Recent data issued by the General Authority for Statistics showed a significant increase in the number of homes occupied by Saudi families during 2024, as their number increased by about 233,000 homes, with a growth rate of 2.7% compared to the previous year, bringing the total to about 4.39 million homes in various regions of the Kingdom.
According to the housing statistics bulletin issued by the authority, housing occupied by Saudi families constituted 50.6% of the total housing occupied by families within the Kingdom, and the number of people living in those housings amounted to about 21.69 million people, with an average family size of 4.9 individuals per family.
Riyadh and Mecca are in the lead
The Riyadh region topped the list of administrative regions in terms of the number of dwellings occupied by Saudi families, with 1.05 million dwellings, representing approximately 241 TP3T of the total. It was followed by the Makkah region with approximately 1.04 million dwellings (23.91 TP3T), and then the Eastern Province with 700,000 dwellings (161 TP3T). The Asir region had 320,800 dwellings, followed by Madinah with 315,200. Regions such as Al-Jawf and the Northern Borders recorded the lowest numbers, with shares not exceeding 21 TP3T.
Number of dwellings occupied by Saudi families across administrative regions
Apartments are the most popular type of housing.
Regarding housing types, statistics revealed that apartments were the most prevalent, accounting for 451 TP3T of all housing units occupied by Saudi families, equivalent to 1.97 million apartments. Villas came in second at 311 TP3T (1.36 million villas), followed by traditional houses at 12.41 TP3T, and then detached houses at 10.81 TP3T. Other housing types represented less than 11 TP3T of the total.
Home ownership and rental
Regarding housing tenure, the data showed that owned housing (whether through mortgages, loans, or otherwise) was concentrated in the Riyadh region at 23.6%, which also led in the percentage of rented housing at 24.5%. Riyadh also had the highest percentage of housing provided by government and private employers, at 36.7%.
At the national level, the ownership of housing occupied by Saudi families was distributed as follows: approximately 2.47 million owned housing units, 1.41 million rented housing units, while the number of housing units provided by employers amounted to 69,700, in addition to 438,700 housing units classified under the “other” category, bringing the total number of housing units in the various categories to 4.39 million housing units.
