Saudi property index up 1.3% as land prices offset falling villa values

The Saudi real estate price index rose 1.3% in the year to Q2 2026, and land prices did nearly all of the lifting. Residential plots went up 6.3%, to the highest level in the series. Villa prices fell 9.7% over the same year.

Land of all kinds makes up 70.62% of GASTAT's weights (GASTAT, Q2 2026), so plot prices set the direction of the headline. The release gives no price per square metre, no city figures and no count of deals.

Key figures at a glance

What the index measures

REPI tracks the prices of registered sales, quarter by quarter, against a 2023 base of 100. It covers three sectors, eight property types and 13 administrative regions. GASTAT's methodology report, last updated 14 April 2025, defines the unit as "the registered real estate transaction" (GASTAT). Unsold listings and valuations are left out. Records come in weekly from the Real Estate General Authority and the Ministry of Justice, the same data behind REGA's real estate indicators platform.

Each weight is "the ratio of the total value of transactions for one real estate type to the total value of transactions for all real estate types in the base year". Villas carry 10.455% because they were about a tenth of the money traded in 2023. That says nothing about their share of the housing stock.

Land up, villas down

Residential plots reached 107.65 in Q2 2026 and villas fell to 94.89 (GASTAT, Q2 2026). Plots outweigh villas by more than four to one, so the plot gain wins.

Omran estimate. Weighting each component's change from Q2 2025 by GASTAT's own weights, the three land lines added +2.19 points against a published move of +1.34. Built property pulled the index down. Across the 18 quarters with a published annual change, land moved the headline more than built property in 16 of 18.

Rents and building costs tell a different story from villa sale prices. In the July 2026 CPI, villa rents were up 2.65% on a year earlier and apartment rents 5.02% (CPI). Construction costs rose 2.26% over the year to July 2026 (CCI). A feasibility model that applies +1.3% to land, cost and exit price alike will get all three wrong. Our Saudi residential market piece covers demand.

Omran estimate. Splitting the index into its land and built parts, our land index stands at 109.38 in Q2 2026, up 2.9%, a series high. Our built-property index stands at 99.52, down 3.0%, its fourth annual fall in a row.

Three official figures for 2025

GASTAT's annual-average change for 2025 is +2.0% (GASTAT). The Ministry of Finance reports that "the average Real Estate Price Index (REPI) increased by 2.9% until Q3 of FY2025" (MoF FY2026). That figure compares the first three quarters with the same three quarters of 2024, so it covers nine months only. Q4 2025 on its own showed -0.7% on a year earlier, the first negative annual reading in the series.

The central bank uses a longer window: "as of 2024, the real estate index has increased by 20.8 percent since 2021" (SAMA). When you quote the index, give the window.

The current method was introduced in Q3 2024. In Q1 2024, on the old 2014 base, the basket was 96.64% land and villas carried 0.40% (GASTAT, pre-revision tables). The new index gives villas real weight, though it dropped the old breakdown of each property type by region.

What GASTAT does not publish

• Prices. The Q2 2026 bulletin and workbook contain no SAR and no square metres. For a price per sqm, use transaction records such as SREM.
• Sample sizes. GASTAT promises "a minimum number of transactions within each stratum" but never says how many. The Eastern Province swung from +6.9% in Q1 2026 to -2.5% in Q2 2026.
• Cities. The 13 regions are the finest level, and the Riyadh region includes towns well outside the capital. Each region is set to 100 in its own 2023, so levels cannot be compared between regions. Al Baha at 77.91 sits 22% below its own base and Riyadh at 115.98 sits 16% above its own. Our regional series goes further.
• Rents and seasonal adjustment. The five-year Riyadh rent freeze in force since 25 September 2025 will never appear here (REGA).

Policy is aimed squarely at land. MOMRAH said on 8 June 2026 that more than 16 million sqm of developed but unbuilt white land had been registered across 21 Riyadh neighbourhoods for the second phase of the white land fees (MOMRAH). This index will register the effect as a price change.

Omran rebuilds these series from GASTAT's workbooks, REGA, Ejar, Ministry of Justice records and SAMA (see our map of Saudi public property data). Ask for the REPI tables with our land and built-property split.

FAQ

Is the REPI a house price index? Not really. Land carries most of the weight, so it behaves more like a land index with housing attached.

Does GASTAT publish a Riyadh city index? No. The Riyadh region index, which takes in Al Kharj and Al Majma'ah, reads 115.98 in Q2 2026, up 4.2% on a year earlier.

What does the index say a square metre costs? Nothing. It measures price change, not price levels.

Sources

• GASTAT, REPI Q2 2026 release page: link
• GASTAT, REPI Q2 2026 tables (levels, rates, weights, regions): link
• GASTAT, REPI Q2 2026 bulletin (headline and villa prose): link
• GASTAT, REPI methodology and quality report (unit, weights, Laspeyres, 2021 restatement): link
• GASTAT, REPI Q1 2026 bulletin ("published starting from Q3 of 2024"): link
• GASTAT, REPI Q3 2024 tables (first post-revision vintage, weights column): link
• GASTAT, REPI Q4 2025 tables (third vintage in the back-revision test): link
• GASTAT, pre-revision REPI tables Q1 2024, 2014 base (96.64% land, ten types): link
• GASTAT, CPI July 2026 tables (villa, apartment and imputed rents): link
• GASTAT, Construction Cost Index July 2026 (+2.26% YoY): link
• Ministry of Finance, Budget Statement FY2026 (REPI +2.9% through Q3 FY2025): link
• Ministry of Finance, Budget Statement FY2025 (the four lines that identify the method): link
• Saudi Central Bank, Financial Stability Report 2025, Box 2.1 (+20.8% since 2021): link
• REGA, Riyadh five-year rent freeze, effective 25 September 2025: link
• MOMRAH, White Land Program, Riyadh registrations (8 June 2026): link