddah in Q2 2025. More recent transaction data reconstructed from REGA for Q1 2026 showed a similar gap, at roughly SAR 5,862 per square metre in Riyadh and SAR 3,876 in Jeddah.
Depending on which period we use, Jeddah apartments have therefore been around 30% to 34% cheaper.
That is a big difference for the international buyers Saudi Arabia is attracting. Knight Frank’s global survey found that 63% of prospective buyers had a maximum residential budget below US$1 million, while 69% expected that money to buy a large villa or townhouse.
Riyadh increasingly struggles to match those expectations in its most desirable neighbourhoods. Jeddah gets much closer.
At recent transaction averages, SAR 2 million corresponds to about 340 square metres of apartment space in Riyadh and more than 500 square metres in Jeddah. Real units obviously vary by age, location and quality, but the purchasing-power gap is large.
Jeddah consequently has an easier pitch to someone discovering Saudi real estate for the first time: a buyer can spend substantially less without moving to a secondary Saudi city.
| Residential measure | Riyadh | Jeddah | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 average apartment price | SAR 6,175/m² | SAR 4,324/m² | Jeddah ~30% cheaper |
| Q1 2026 transaction estimate | SAR 5,862/m² | SAR 3,876/m² | Jeddah ~34% cheaper |
| Approx. area for SAR 2m at Q1 average | 341 m² | 516 m² | Jeddah +175 m² |
| Q1 2026 apartment price growth | +6.3% YoY | +2.0% YoY | Riyadh faster |
Get to know the market before buying a property in Saudi Arabia
Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.
Has Riyadh already become too expensive compared with Jeddah?
Riyadh has clearly become harder to buy into, and the slowdown in transactions suggests local buyers are already feeling the strain.
Knight Frank estimates that Riyadh residential values have risen by almost 75% since 2019. Apartment prices were still increasing by 6.3% year-on-year in Q1 2026 and villa values by 4.9%.
Sales activity moved in the opposite direction. Riyadh’s residential transaction volumes and values fell about 82% year-on-year during Q1 2026. Regional tensions affected sentiment during the quarter, so attributing the entire fall to affordability would go too far. However, the slowdown began much earlier. By Q2 2025, Riyadh transaction volumes were already down 31% year-on-year while prices continued climbing.
Mortgage data tell a similar story. Across Saudi Arabia, the number of new residential mortgage contracts fell 25% during the first four months of 2026 and lending value dropped 34%.
Jeddah has avoided the same scale of price escalation. During the 12 months to Q2 2025, its residential transaction count rose 19% and transaction value increased 28% while apartment prices gained only 2.7%. More recently, Jeddah also completed more apartment transactions than Riyadh during Q1 2026 despite being the smaller city.
Riyadh still has deeper demand, but foreigners are arriving after a huge repricing. Jeddah gives them a much less stretched starting point.
| Market pressure | Riyadh | Jeddah |
|---|---|---|
| Price change since 2019 | Almost +75% | Much more moderate |
| Q1 2026 apartment growth | +6.3% YoY | +2.0% YoY |
| Q1 2026 apartment transactions | ~3,133 | ~4,307 |
| Q1 2026 Riyadh transaction change | ~-82% YoY | Decline, but much less severe |
| Main current issue | Affordability | Absorbing future supply |
Why are so many foreign professionals still likely to choose Riyadh?
Riyadh has a huge advantage because Saudi Arabia keeps concentrating international jobs in the capital.
More than 700 multinational companies had committed to regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia by early 2026, already well above the original Vision 2030 target of 500. The government’s latest National Transformation Program reporting indicates that around 90% of those headquarters are located in Riyadh.
That creates housing demand through thousands of individual relocation decisions. Banks, consulting firms, technology groups, professional-services companies and multinational consumer businesses need executives and specialist staff close to their regional operations.
The office market shows how concentrated that activity has become. Knight Frank reported Grade A office occupancy of about 95% in Riyadh in Q1 2026. Foreign investment licences were also up almost 20% from a year earlier.
The longer-term employment numbers make the gap even clearer. Knight Frank estimates Riyadh generated around 63% of all new jobs created nationally over the previous five years.
