Despite the economic volatility witnessed in 2024, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) traded on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) continued to enhance their attractiveness to investors through generous cash distributions, exceeding SAR 902 million, a move that confirms the strength of the Saudi real estate sector and its ability to achieve attractive returns.

Some funds, with a variety of distribution strategies ranging from quarterly to annual, maintained a steady pace of distributions, while 3 funds were completely absent from the scene. With varying distribution strategies between quarterly, half-yearly and yearly, some funds maintained a steady pace of distributions, while 3 funds were absent from the scene altogether.

Recent data revealed that the Saudi real estate sector is robust and capable of generating attractive returns. <Recent data from the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) revealed 17 REITs traded in the Kingdom distributed cash dividends totaling about 902.2 million riyals during 2024. The distribution periods varied between funds that are committed to giving quarterly returns, others prefer semi-annual distribution, while one fund was limited to distributing its profits only annually, namely Al Jazeera REIT.

<On the other hand, three REITs dropped out of the list of distributors during 2024, as they did not make any distributions at all, namely: "MEFIC REIT, SECO Saudi REIT and Arik Investment REIT.

Distributions by periods

7 funds committed to distributing their profits every quarter with a total distribution of 547 million riyals.
9 funds favored semi-annual distributions totaling 351 million riyals.
One fund only distributed an annual dividend of 5 million riyals.
Al Rajhi REIT in the lead
Al Rajhi REIT topped the list of funds with the highest distributions, having distributed about 150.2 million riyals in 2024 through quarterly distributions. In second place was Jadwa REIT Saudi Arabia with distributions amounting to 149.2 million riyals across 4 payments, while Bunyan REIT came third with total distributions of 109.1 million riyals.

SEDCO Capital and Alinma Hotel Development among the top

SEDCO Capital REIT came in fourth place with distributions amounting to SAR 93.5 million during the year, while Alinma Hotel REIT came in fifth place with SAR 65.3 million distributed in two installments, SAR 32.6 million in each installment.

SEDCO Capital REIT came in fourth place with distributions amounting to SAR 93.5 million during the year.

3 funds with no distributions. Aric REIT in the spotlight

The three funds that were absent from the distributions scene in 2024 are MEFIC REIT, SECO Saudi REIT and Arik Investment REIT. <MIFIC REIT last distributed SAR 5.9 million in 2023, while SECO Saudi REIT distributed SAR 8.6 million in 2024 before being discontinued. Investment Arik REIT, which was newly listed in September 2024 with an offering proceeds of SAR 185 million, has yet to make any distributions, despite having assets worth SAR 1.24 billion, with net assets reaching SAR 587 million by the end of the year. Interestingly, ARIC REIT recorded the highest borrowing ratio in the market at 49.62% of total assets, and currently manages 7 different properties.

Growth in total assets despite challenges

At the asset level, the total assets of REITs listed on the Saudi market increased to about SAR 30 billion by the end of 2024, compared to SAR 27.5 billion by the end of 2023, registering an annualized growth of 9.2%.

This growth was driven by the ability of 13 funds to boost their assets during the year, as well as the entry of Arik REIT into the market.