Omnia MarketsMarket data · Saudi Arabia · Riyadh
Average house price in Riyadh rent growth slows a year after freeze.
A year after the freeze, average house price in Riyadh sale bands still sit apart from rents that Asharq Al-Awsat put up 4.5 per cent year on year in August 2026, the slowest pace in more than three years.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported in Arabic on 4 November 2026 that a year after Riyadh’s rent controls took effect, residential rent growth slowed to 4.5 per cent year on year in August 2026, the lowest rise in more than three years. Rent took about 15 per cent of household income against more than 17.5 per cent a year earlier, the paper said, citing analysis of General Authority for Statistics data and comments from Abdullah Al-Hammad of the Real Estate General Authority.
The rules were approved on 25 September 2025 and took effect on 7 November 2025 for five years, freezing annual rent rises on residential and commercial property inside Riyadh’s urban boundary. Kingdom-wide housing-related inflation eased to 3.9 per cent in August from 4.2 per cent in July. National rental deals rose to about 446.3 thousand in August from 325.2 thousand a year earlier, up 37 per cent, with value at 10.62 billion riyals. Whether Riyadh has reached a lasting balance is not yet settled.
From the JournalRiyadh vs Jeddah: where to live, and what changes by neighbourhood.Our take
Omnia Desk
The freeze is a year old; sale prices still need their own check.
This tape is about rents under the five-year freeze, not the average house price in Riyadh on freehold sales. Our Riyadh and Jeddah property price growth in 2026 still frames sale values from the 2025 run, with Riyadh apartments about 10.6 per cent higher year on year in Q2 2025. Softer rent growth does not rewrite those sale bands or the foreign-ownership path that opened on 22 January 2026.
For anyone weighing stock we sell, from Khayala by Al Majdiah escrow off-plan entry points to completed Sadu by Al Majdiah, treat this as a post-freeze settling phase on leases. It does not move Wafi stage-pay rules or freehold maps. Check the lease clause and the sale comparable separately.
Sources
About Omnia Markets- 1Asharq Al-Awsat (Arabic) · 4 November 2026عامٌ على وقف الزيادات في الرياض... السوق تختبر توازناً جديداً(opens in a new tab)
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