Some foreign employees will always rent. Others will stay only a few years. But the new ownership law gives a growing group of long-term residents a realistic alternative to renting, especially executives who already know Saudi Arabia well.
Jeddah has international employers too, but it currently lacks anything comparable to Riyadh’s corporate relocation machine. For ordinary owner-occupier demand from expatriates, Riyadh has the stronger foundation.
Buying real estate in Saudi Arabia can be risky
An increasing number of foreign investors are showing interest. However, 90% of them will make mistakes. Avoid the pitfalls with our comprehensive guide.
Can Jeddah’s Red Sea lifestyle attract buyers Riyadh cannot?
Yes. Jeddah can offer waterfront property and resort-style living that Riyadh cannot realistically copy.
Jeddah Central is the clearest example. The PIF-backed redevelopment covers 5.7 million square metres and includes 9.5 kilometres of waterfront, a marina, a beach, hotels and about 17,000 planned homes.
Further north, ROSHN’s MARAFY is being built around an 11-kilometre canal connected to the Red Sea. The 9.4-million-square-metre development is planned for more than 130,000 residents, alongside hospitality, retail, offices and entertainment.
These projects give Jeddah something useful when selling internationally. Developers can market waterfront apartments, marina residences, branded homes and walkable mixed-use communities using concepts that buyers already understand from Dubai, Miami, Marbella or the Mediterranean.
Riyadh’s premium developments can be spectacular, particularly Diriyah, New Murabba and Sports Boulevard, but their appeal comes largely from the capital’s economic importance, urban regeneration and scarcity of high-quality housing.
Jeddah has another reason to buy: some people may simply want to spend time there.
That difference becomes increasingly important as Saudi Arabia targets non-residents who have no job requiring them to live in either city.
Does Jeddah’s tourism advantage really create property demand?
Jeddah’s tourism and aviation traffic should help foreign home sales, although pilgrimage traffic alone will not create a residential boom.
King Abdulaziz International Airport handled roughly 53.5 million passengers in 2025, the highest passenger total of any Saudi airport. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport handled around 40.8 million.
Jeddah benefits from several flows at once. It serves its own large metropolitan population, the Red Sea tourism corridor and much of the international traffic heading toward Makkah. This makes occasional use of a Jeddah residence more practical for somebody who does not plan to relocate permanently.
However, the opening of Makkah and Madinah to eligible Muslim buyers creates direct competition.
Knight Frank’s international survey found that 59% of Muslim respondents were interested in Makkah and 63% in Madinah. Jeddah attracted 50%. Developers in the Holy Cities are already adapting; Jabal Omar, for example, has announced plans to sell hundreds of hotel-residential units to international Muslim buyers.
That weakens one older reason for owning in Jeddah. A buyer whose real objective is proximity to the Grand Mosque can now investigate selected ownership opportunities in Makkah itself.
Jeddah’s strongest tourism-related proposition is broader: Red Sea living, an internationally connected airport, proximity to Makkah and a large year-round city in the same package.
Don't lose money on your property in Saudi Arabia
100% of people who have lost money there have spent less than 1 hour researching the market. We have reviewed everything there is to know. Grab our guide now.
Are rental properties more attractive in Jeddah than Riyadh now?
Jeddah currently looks better for a foreign buyer focused primarily on rental income.
Precise citywide yields should be treated carefully because Saudi transaction datasets, rental registrations and listing portals measure different properties. Still, separate methodologies keep producing the same direction.
One analysis combining REGA sale and rental data calculated comparable gross yields around 5.2% in Jeddah and 4.2% in Riyadh. Global Property Guide, using advertised apartment data, produces much higher absolute numbers but again places Jeddah ahead, at roughly 7.9% versus 5.8%.
The spread makes sense. Jeddah apartments generally cost much less, while rents have not fallen enough to erase that purchase-price advantage.
Riyadh also has a new constraint. After years of steep rent inflation, Saudi authorities imposed a five-year suspension on rent increases for residential and commercial properties within Riyadh’s urban boundary. The rules cover existing and new contracts and began in 2025.
