Saudi Arabia's new property register: which areas it covers so far

Saudi Arabia's new property register now covers 1,257 areas in 107 cities. That is what the Real Estate Registry's public announcement feed listed when we read it on 29 August 2026 (Real Estate Registry). They sit in 10 of the Kingdom's 13 regions.

The Registry's spokesman put the programme at more than 4.9 million properties announced on 11 July 2026. By then 1.8 million ownership deeds had been issued (Al-Madina).

Inside an announced area, the register is the proof of ownership and the old deed is only the way in. Outside one, the old system still applies in full, under clause Second of Royal Decree M/91 (Umm Al-Qura).

Key figures at a glance

What the registry replaces, and where the deed still applies

The Real Estate Registration Law was approved by Royal Decree M/91 and published on 13 May 2022. Under Article 40 it came into force 90 days later, on 11 August 2022 (Umm Al-Qura). It cancels nothing. Any property outside an announced area stays under the older system, so the Kingdom now runs two title systems side by side.

Inside an announced area the rules change. Under Article 4(1) the register is conclusive evidence of ownership, open to challenge only for clerical error or forgery. Under Article 13, a later sale or other disposal has no effect until it is registered. Article 14 applies the same rule to leases of ten years or more.

To get in, an owner needs an updated electronic Ministry of Justice deed (Article 8(1)). First registration is free under Article 34. So which regime applies to an asset depends on where it sits on the map. That includes buyers coming in through the non-Saudi ownership regime.

Where the registry has reached so far

On 29 August 2026, ten regions had at least one announced area. 336 areas were inside an open window and 921 had closed. Jazan, Najran and Al Bahah had none. All three appear in the Registry's own list of regions, so the rollout has not reached them yet.

Source: Real Estate Registry announcement feed. Last checked 29 August 2026.

A count of areas says little about size. The nine areas announced in Umluj hold 43 parcels between them (Saudi Press Agency). The sixth area in Riyadh holds 157,738 (Umm Al-Qura). One area in Hail city covers 104 districts.

Announcements also come in batches: areas share an opening and closing date, and there are 55 such pairs so far. The biggest batch was 2 August 2026, when 248 areas opened in a single day, 19.7% of the total so far. Riyadh region dominated it, with 230 of the 248.

A second endpoint with a similar name returns only nine rows, all from that August batch (Registry). Use it by mistake and you will report that Saudi Arabia has announced nine areas.

Owners get 95 days to file

Each announced area gives owners a fixed period to file. The Registry's spokesman describes it as 90 days (Al-Jazirah, 22 December 2025), and an October 2025 REGA release said the same. The published start and end dates say otherwise. 1,228 of the 1,257 areas have a 95-day window. The rest run 94, 92 or 88 days, and one runs 64.

This matters because Article 35(5) allows a fine of up to SAR 100,000 for missing the window. A calendar built on 90 days closes every window five days early.

Matching the right area matters too. The area ids are not in order: in Riyadh, id 100000 is the first area, 100009 the second and 100002 the third.

Announced does not mean registered

On 11 July 2026 the Registry gave both numbers together: more than 4.9 million properties announced, and 1.8 million deeds issued (Al-Madina). An announcement invites owners to file within the window. A deed comes months later, and only if the owner filed. The first figure is often quoted as if it were the second.

Omran estimate: take-up. 1.8 million deeds against more than 4.9 million properties announced gives a take-up of about 37%. On 22 December 2025 the spokesman gave three figures: 4 million announced, more than 1.2 million deeds, and more than 350,000 properties with absolute conclusiveness (Al-Jazirah). On that date, the share of announced properties with title that can no longer be challenged was under 9%. The Registry does not publish a take-up rate. Both ratios are ours, worked from figures it gave on the same day.

The ratio also mixes units. The gazette counts land parcels, while the Registry counts properties and deeds. A subdivided building is one parcel but many properties, so the 37% compares properties with deeds, not with parcels.

For transaction volumes, use the Ministry of Justice transaction record or the REGA indicators platform. The registry records who owns what. It does not count sales.

December 2025: a shorter deadline and less public data

Royal Decree M/123, published in Umm Al-Qura on 12 December 2025 (issue 5129, page 18), changed two things (Umm Al-Qura). It changed when title becomes final, and it took owners' names off the public lists.

Under the 2022 text, title became final "after the lapse of a year" from publication of the owner lists. The amended text says "within a period not exceeding one year" from publication of the lists of properties registered in rem. The exact period is set in each area's announcement decision. One year is now the ceiling, so assuming a year everywhere will be wrong wherever REGA has set less.

The period also starts later than most people assume. It runs from publication of that list, once first registration is complete. The close of the window does not start it (Umm Al-Qura). Window dates are in the feed. We could not find list publication dates anywhere.

Amended Article 9 limits the published lists to the property number, location, area and planning data. Amended Article 6 closes the register to data on the holders of the rights. The 2022 regulations had required the lists to show owners and the last four digits of each owner's ID number. REGA presents the change as protecting rights and improving data quality (REGA, 26 November 2025).

For a lender or buyer, the two changes pull in opposite directions. Title is stronger, and in some areas it becomes final sooner. But an outsider can no longer check who owns a parcel from the public record. That check now has to happen inside the deal, using the seller's own documents, and it adds to the cost of due diligence.

