Residential Land Prices Drive Saudi Real Estate Inflation

A hike in residential land prices prompted real estate prices in Saudi Arabia to rise by an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the final quarter of 2021, according to data by Gastat. This is the highest level since the first quarter of 2020 as prices of residential land plots went up, causing the sub-index of residential real estate prices to go up by 1.7 percent. Other components of this sub-index – which includes costs of buildings, villa, apartments and houses – all underwent negative inflation. Meanwhile, commercial and agricultural real estate prices fell from a year ago by 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, balancing the effect on the overall index. In quarterly terms, real estate prices in the Kingdom ticked up by 0.5 percent induced by, again, the household real estate sub-index which grew by 0.7 percent.