The Saudi Arabian real estate market recorded a year-on-year increase in its price index of 1.21 TP3T during the third quarter of 2026, driven by growth in the residential sector, despite a decline in commercial prices. Data from the General Authority for Statistics revealed price variations across administrative regions, with the Northern Borders region experiencing the highest increase, while Asir recorded the largest decrease during the period.
According to the Authority's data, the general index of real estate prices rose by 1.2% on an annual basis, reaching 105.1 points during the third quarter of 2026, compared to 103.9 points in the same quarter of 2025, based on the base year 2023. The rise is mainly due to the performance of the residential sector, whose prices rose by 2.3%, benefiting from its large relative weight in the index, which is 72.7%, making it the most prominent factor in pushing the general index towards the rise.
A new methodology for measuring real estate prices
The General Authority for Statistics had begun implementing a new methodology for calculating the real estate price index starting from the third quarter of 2024, in cooperation with the General Authority for Real Estate, the Ministry of Justice and the Saudi Central Bank, with 2023 adopted as the base year for measuring price changes.
The index covers three main sectors: residential, commercial, and agricultural. The residential sector includes land, villas, apartments, and residential floors, while the commercial sector includes land, buildings, showrooms, and shops. The agricultural sector is limited to agricultural land.
The residential sector is driving price increases.
Residential real estate continued its year-on-year growth in the third quarter of 2026, with prices rising by 2.31 TP3T compared to the same period of the previous year. Residential land led the growth, increasing by 4.91 TP3T, followed by apartments, which saw a 1.71 TP3T increase, and then residential floors, which rose by 0.81 TP3T.
The commercial sector declined by 2%
On the other hand, commercial property prices declined during the third quarter of 2026, with the sector index falling by 2.01 TP3T year-on-year. The authority attributed this decline primarily to a 2.11 TP3T drop in commercial land prices. The commercial sector represents approximately 25.41 TP3T of the overall index's weighting, making it a key component influencing real estate price movements in the Kingdom.
Agricultural lands are recording an annual increase
In the agricultural sector, the agricultural land price index rose by 3.9% during the third quarter of 2026, compared to the same quarter of 2025, reaching 114.4 points, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics.
Northern borders lead the rise
At the regional level, the Northern Borders region topped the list of regions that recorded the highest annual increase in the real estate price index during the third quarter of 2026, with a rise of 12.01 TP3T, bringing its index to 105.2 points. The Riyadh region came in second, with an annual increase of 4.61 TP3T, reaching an index of 116.0 points, the highest level among the regions included in the data. Madinah ranked third, with real estate prices registering a modest increase of 0.31 TP3T, bringing its index to 91.9 points.
In contrast, the Asir region recorded the largest annual decrease in real estate prices, at 4.31 TP3T, bringing the index down to 82.8 points. The Hail region followed with a decline of 3.81 TP3T, registering an index of 90.1 points, then the Eastern Province, where real estate prices fell by 3.71 TP3T, reaching an index of 94.0 points. The declines extended to other regions as well, with real estate prices in Al-Jawf dropping by 2.81 TP3T to 91.0 points, Jazan by 1.81 TP3T to 98.9 points, and Tabuk by 1.71 TP3T to 101.7 points.
Najran region recorded a year-on-year decrease of 1.51 TP3T, bringing its index to 99.9 points, while prices in Qassim declined by 1.31 TP3T to 91.4 points. The index in Makkah fell by 0.61 TP3T, registering 99.8 points, while Al-Baha region saw a slight decrease of 0.31 TP3T, bringing its index to 78.4 points, the lowest level among the regions included in the data.
Read also:
In detail: A map of residential property prices in Medina during the past month
After the interest rate hike, how will the Saudi real estate market and developers be affected?
Have real estate prices in Saudi Arabia reached their fair value?
Residential property prices in Riyadh declined during the first quarter of 2026
Falling prices and foreign ownership: What's happening in the real estate market?