Jeddah currently has no equivalent citywide freeze.
A foreign investor expecting most of the return from capital appreciation can still prefer Riyadh. For someone who cares about entry price, current cash yield and the ability to reprice rent over time, Jeddah is easier to defend.
| Rental factor | Riyadh | Jeddah | Better position |
|---|---|---|---|
| REGA-based reconstructed gross yield | ~4.2% | ~5.2% | Jeddah |
| Listing-based apartment yield | ~5.8% | ~7.9% | Jeddah |
| Purchase price | Higher | Much lower | Jeddah |
| Five-year citywide rent-increase suspension | Yes | No equivalent currently | Jeddah |
| Depth of corporate tenant demand | Very high | Lower | Riyadh |
Does Riyadh still have the stronger long-term housing shortage?
Yes. Riyadh’s underlying housing demand remains much harder to bet against.
Knight Frank estimates the capital could need more than 305,000 additional homes by 2034 just to keep up with expected population growth. Riyadh’s housing stock is expected to increase from around 2.7 million units in 2025 to more than 3.3 million by 2030.
Those are enormous numbers, yet the capital also has the employment creation and population growth to absorb substantial new stock.
Riyadh’s housing shortage also predates the opening to foreign buyers. Years of fast population growth, household formation, job creation and corporate relocation pushed rents and sale prices high enough that the government eventually intervened in both the land and rental markets.
Foreign demand therefore adds another buyer group to an already crowded market.
Jeddah’s housing stock is also expanding, with Knight Frank expecting it to approach 1.47 million homes by 2030. Its demand base is large, but population and job growth currently give Riyadh more protection if foreign purchasing disappoints.
For a buyer asking which city needs international investors more to keep demand strong, the answer is Jeddah. Riyadh can rely much more heavily on domestic and employment-led demand.
Get the full checklist for your due diligence in Saudi Arabia
Don't repeat the same mistakes others have made before you. Make sure everything is in order before signing your sales contract.
Could Jeddah build too many homes for foreign buyers?
Yes. Jeddah’s huge development pipeline could absorb much of the extra foreign demand before it pushes prices sharply higher.
The scale becomes obvious when we look at the projects aimed at changing the city. Jeddah Central alone plans roughly 17,000 homes. MARAFY is designed around a future population exceeding 130,000. Other northern developments add thousands more villas and apartments.
Foreign demand can make those projects easier to finance and sell. It can also persuade developers to build better amenities, more branded residences and property designed specifically for international buyers.
Existing owners should be more careful with the idea that foreigners automatically create scarcity.
Jeddah has large areas where new residential supply can still be built. If overseas demand rises, developers can respond with more stock, especially in northern and waterfront districts. Some of the economic benefit could therefore go to developers, landowners and construction activity rather than appearing as huge gains in ordinary apartment prices.
Riyadh faces a different constraint. Its demand has been growing so quickly that even a massive construction pipeline has struggled to stop prices and rents from rising.
This is one reason we are more confident that foreign buyers will add demand in Jeddah than we are that they will trigger a citywide price boom.
Where will foreign buyers have the biggest effect inside Riyadh and Jeddah?
Foreign buying will probably concentrate in a small number of premium districts and masterplans rather than lift every neighbourhood equally.
The pattern was already visible before the new ownership framework became fully operational.
In Jeddah, Knight Frank recorded apartment price growth of about 12% in Al Naim and 10% in Al Zahra during a period when the citywide apartment average rose only 2.7%. Villas in Obhur Al Shamaliya increased roughly 9%, compared with around 3% across Jeddah.
Those are precisely the kinds of northern and lifestyle-oriented locations likely to overlap with foreign demand.
Riyadh shows even wider neighbourhood gaps. Al Taawun apartments were up around 32% year-on-year in Knight Frank’s Q2 2025 data and King Abdullah District around 17%, while the citywide apartment increase was closer to 11%. Northern villa areas such as Al Sahafah and An Narjis were also rising quickly.
