Who are the biggest real estate developers in Saudi Arabia?
National Housing Company is the largest real estate developer in Saudi Arabia by its own figures. Dar Al Arkan is the largest among developers with audited accounts.
National Housing Company is the largest developer in Saudi Arabia by its own figures, and Dar Al Arkan is the largest among those with audited accounts. NHC also holds more live off-plan licences than anyone on the regulator's register. The companies that build the most publish no audited accounts at all.
Key figures
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest listed developer by revenue | Dar Al Arkan, SAR 3.90bn | FY2025 | Annual report |
| Six audited listed developers, combined revenue | SAR 12.72bn | FY2025 | Omran sum of issuer filings |
| NHC revenue, company statement (not audited) | SAR 26bn | FY2024 | AGBI, quoting NHC's CEO |
| Live licensed off-plan projects | 744, held by 381 entities | 30 Aug 2026 | REGA Wafi register, Omran count |
| Live projects at 0% construction | 398 of 611 that publish a rate | 30 Aug 2026 | REGA Wafi register, Omran count |
The listed developers are smaller than they look
Six listed developers published audited FY2025 accounts, and together they booked SAR 12.72 billion of revenue. Dar Al Arkan leads with SAR 3.90 billion, down from SAR 3.93 billion in 2022.
The table mixes different businesses, though. Umm Al Qura, second, made all of its 2022 and 2023 revenue selling land plots on one site in Makkah. Taiba earns 72% of its revenue from hotels, and Alandalus is a shopping-centre landlord. Only Dar Al Arkan and Retal look like developers in the sense a home buyer means.
Retal is the one growing fast. Its revenue more than doubled between 2021 and 2025, and it builds homes under contract for NHC and ROSHN, including a SAR 5.2 billion agreement for 4,839 units at Al Fursan in Riyadh.
On the off-plan register, NHC comes first
Wafi is the regulator's register of off-plan projects, the ones sold before they are built. REGA does not publish totals, so we counted every page on 30 August 2026: 744 live licensed projects, held by 381 entities.
NHC holds 20 licences, followed by Dar Al Majed with 16 and ROSHN with 14. Most holders are small, with 249 entities holding exactly one licence. Of the six listed developers, only Retal and Al Akaria appear on the live register at all.
Dar Al Arkan is the odd case. It recognised SAR 1,801 million of off-plan revenue in 2025 but held no live Wafi licence in August 2026. Expired licences or subsidiary names could explain it, and the register alone cannot tell us which.
The biggest players file no accounts
NHC's chief executive put its 2024 revenue at SAR 26 billion. NHC does not publish audited accounts. Taken at face value, the figure is about twice what the six listed developers booked together in 2025.
ROSHN publishes no revenue, assets or unit count, so its 14 Wafi licences are the only public measure of its size. Diriyah Company reports contracts and investments above SAR 4.9 billion signed in the first half of 2026. It publishes no accounts either.
Most licensed projects have not started
Of the 611 live projects that report construction progress, 398 stand at 0%. Many licences are recent: 509 of the 744 started on or after 18 November 2025, when REGA launched instant licensing.
The 2023 figures from REGA tell the same story. Wafi licensed 101,942 off-plan units that year and recorded 3,640 completed homes. The two numbers cover different groups of projects, so they do not give a completion rate. The gap is still large. More on this in off-plan sales in Saudi Arabia and Saudi giga-projects.
Outlook
The filings show who earns the most. The Wafi register shows who is launching projects now. We hold the counted register by developer and city, matched against every audited filing in the sector. Ask for the developer register extract.
FAQ
Who is the biggest real estate developer in Saudi Arabia? National Housing Company, on its stated SAR 26 billion of 2024 revenue and its 20 live Wafi licences. Among developers with audited accounts, Dar Al Arkan is largest at SAR 3.90 billion of FY2025 revenue.
How many off-plan developers are licensed in Saudi Arabia? On 30 August 2026 the Wafi register listed 1,204 active developer qualifications and 744 live off-plan projects held by 381 entities, by our count.
Does a Wafi licence mean the project is being built? Not necessarily. Of the 611 live projects that publish a progress rate, 398 stand at 0%.
Sources
- Dar Al Arkan, Annual Report 2025 (revenue, assets, off-plan revenue, geography): link
- Umm Al Qura, investor relations key figures (FY2024 and FY2025): link
- CMA, Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction prospectus (audited FY2021-FY2023, land bank, revenue composition): link
- Retal Urban Development, Integrated Annual Report 2025 (accounts, portfolio, NHC and ROSHN contracts): link
- Saudi Real Estate Company (Al Akaria), consolidated financial statements 2025: link
- Taiba Investments, board of directors report 2025: link
- Alandalus Property, consolidated financial statements 2025: link
- REGA, Wafi off-plan sales and lease platform, developer and project registers (counted by Omran, 30 August 2026): link
- REGA, Wafi licences in 2023 (101,942 units licensed, 3,640 completed): link
- REGA, instant licensing service for off-plan projects (18 November 2025): link
- AGBI, National Housing Company 2024 revenue as stated by its CEO: link
- National Housing Company, about page (delivery mandate): link
- MOMRAH, Sakani bookings and projects (27 August 2025): link
- ROSHN Group, about page: link
- PIF portfolio page for ROSHN, Internet Archive capture of 28 March 2026: link
- Diriyah Company newsroom, H1 2026 contracts and investments: link
- GASTAT on DataSaudi, construction sector: link
- GASTAT on DataSaudi, real estate activities sector: link