The real estate finance market in Saudi Arabia during the first four months of 2026 witnessed a clear shift towards a slowdown, both in terms of total financing values and number of contracts, compared to the same period in 2025, according to data from Saudi Central Bank.
During the period from January to April 2026, the total new residential financing provided to individuals in the Kingdom, whether through banks or finance companies, amounted to about 23 billion riyals, compared to 34.9 billion riyals during the same period in 2025, recording an annual decline of 34.32%, a decrease of about 12 billion riyals from the comparative period.
Reported by the Saudi Central Bank "Sama.
Decline in the number of financing contracts
The decline was not limited to financial values only, but extended to the volume of financing activity in terms of contracts, as the number of funded contracts decreased by about 24.5%, equivalent to 11.12 thousand contracts, bringing the total to 34.3 thousand contracts during the first four months of 2026, compared to 45.411 thousand contracts in the same period last year.
On the level of financing provided by banks directly, the banking sector recorded a similar decline, as the volume of new housing financing decreased by 35.20%, equivalent to SAR 12 billion, to reach SAR 22.07 billion during January-April 2026, compared to SAR 34.06 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
The number of bank-financed contracts fell by 25.06% to 33.33 thousand contracts, compared to 44.48 thousand contracts during the same period in 2025, a decrease of approximately 11.15 thousand contracts.
Residential villas capture the largest proportion of financing
In terms of the distribution of bank financing, residential villas captured the largest share with a value of 14.31 billion riyals during the first four months of 2026, followed by apartment financing worth 6.38 billion riyals, and land purchase financing amounting to 1.377 billion riyals during the same period.
At the level of financing companies, the sector showed a relatively different performance, as the volume of new residential financing increased slightly by 2.04%, equivalent to 17 million riyals, to reach 849 million riyals during the first four months of 2026, compared to 832 million riyals in the same period of 2025.
Finance companies also recorded more than 953 contracts during this period, with financing distributed across several real estate products, where the value of financing the purchase of apartments amounted to SAR 419 million, compared to SAR 354 million for villas, and SAR 76 million for land purchases.
When looking at the previous annual performance, it is clear that housing finance for individuals provided by banks in Saudi Arabia recorded a decline during 2025 by 11.7%, reaching 80.42 billion riyals compared to 91.06 billion riyals in 2024, through 108.79 thousand contracts during the year.
Financing provided by finance companies during 2025 decreased by 3.2% to 2.5 billion riyals compared to 2.56 billion riyals in 2024, across 2.79 thousand contracts.Despite this downward trend during the first three months of 2026, April alone witnessed a relatively contrary performance, as new residential real estate financing provided by banks rose to SAR 6.326 billion, recording a growth of 51.09% compared to March, when financing reached SAR 4.187 billion, the highest monthly level during the monitored period.
April alone witnessed a relatively contrary performance.
Finance companies during April also recorded a remarkable increase of 58%, with financing reaching SAR 265 million compared to SAR 168 million in March, also the highest monthly level during the first four months of 2026.