The approved ownership zones add another layer. Foreign capital in Riyadh can target internationally recognisable projects such as Diriyah Gate, KAFD, New Murabba, Qiddiya and Sports Boulevard. In Jeddah, Central Jeddah and the designated development areas provide a similar route into newly built stock.
So averages will probably become less useful from here. A conventional resale apartment far from the zones foreigners prefer could behave very differently from a branded waterfront unit or a home inside one of Riyadh’s flagship developments.
| Likely foreign-buyer segment | Riyadh | Jeddah |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate executive housing | Very strong | Moderate |
| Premium urban apartments | Very strong | Strong |
| Waterfront residences | Very limited | Very strong |
| Large family homes for the money | Expensive | Stronger value |
| Second homes | Moderate | Strong |
| Tourism-linked ownership | Limited | Strong |
| Long-term expatriate homes | Very strong | Moderate |
| Masterplanned flagship projects | Very strong | Very strong |
Don't sign a document you don't understand in Saudi Arabia
Buying a property over there? We have reviewed all the documents you need to know. Stay out of trouble - grab our comprehensive guide.
Could foreign buyers change Jeddah more than they change Riyadh?
Yes. Jeddah has the better chance of looking noticeably different because of foreign ownership, even if Riyadh ultimately attracts more money.
Riyadh’s internationalisation is already well advanced. Multinationals are moving regional operations there, foreign workers are arriving because of those jobs, large infrastructure projects are under construction and housing demand has already pushed the government to intervene on affordability.
Foreign property ownership strengthens a trend that was already happening.
Jeddah has more scope for international buyers to influence what developers actually build. Strong overseas demand for waterfront apartments, branded residences and mixed-use communities could change unit sizes, amenities, hospitality partnerships, marketing and the speed at which northern and central redevelopment moves forward.
Its smaller transaction market amplifies that effect. Foreign buying does not need to match Riyadh in absolute riyals to become noticeable in Jeddah.
That is probably the strongest case for saying Jeddah “benefits more.” The claim works if benefit means transformation of the residential product and the relative importance of new international capital. It becomes much harder to defend if benefit means total purchases, total housing demand or total economic impact.
What would show that Jeddah is actually beating Riyadh with foreign buyers?
We would need to see real foreign purchases shift toward Jeddah; current buyer-intention data still favour Riyadh.
The biggest missing dataset is straightforward: completed purchases by foreign nationality, city, property type and transaction value after the new geographical zones opened.
Survey intentions are useful early indicators, but people saying they would buy in Saudi Arabia can behave very differently once they compare actual projects, fees, financing, service charges and resale conditions.
The next evidence to watch is absorption inside the approved zones. If waterfront and masterplanned developments in Jeddah start selling unusually quickly after being opened to non-Saudis, while comparable Riyadh projects see a smaller change, the Jeddah case becomes much stronger.
Resales will matter too. A genuine international market needs foreign owners to find buyers when they leave. Initial launches supported by aggressive developer marketing tell us far less about liquidity than repeat transactions several years later.
We should also watch pricing relative to each city rather than simply asking whether prices rise. Jeddah would need foreign-oriented neighbourhoods to outperform their historical relationship with the rest of the city without sales volumes collapsing.
For now, those tests have barely begun. The rules only became fully operational this year, so anyone claiming to know the final winner from completed foreign transactions is getting ahead of the evidence.
Get fresh and reliable information about the market in Saudi Arabia
Don't base significant investment decisions on outdated data. Get updated and accurate information.
Will Jeddah benefit more than Riyadh from foreign buyers?
Probably not overall. Riyadh currently looks more likely to attract the larger amount of foreign residential demand, while Jeddah has a better chance of being changed more dramatically by it.
The cleanest evidence still favours Riyadh. Knight Frank and YouGov found 55% of potential Saudi property buyers interested in the capital versus 46% in Jeddah. Riyadh also dominates the international employment engine that can turn foreign residents into permanent homebuyers: more than 700 multinational regional-headquarters commitments have been secured nationally and roughly 90% are concentrated in the capital.
Riyadh also has the stronger underlying housing shortage. Hundreds of thousands of additional homes may be required over the coming decade, and the city has generated an unusually large share of Saudi job growth. Foreigners are adding demand to a market that already has plenty.
