Major cities need over 1.5M housing units by 2030: Al-Hogail

Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majed Al-Hogail

The Saudi housing market in the five major cities—Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah, and Dammam—will require more than 1.5 million additional residential units by 2030, Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majed Al-Hogail said.

Speaking at the Cityscape 2025 Conference, Al-Hogail noted that 46% of this demand is concentrated in Riyadh, exceeding 731,000 units.

He added that the ministry receives inquiries from Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, and other cities regarding the implementation of regulations governing the relationship between landlords and tenants, as well as inquiries about the idle land fees.

He noted that the Real Estate General Authority (REGA) developed three indicators to regulate the market: the annual price inflation index, the rent-to-income ratio index, and the city’s vacancy rate index.

These indicators provide the necessary insights to activate or adjust procedures, whether related to idle land fees or rent price controls.

He stated that based on current market readings and forecast rates in these cities, growth remains within normal levels, and there is no need to implement new measures in the short to medium term, while continuing to focus on maintaining supply–demand balance during this period.

He added that these indicators will be made available to the public in 2026 so the market can monitor them.

Al-Hogail noted that the Kingdom has achieved remarkable advancement, making its mortgage market the fastest-growing in the region. Mortgage loans reached SAR 961.4 billion by the second quarter of 2025, while the homeownership rate exceeded 65% by the end of 2024.

He added that this places Saudi Arabia among the world’s largest urban development markets and one of the most attractive destinations for real estate development today.

The minister also highlighted that the real estate, construction, and building sectors contributed 13.8% to the Kingdom’s GDP in the second quarter of 2025.

He noted that real estate deals and agreements worth more than SAR 161.2 billion will be signed during the Cityscape Global Exhibition— a record figure that reflects the strength and dynamism of the Saudi real estate market.

The exhibition will witness further deals and contracts, he said, highlighting that both Saudi and international developers are leading numerous projects across the Kingdom’s regions and cities, presenting models that combine national identity with global modernity.

He also stated that the exhibition offers opportunities for joint development, partnerships, and investment in cities and special economic zones to establish sustainable residential communities.

It will additionally help launch professional brokerage partnerships and digital platforms operating to international standards, serving as a bridge between supply and demand.

The minister announced during the conference the completion of the first-ever tokenization of a property title deed under REGA supervision, alongside the launch of the world’s first standards for converting real estate ownership into tokenized assets.

This positions Saudi Arabia among the first countries to regulate the real estate sector through a digital framework for converting property assets into tokenized units under the oversight of a real estate regulatory authority rather than private tech companies.

He explained that this pioneering innovation makes property ownership machine-readable and directly linked—through encrypted connections—to official registration records. It marks a major transformation in how real estate is owned and traded.

Tokenization breaks down large real estate assets into small, easily tradable digital units, broadening the investor base, increasing market liquidity, enabling developers to accelerate their projects, enhancing transparency through digital platforms, and strengthening the Kingdom’s ability to attract investors globally.

He added that REGA will publish the tokenization standards in early 2026, allowing licensed proptech companies to develop compatible solutions built on this infrastructure.