imported 2024-03-17 17:43:07
“Those big infrastructure projects that are catering to a growing economy suggest that demand on air travel and traveling between various parts of Saudi Arabia is going to grow. The government recognized that and has put aside many billions of dollars to improve its international airports and its local airports,” says Dr. Ahmed Sindi, General Manager of SATCO.
“Saudi Arabia has a bright future. There is a lot of expansion going on. The government is spending a lot of money, especially in the western areas of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah and the King Abdullah Economic City,” says Dr Mohammed A. Al-Ajlan, CEO of Ra-yek Real Estate.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and oil are some of the oldest synonyms in contemporary history. But the kingdom has more to offer than black gold, and the government in Riyadh is working tenaciously to diversify the economy. “If you compare it by GDP, oil represents 85 percent in Saudi Arabia,” says Abdulrahim Al-Zamil, Chairman of the multi-industry conglomerate Zamil Group.
Saudi Arabia is the 19th world’s largest economy and the biggest economy in the MENA region. The country is the world’s largest exporter of oil, with an estimated 8,865,000 barrels of oil per day production. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 92.5% of budget revenues, 55% of GDP, and 90% of export earnings.
Despite Western media relentlessly branding Saudi Arabia an archaic, backwards-oriented Islamic monarchy, the kingdom has done bold steps which aim to get its population back to work by diversifying its energy-oriented economy, empowering women to study work and by embracing the digital age like few other Arab countries.
“The Saudi market is currently facing a very short supply of real estate properties, which will fuel the demand over the next few years. The gap we need to fill about 1.2 million units over the next 5 years, which shows you the size of our inventory and the potential for growth within the market,” says Majed Al Hogail, Managing Director of Rafal Real Estate Development Co.
“The question is whether the residential prices are affordable. Currently with the prices as they are, there is a huge difference between property prices and people’s income… Over the last 3 or 4 years, the pricing acceleration was quite aggressive so I do not think we shall see much higher prices,” says Majed Al Hogail, Managing Director of Rafal Real Estate Development Co.
“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.
“In the real estate market in Saudi in the last three to four years, the prices doubled or tripled. As you know, the population growth in the country is becoming very high. This is one of the reasons that suddenly the government realized there is high demand for land, or in other words, a high housing demand,” explains Mohammad Al Saja, Chairman of Mizat Development Company.
Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil, Chairman of Zamil Group
Without any hesitation I can tell you that doing business in Saudi Arabia is the easiest of all of these countries. Easy business doesn’t mean only government procedures.