Jeddah wins several comparisons that still matter. Homes are roughly one-third cheaper on recent apartment transaction data. Rental yields generally look better. The city has no equivalent of Riyadh’s five-year rent-increase freeze. Its Red Sea coastline supports waterfront and second-home products that the capital cannot reproduce. Its airport also handled more than 53 million passengers last year, giving Jeddah unusually strong international connectivity.
The biggest upside for Jeddah comes from scale. Its residential transaction market is much smaller, so each additional riyal of foreign purchasing can have a larger relative effect. Foreign buyers can also influence the development of Central Jeddah, northern waterfront districts and new lifestyle communities much more visibly.
But cheaper property and a beautiful coastline do not erase Riyadh’s 55%-to-46% lead in stated buyer interest or the capital’s extraordinary concentration of international jobs. As seen above, the first actual foreign transaction data will be the crucial test, and we do not yet have enough completed purchases to overturn those leading indicators.
Our answer is therefore fairly sharp: Riyadh should benefit more in total foreign capital, buyer numbers and underlying housing demand. Jeddah could benefit more in relative terms, particularly in waterfront development, rental investment and the internationalisation of its residential market. Calling Jeddah the bigger overall winner today would still be premature.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests whether Jeddah is likely to benefit more than Riyadh from Saudi Arabia’s newly expanded foreign property market. We compare the two cities across foreign-buyer interest, property prices, transaction-market size, employment-led expatriate demand, rental economics, tourism and second-home appeal, housing supply, major development pipelines and the likely relative impact of new foreign capital.
We separate absolute impact from relative impact throughout the comparison. Riyadh can attract more foreign buyers and more capital overall while Jeddah still experiences a larger percentage change because its existing residential transaction market is smaller.
Foreign-buyer surveys are treated as leading indicators rather than proof of completed demand. The Knight Frank and YouGov research covering 1,550 prospective buyers is particularly useful for comparing stated interest in Riyadh and Jeddah, but actual transaction data will become more important as the new ownership framework matures.
For market pricing and activity, we use REGA’s national and city-level real-estate indicators alongside GASTAT’s separate Real Estate Price Index and Knight Frank’s Saudi residential research. Where the datasets measure the market differently, we compare their direction and underlying methodology rather than forcing them into a single number.
Riyadh’s employment advantage is assessed using Saudi Vision 2030 reporting on the Regional Headquarters programme, Invest Saudi material and Knight Frank’s office and employment research. These sources help distinguish speculative foreign investment from housing demand created by executives and professionals who actually move to the capital.
Jeddah’s lifestyle and development case is assessed using first-hand project information from Jeddah Central Development Company and ROSHN for MARAFY, alongside official airport traffic data. We use these sources to evaluate the scale of waterfront development and international connectivity rather than assuming that tourism automatically translates into residential demand.
Rental yields are treated as indicative rather than precise citywide returns because transaction databases, rental registrations and listing-based datasets do not always cover the same homes. The direction of the Riyadh-versus-Jeddah comparison matters more here than small differences in the headline yield.
We also treat Riyadh’s rent restrictions as a separate investment factor rather than evidence that its rental market is weak. REGA’s statutory provisions provide the legal basis for the five-year suspension on rent increases within Riyadh’s urban boundary.
Key sources used for this analysis include: REGA’s Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis, REGA on the system entering into force, REGA’s National Real Estate Indicators Platform, GASTAT’s Real Estate Price Index publications, Knight Frank’s Destination Saudi 2026 buyer survey, Knight Frank’s June 2026 residential and office market research, Saudi Vision 2030’s National Transformation Program Annual Report 2025, REGA’s Riyadh landlord–tenant provisions, Jeddah Central Development Company, and ROSHN’s MARAFY project information.
Get to know the market before buying a property in Saudi Arabia
Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.
Related blog posts
- Are foreigners allowed to own property in Jeddah?
- How much are property taxes and buying fees in Jeddah?
- How protected are foreign property owners in Saudi Arabia?
- What should US citizens know before buying property in Saudi Arabia?
