The "Future of Real Estate Forum" emphasizes in its first session the sector's attractiveness for investments and job opportunities.

Monday 08 June 2026
momah

With the participation of more than 100 speakers in 40 dialogue sessions

The "Future of Real Estate Forum" emphasizes in its first session the sector's attractiveness for investments and job opportunities.

 

The first dialogue session of the Future of Real Estate Forum, currently being held in Riyadh under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, was launched under the title of Integration of Real Estate Regulations and Legislations, in which His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Talal, the Governor of Asir Region, participated, along with His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, His Excellency the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Engineer Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi, and His Excellency the Chairman of the Board of the Capital Market Authority, Mr. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Quwaiz.

During his participation, His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Asir Region, affirmed that the Asir Region’s strategy aims to transform the region into a year-round global tourist destination, attracting more than 10 million visitors from within the Kingdom and abroad by 2030. He pointed out that the total investments in the Al-Soudah region amounted to 11 billion riyals, including 3 billion riyals allocated to infrastructure.

His Highness the Prince said that the Public Investment Fund represents the strategic support for the Asir region with 40% of the support, noting that the Souda Asir project will provide 8,000 jobs, pointing out that the region consists of four destinations, namely Greater Abha, the North, the Sea and Bisha, and that it will be focused on in eight areas, which represent promising investment opportunities for real estate developers.

For his part, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail said that the biggest real transformation in the sector is the harmony that is taking place between governmental and private entities in the real estate sector, which has contributed to integrated residential communities at reasonable prices, pointing to the role of the White Land Program in increasing the supply of developed real estate from land through the development of 500 million m2, and during the coming period there will be an expansion in the application, in addition to spending more than 2 billion riyals from fees to develop the infrastructure in a number of projects.

Al-Haqil noted that the legislation and policies introduced by the ministry helped raise the quality of construction through several requirements, pointing out that the Cabinet’s decision to restructure the Engineers Authority will increase the quality of real estate development operations, revealing that the implementation of the Real Estate Registry System and the Real Estate Brokerage System will be announced soon, expecting that the real estate sector will witness an increase in investments by the end of this year in light of the increased reliability of the real estate sector in partnership with the relevant ministries such as “Justice”, “Human Resources”, “Digital Government Authority”, and others.

On the other hand, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi, said that the real estate sector is the third largest contributor to employment and is the engine for other sectors, noting that the number of Saudis in the private sector has reached 1.95 million young men and women, and this number confirms the attractiveness of all business sectors. Meanwhile, the real estate sector witnessed the localization of 6 activities, including brokerage and marketing, with support for 40% of the salaries of new employees in the sector for two years. He pointed out that last year witnessed for the first time the entry of 400,000 young men and women, and that major projects in the Kingdom have set clear targets to create jobs for Saudis, and the tourism sector created one million jobs.

Al-Rajhi explained that the real estate market before regulation was dominated by real estate speculation, while the current time is witnessing a major period of regulation and correction. He indicated that the ministry issued 32 localization decisions, and that this year will witness the issuance of 30 localization decisions. He emphasized that Corona accelerated the exit of jobs and brought in other jobs, and that the labor market strategy includes 25 reform initiatives for the economic participation of citizens, and we have reached 50% of the targeted economic participation, and we aim to reach among the advanced countries in the labor market efficiency index in this field among 20 countries.

Al-Rajhi revealed the establishment of “Future Work Company” with the aim of accommodating all real estate activities with all types of freelance work, from inspectors, marketers, surveyors, designers, and others, revealing that the number of registered young Saudi men and women on the freelance work platform reached 1.5 million, and the number of those dedicated to freelance work reached 120,000, stressing that the real estate sector will be the number one in creating jobs.

For his part, the Chairman of the Capital Market Authority, Mohammed Al-Quwaiz, said that real estate contributions previously faced several challenges related to controlling accounting and reports sent to investors to preserve investors’ rights, which resulted in the disruption of a number of real estate contributions. In 2006, the work related to real estate investment was transferred to the Capital Market Authority as a real beginning for real estate funds in the Kingdom and the growth of their role in real estate growth, bringing the total investments in them to 124 billion riyals, compared to about 59 billion 4 years ago. The number of investors in the funds rose to 310,000 investors in 2021, compared to less than 9,000 in 2016.

The Chairman of the Capital Market Authority, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Quwaiz, stated that the average profit in real estate funds varies between development-focused funds and REITs listed on the market, reaching 4.5%, which is a higher rate than stock profits. He emphasized that real estate REITs have witnessed growth from 600 million riyals in 2016 to 22 billion riyals within 17 traded products, and the number of investors in the REIT sector is 300,000 investors. He pointed out that the rate of fluctuation in real estate funds is lower than the stock market rate, expecting that the pace of REIT listing requests will be highest in 2022.

Comments and suggestions

For any inquiries or comments about government services, please fill out the required information.

Last Updated:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia