Saudi Arabia’s Land Is Too Expensive, Real Estate Is Overvalued

“The land is too expensive. Land should be a maximum of 30% of the unit cost but in Saudi it is nearing 50%. Land is available but it’s too expensive,” says Mohammad Al Saja, Chairman of Mizat Development Company.

“There is cheaper land in the suburbs or outside of the cities but there are no services or utilities so you can’t use it. That is why there is a demand. Many people cannot understand why there is such a demand in Saudi Arabia with this large country. I was in Istanbul last week; the population of Istanbul is 13 million and in Riyadh there are 5 to 6 million but it’s almost the same size crowd in the evening rush hour. What will happen in Riyadh when the population is 10 million or more?”