Off Plan Sales in Saudi Arabia: Wafi Rules and Market Data

Off plan sales in Saudi Arabia are lawful only under a licence from REGA's Wafi programme, and that licence is the cheapest underwriting signal in the Kingdom's public record. The Off-Plan Sale and Lease Law took effect on 4 April 2024 (REGA); its Implementing Regulations cap reservation fees at 5% of unit value, lock receipts into per-project escrow, and set a statutory floor on delay compensation (REGA Implementing Regulations, April 2024). In 2023, the latest full official year, Wafi licensed 101,942 units through 434 project licences (REGA, Mar 2024). A licence means escrow, engineering supervision and controlled drawdowns: a bankability screen, not paperwork.

Key figures at a glance

Metric	Value	Scope	As of	Source
Off-plan units licensed	101,942 via 434 licences	National, all property types	FY2023	REGA
Reservation fee cap	5% of unit value	Per licensed project	Regs Art. 10, Apr 2024	REGA
Marketing licence validity	180 days, renewable	Per project	Regs Art. 8, Apr 2024	REGA
Delay compensation floor	2%/year (land); fair market rent (units)	Statutory minimum	Regs Art. 35, Apr 2024	REGA
Construction start deadline	6 months from licence	Every licensed project	Law, from 4 Apr 2024	REGA
Sakani off-plan bookings	580,000+ across 623 projects	National, cumulative	27 Aug 2025	MOMAH
NHC off-plan sales, H1 2024	SAR 13.5bn, 13,000+ units (4x YoY)	NHC only	H1 2024	SPA
Non-Saudi buyer fee load	10% total (5% + up to 5%)	National, zones pending	Law in force 22 Jan 2026	REGA

What the off-plan sales law actually says

The Off-Plan Sale and Lease of Real Estate Projects Law, issued by Council of Ministers Resolution No. 196 dated 04/03/1445 AH, was gazetted on 1 October 2023, took effect on 4 April 2024 and runs to 30 articles covering licensing, registration, escrow and enforcement (REGA; issuing instrument).

Two deadlines carry the law: the authority must decide a complete application within 30 days, with silence counting as approval, and the developer must begin construction within six months of the licence (REGA, Oct 2023). One disciplines the regulator; the other stops licence-banking on unfunded land. A current sales licence has, by construction of the law, cleared a readiness bar.

Why a Wafi licence reads like a loan covenant

Under the Implementing Regulations (April 2024), every licensed project keeps one dedicated escrow account with a unique reference number, denominated in riyals. Article 26 restricts withdrawals to project purposes, cheque or transfer only, no ATM or credit cards; Article 27 makes every withdrawal request clear both the supervising consulting firm and the chartered accountant, through named, signature-registered representatives (REGA Implementing Regulations, Articles 26 and 27). Completion-linked drawdown in all but name, applied to every riyal of buyer money.

A company needs at least 35 out of 100 in REGA's developer evaluation to enter the register; a natural person needs 35 out of 55 and is capped at 5,000 sqm of built-up area per project, three years to complete, and three projects a year (Implementing Regulations, Articles 3, 5 and 12). Late delivery has a statutory floor: at least 2% of sale value per year on developed land, and at least fair market rent, set by an approved valuer, on units (Article 35).

For a fund or lender, this bundles three checks otherwise bought separately: an engineering supervisor, an accountant with a veto over cash, and a regulator that made 1,130 field supervisory visits in 2023, including 475 engineering visits (REGA, Mar 2024). A Wafi-licensed pipeline is pre-underwritten in a way an announced pipeline, giga-projects included, is not.

The sequence a developer actually runs

Wafi will not accept an application until the developer's engineering consultant and certified public accountant, both platform-registered, approve it (REGA e-service). The confirmed order:

Enter the developers' register (the 35-point thresholds above).
Pick one of four licence types: Off-Plan Sales, Scope, or Marketing with or without receiving amounts (REGA e-service).
Market for a maximum of 180 days per licence, renewable, reservation fees capped at 5% of unit value (Regulations, Articles 8 and 10).
Take the decision within 30 days (or deemed approval), open escrow, start construction within six months.

That list is also the buyer's checklist: licence type (marketing "without receiving amounts" means the developer may not take your money), escrow reference number, named consultant and accountant. No seller who lacks all three is selling off-plan legally.

How big are off plan sales in Saudi Arabia?

The Wafi committee's latest full-year release covers 2023: 101,942 units licensed for off-plan sale through 434 project licences, plus 350 developer registration licences, engineering-office qualifications up 22% and accounting-office qualifications up 26% on 2022 (REGA, Mar 2024).