Riyadh city has switched over

On 12 May 2026 REGA said every real-estate area inside Riyadh's urban boundary had been announced and the city's digital cadastral map was complete (REGA). Seven days later, REGA and the Ministry of Justice moved all Riyadh city dealings onto the registry. That covers transfers, subdivisions and mergers, unit partitions, deed updates, mortgages, waqf and will restrictions, and off-plan licence notes (REGA and Ministry of Justice, 19 May 2026).

The handover was already in the area decisions by August 2024: both bodies register deals during the window, and the Ministry stops when it closes (Umm Al-Qura). On 28 July 2026 the Council of Ministers approved moving notarisation from the Ministry to REGA (REGA).

Omran estimate: how much land is covered. Adding up all 1,257 published boundaries gives 282,373 sq km, roughly 13% of the Kingdom's land area. Most of it is empty ground. We tested the method against the fourteen areas whose size is printed in the gazette (Umm Al-Qura); twelve came within 1% of the published figure.

Omran estimate: parcels per square kilometre in urban areas. The same fourteen decisions also give parcel counts: 662,742 parcels across 1,850 sq km, or 358 per sq km on average. It applies to urban areas only, which is how all fourteen are classified. Desert areas are about 380 times sparser: the nine Umluj areas cover 45.98 sq km and hold 43 parcels.

That makes the one published target hard to read. The Registry aims to cover 80% of the Kingdom by 2028 (Al-Jazirah), but does not say whether that means properties, parcels, land or population. By land area, the boundaries above put coverage at roughly 13%.

The pace is easier to measure: the feed shows 1,257 areas in 39 months, yet three regions still have none and Asir only arrived in April 2026, adding 2.3 sq km. Even Riyadh, the one city that has finished, took three years from its first area to its full urban boundary.

Omran rebuilds this table from the Registry's feed, area by area, and dates every row with the day it was last checked. It sits alongside our wider map of Saudi real-estate data sources. Ask for the coverage table for the regions or cities you cover.

FAQ

Is my Saudi deed still valid? Yes, outside an announced area. Clause Second of Royal Decree M/91 keeps the pre-2022 system wherever the registry has not started. Inside an announced area the deed becomes the way into the registry, and Article 8(1) requires an updated electronic Ministry of Justice deed.

How do I check whether a parcel is in an announced area, and by when must I act? The Registry publishes every announced area with its boundary and window dates: 1,257 areas as at 29 August 2026, 336 of them open that day. The window is 95 days for 97.7% of areas. Missing it can cost a fine of up to SAR 100,000 under Article 35(5).

When does registry title become final? Since the 12 December 2025 amendment, within a period of no more than one year from publication of that area's list of registered properties. The exact period is set in the area's announcement decision. Before the amendment it was a flat year everywhere. After it has run, someone with a claim can seek compensation but cannot have the registration cancelled.

Can I look up who owns a registered parcel? No. Royal Decree M/123 amended Article 6 to keep owner data out of public view, and Article 9 so the published lists show only the property number, location, area and planning data. The 2022 regulations had required owner names and the last four digits of their ID numbers.

How many Saudi properties have been registered? More than 1.8 million deeds as at 11 July 2026, against more than 4.9 million properties announced. Both figures come from the Registry's spokesman. The deed count was 1.2 million in December 2025 and 1.56 million in March 2026, given in interviews rather than in a dated statistical release. Properties with final, unchallengeable title were last counted at more than 350,000, in December 2025.

Sources

• Real Estate Registry, announcement feed (areas, regions, cities, windows, boundary polygons), read 29 Aug 2026: link
• Real Estate Registry, second announcement endpoint returning nine rows: link
• Umm Al-Qura, Royal Decree M/91 (clause Second, the two-system rule): link
• Umm Al-Qura, Real Estate Registration Law (Articles 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 34, 35, 40): link
• Umm Al-Qura, executive regulations (publication of the lists and their former contents): link
• Umm Al-Qura issue 5129, Royal Decree M/123 of 12 Dec 2025 (Articles 6, 9, 11(2)): link
• Umm Al-Qura, founding batch of seven areas, 8 Dec 2023 (parcel counts and areas used in the polygon and density tests): link
• Umm Al-Qura, Riyadh area decisions of 26 Apr and 11 Jun 2024 (areas 14 and 15: parcel counts and km² used in the polygon and density tests): link and link
• Umm Al-Qura, Riyadh area decisions of 30 Aug 2024 (areas 26 to 30, and the notarisation handover clause): link
• REGA, announcements index (batch parcel counts and windows, 2024 to 2026): link
• REGA, December 2025 amendments explained, 26 Nov 2025: link
• REGA, Riyadh city areas fully announced, 12 May 2026: link
• REGA and Ministry of Justice, Riyadh dispositions confined to the registry, 19 May 2026: link
• REGA, notarisation services transferred from the Ministry of Justice, 28 Jul 2026: link
• Al-Jazirah, Real Estate Registry spokesman (4 million announced, 1.2 million deeds, 350,000 conclusive, the 90-day description, 80% by 2028), 22 Dec 2025: link
• Al-Madina, Real Estate Registry spokesman (4.9 million announced, 1.8 million deeds), 11 Jul 2026: link
• Okaz, Real Estate Registry spokesman (1.56 million deeds, Mar 2026; 1.7 million properties registered, Jun 2026): link and link
• Mubasher, Real Estate Registry spokesman on Al-Ekhbariya (4.7 million announced, 10 regions), 9 Apr 2026: link
• Saudi Press Agency, Umluj (43 parcels across nine announced areas): link