Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 real estate and infrastructure projects top US$ 1.1 trillion
The ambitious Saudi vision 2030 has seen continued investment as demand for real estate increases.
3 minutes to read
With over 555,000 residential units, more than 275,000 hotel keys, in excess of 4.3 million sqm of retail space and over 6.1 million sqm of new office space expected by 2030, as part of the vision 2030 project.
The planned construction in the Kingdom will make Saudi Arabia the largest construction site the world has ever known.
Harmen de Jong, head of Real Estate Strategy & Consulting, Saudi Arabia, commented: "We are currently tracking 15 giga projects in various phases of construction around the Kingdom, many of which are new stand-alone super-cities in their own right. NEOM remains the largest giga-project announced to date, and it has been recently publicised that it will house nine million residents on completion across an estimated 300,000 new homes. However, just US$ 7.5 billion of sub projects have been commissioned thus far, with construction progress of this tranche of projects standing at 29%."
NEOM, the new City being constructed in Saudi Arabia, aims to meaningfully embracing sustainability in a resource hungry region.
Sub-cities like The Octagon, Trojena and The Line will set new benchmarks for luxury living in the region and with close to 30% of home-owners in Saudi prepared to spend upwards of US$ 800,000 on a second home in the Kingdom, developers have their work cut out to satisfy this pent-up demand.
Riyadh - a global hub
Away from NEOM, as part of the 2030 vision, the US$ 20 billion Diriyah Gate is one of the Kingdom’s projects. The city-sized historic district of Diriyah will add 20,000 homes to Riyadh’s residential stock by the time it is completed in 2027. We estimate that 46% of construction has been completed on the US$ 5 billion spent so far.
In a recent survey of 1,000 households across Saudi Arabia, Diriyah Gate was named as the third most popular giga project amongst Saudi respondents as a place to own a home, behind the Red Sea Project (2nd) and NEOM (1st).
Riyadh itself is poised to undergo explosive growth, with the population projected to close in on 17 million by 2030, up from around 7.5 million today.
To meet this ambitious growth target, the city has itself seen real estate projects worth US$ 104 billion unveiled over the last six years. There are for a a new international airport worth US$ 147 billion, details of which are expected soon.
The new international airport accounts for close to 74% of the US$ 200 billion nationwide infrastructure spend.
Sustainability is a key theme for Riyadh too, citing recent plans for the 10 square kilometre ALNAMA Smart City, which will be the capital’s first zero-carbon city, housing some 44,000 people when completed.
Indeed, with Grade A office occupancy levels across the city hovering at around 97%, the planned development of a further 2.8 million sqm of office space couldn’t come sooner.
The city is also attracting a huge number of internal migrants and with readily available support to get on the housing ladder, house prices are rising rapidly and currently stand some 26% higher than this time last year.
Wellbeing at development core
Wellbeing is a high priority for the Kingdom’s residents through the improvement and provision of urban environments. This includes the US$ 500 million Riyadh Sports Boulevard as well as the US$ 23 billion ‘Green Riyadh’ which will transform the Saudi capital through the planting of 7.5 million trees.
Elsewhere, Dammam’s 650,000 sqm Amanat Al Sharqiya project will see the revitalisation of the city’s corniche.
And this emphasis on wellbeing extends to the 19,000 hospital beds planned, which is set to cost US$ 13.8 billion, US$ 8.6 billion of which is planned for Riyadh Province alone. Furthermore, over 80 new educational institutions are being built at a cost of US$ 82 billion, de Jong concluded.
For more information, please contact Faisal Durrani.