The same release shows a base broadening faster than the finish line. Licences for small and medium projects grew 63% in 2023, adding 3,273 units; 35 display licences covered more than 42,180 units under construction; and completions, up 650% year on year, still totalled 3,640 residential units across 42 projects (REGA, Mar 2024).

Omran calculation (flow ratio, not a completion rate). In 2023, Wafi licensed 101,942 units and recorded 3,640 completions: 101,942 / 3,640 = 28 units entering the licensed pipeline for every unit delivered that year. Different cohorts (units complete years after licensing), so a flow ratio, not a failure rate; but it shows how front-loaded the market is, and why escrow discipline carries the weight. (Both figures: REGA, Mar 2024.)

Distribution is state-led. Sakani reported more than 580,000 cumulative off-plan bookings across 623 projects, listed off-plan supply above 248,000 units and 4.6 million users as of 27 August 2025 (MOMAH). The National Housing Company sold over 13,000 units for SAR 13.5 billion in H1 2024, four times its H1 2023 figure (SPA, 29 Aug 2024), booked SAR 26 billion in FY2024 revenue and carries a 600,000-home mandate to 2030 (AGBI, quoting NHC's CEO, Jan 2025). The demand side is in our Saudi residential market review.

Foreign buyers and the January 2026 ownership law

The Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis entered into force on 22 January 2026; ownership in Makkah and Madinah is restricted to Saudi companies and Muslim individuals, and REGA stated the Geographic Zones Document defining where non-Saudis may buy "will be announced during the first quarter of 2026" (REGA; SPA, 22 Jan 2026).

The fee load is known even where the map is not: non-Saudi transactions carry a total real estate fee of 10%, the 5% disposition tax plus a non-Saudi fee of up to 5% (REGA Q&A, Jul 2025). The announcement does not say how the zones interact with Wafi licensing; until the zones document publishes, that interaction is undefined on the public record. Full mechanics, old regime and new: our foreign property ownership analysis.

Where the official numbers stop

Four things an underwriter would want are missing from the public record, and we say so rather than borrow private survey numbers (sourcing rules: our methodology):

No Wafi aggregates after FY2023. No release for FY2024, FY2025 or H1 2026 volumes as of 28 July 2026.
Off-plan share of total transactions. No Saudi primary source publishes the split; circulating figures trace to unattributed aggregators; we exclude them.
NHC's off-plan market share. A much-repeated claim with no traceable primary attribution; NHC's disclosed sales, above, are the verifiable floor.
Escrow bank roster and penalty schedule. The regulations require per-project disclosure of the escrow bank (Article 24) and set a violations-committee process (Articles 43 to 46), but no aggregated bank list or published fine table exists (REGA Implementing Regulations, April 2024).

The per-project disclosures are the opening: Wafi must publish licence-level detail, so the register can be rebuilt project by project into the dataset the annual releases stopped providing. That is our work. Request the Wafi register dataset or scope a briefing on your target city's licensed pipeline.

FAQ

What is the Wafi programme in Saudi Arabia? REGA's licensing programme for off-plan sale and lease, under the law in force since 4 April 2024, and the only lawful route to selling off-plan. In 2023 it issued 434 project licences covering 101,942 units, plus 350 developer registration licences (REGA).

How does escrow work for off-plan sales in Saudi Arabia? One dedicated riyal escrow account per project, unique reference number. Withdrawals are for project purposes only, by cheque or transfer, each approved by both the consulting firm and the chartered accountant (Regulations, Articles 26 and 27).

Can foreigners buy off-plan property in Saudi Arabia? The non-Saudi ownership law took effect on 22 January 2026, with a 10% total fee and Makkah/Madinah restricted to Saudi companies and Muslim individuals. The Geographic Zones Document was due in Q1 2026 per REGA; its interaction with Wafi licensing is not yet spelled out.

Sources

REGA, Wafi platform (Resolution 196): link
REGA, 30-day/6-month rules (Oct 2023): link
REGA, law in force 4 Apr 2024, 30 articles: link
REGA, Implementing Regulations (Apr 2024): link
REGA, licence e-service (approvals, four licence types): link
REGA / Wafi Committee, 2023 statistics: link
MOMAH, Sakani statistics (27 Aug 2025): link
SPA, NHC H1 2024 sales: link
AGBI, NHC FY2024 revenue and mandate: link
REGA, non-Saudi law in force (22 Jan 2026): link
SPA, Geographic Zones Document statement: link
REGA, non-Saudi ownership Q&A (10% fee): link