Despite the impact of recent amendments to mortgage regulations that have eased the pressure on the residential real estate sales segment, Riyadh's real estate market showed little change during the second quarter of 2015. While the office segment saw a relative growth in occupancy and rents from the previous quarter, rents are expected to decline due to the completion of long-delayed large new projects such as the King Abdullah Financial Center and the ICT Park during 2016.

Jameel Ghaznavi, National and Regional Director, JLL Group, Saudi Arabia, said. <Jamil Ghaznavi, National and Regional Director at JLL Group in Saudi Arabia, said: ”The retail real estate segment remains one of the best performing segments in the Riyadh market as the performance of regional and supra-regional malls continues its upward trend and retail spending remains strong.”

Jameel Ghaznavi, National and Regional Director at JLL Group in Saudi Arabia, said: ”The retail real estate segment remains one of the best performing segments in the Riyadh market. <Ghaznavi addressed the increases in the hotel segment, which he defined as about 2.5% in average daily rate and revenue per available room (RevPAR) from the beginning of the year to May, and predicted that the continued growth in the segment's performance will be tempered by a potentially significant increase in supply, with the current supply of rooms set to increase by 50% in the next 18 months if all projects are completed on schedule, although fortunately many of these projects are unlikely to be completed within that period as construction delays remain a key feature of the Riyadh market.“

Ghaznavi went on to say that the segment's performance is expected to continue to improve. <He continued: ”We expect the new integrated action plan presented by the Ministry of Housing to reduce the current shortage of affordable housing as well as boost economic growth prospects."

Highlights include

Here are the key highlights of JLL's report in the Real Estate Slide Summary.

Office segment:

<Citywide vacancy rates remained relatively stable throughout the year at around 17% while vacancy rates in the CBD continued to decline by 1% to 7%, and office rents saw a slight increase from last year. The second quarter of 2015 saw the completion of Phase 1 buildings in the ICT Park, which added around 60,000 square meters of office space,In addition, up to half a million square meters of new office space is expected to be made available through two major projects (ICT Park and the first phase of King Abdullah Financial Center) expected to be completed in 2016, which may contribute to a significant change in market conditions in the coming year as vacancy levels will rise, leading to lower rents.

Residential segment

While selling prices continued to fall -1% for apartments and -0.5% for villas, the rental segment saw a rise in demand with rents increasing by 2% for apartments and 1% for villas from the previous quarter, and the new mortgage regulations continued to have a negative impact on the sales markets as the rate of residential real estate transactions decreased by 7% during the second quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter last year. The second quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter of 2014, according to data released by the Ministry of Justice, as citizens face difficulty in providing the down payment of 30% required by lenders to obtain a mortgage, it is worth noting that during the second quarter of 2015, the construction of about 4,Developers in the residential segment have started to show signs of a slowdown in construction due to the low demand in the sales market, however, the taxation of undeveloped land is expected to encourage the construction of residential units to fill some of the shortage of housing units in Riyadh.

Retail real estate segment

Riyadh's retail real estate market continues to see limited growth with a slight decrease in vacancy rates -1% and an increase in rents 1.6% in regional and supra-regional malls over the quarter while community center rents saw a slight decrease -0.Vacancy rates decreased over the past year by 4% while rents increased by approximately 7% in supra-regional malls and 3% in regional malls. Although no new retail centers were completed during the second quarter of 2015, an additional 95,000 square meters of retail space is expected to be available in the market during the fourth quarter following the completion of a number of community centers including Boulevard and Rubin Plaza.

Hotel segment

Occupancy rates remained at 67% at the beginning of the year through May, and room rates, which saw a slight year-over-year increase of more than 2% to US$245 during the first five months of 2015, remained relatively stable year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. As a result, RevPAR increased by 3% to US$164. Most of the projects scheduled to open during the first half of 2015 were delayed due to construction delays and a shortage of qualified labor, however, current room supply levels will increase by approximately 50% by the end of 2016 if all announced projects are completed on schedule. The second quarter of 2015 also saw the opening of Sweet Novotel Hotel Apartments and the third quarter is expected to see the completion of 386 rooms at Crowne Plaza ICT Park and 436 rooms at Mövenpick Hotel.

The third quarter is expected to see the completion of 386 rooms at Crowne Plaza ICT Park and 436 rooms at Mövenpick Hotel.