According to Abdullah Alhammad, Head of the Real Estate General Authority (REGA), a new law allowing non-Saudi citizens to acquire real estate is in the works.
After it is put into effect, foreigners will be permitted to own property all over the Kingdom, including in Makkah and Madinah, two holy cities. Both residential and commercial real estate will be covered by the law.
Speaking about the measure, Abdullah reaffirmed that foreigners will have access to this privilege under the new legislation. He added that in order to prevent potential future issues brought on by foreign ownership, its negative effects have also been considered.
While appearing on a Saudi television program, he said these things. In light of the 45% increase in villa prices over the previous two years, Abdullah claimed that increasing prices are bad for the Kingdom's expanding real estate sector.
According to a recent poll conducted by Knight Frank in partnership with YouGov, Saudi residents' desire to buy a home has decreased this year as a result of high pricing. The demand for residential units was 84% last year, but it is now only 40%.
Faisal Durrani, Head of Middle East Research at Knight Frank, ascribed this decline in demand to rising home prices. The option of having a property or a second home has become a difficulty for many households in Riyadh as a result of the growth in villa costs, which grew by 45% in the last two years to reach SAR 5,000 per square meter, he noted.
Faisal added that, as a result, there were 34% fewer residences sold overall in the city last year. Similarly, the number of residential units sold has decreased by 16% in Jeddah.