Saudis pitch trillion-dollar property boom to global investors

A reported US$1.7 trillion construction drive took centre stage at Europe’s largest property fair in October, where the Kingdom unveiled flagship Vision 2030 projects and confirmed sweeping reforms to open its real estate market to foreign buyers

Saudi Arabia rolled into Europe’s biggest property fair with a building spree worth US$1.7 trillion — and a promise that foreigners will soon be able to buy into it. At October’s Expo Real in Munich, the Kingdom’s investment body set out a raft of major projects tied to its Vision 2030 plan to overhaul the economy and draw in global investment.

Delegates from the Ministry of Investment joined developers including Diriyah Company, Ajdan Real Estate Development Company and the Smart Accommodation for Residential Complexes Company, or sarcc, for three days of meetings and panel sessions.

The biggest showcase was Diriyah, a US$63.2 billion (£50 billion) developmenSarcc, backed byt outside Riyadh billed as the Kingdom’s cultural capital. Built around the UNESCO World Heritage site of At-Turaif, it will stretch across 14 square kilometres with plans for more than 21,000 homes, over 40 hotels, 1.6 million square metres of office space, nine museums, a 20,000-seat arena and a new opera house. Officials say it will create 178,000 jobs and add US$18.6 billion (£15 billion) a year to GDP, with visitor numbers projected to hit 50 million annually by 2030.

Contracts worth US$5 billion (about £3.9 billion) were awarded in the first half of this year alone, with parts of the site — including the Bujairi Terrace dining district and the Zallal mixed-use precinct — already open. British, French, Italian and Norwegian architects are involved in the design, while training links have been agreed with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and London Business School.

Recognition by TIME magazine’s TIME100 Most Influential Companies (2025) has helped underline Diriyah’s global profile.

But not all of the projects on show were state-led. Ajdan Real Estate, a private developer from Al Khobar, marked its first appearance in Munich with its INFINITI scheme on the Arabian Gulf. The waterfront development, covering around 45,500 square metres, combines three residential towers with retail and leisure venues. By completion, INFINITI will provide 486 homes. (Ajdan has not published confirmed investment value, resident/job projections, or sales-velocity data, so those details have been removed.)

Sarcc, backed by the Public Investment Fund, also made its Expo Real debut. Tasked with raising living standards in workforce housing, the company showcased its US$667 million (£540 million) acquisition of the Al Nakhla Residential Resort in Riyadh. The resort covers 260,000 square metres and includes 1,136 villas and apartments, 23 swimming pools and landscaped grounds. Around 2,000 people already live there, supported by 300 staff, and in September sarcc signed a deal with catering and logistics giant Tamimi Global to explore further expansion.

The announcement comes only weeks before the Kingdom introduces its most sweeping property market reforms in decades. From January 2026, new legislation known as ‘The Law of Real Estate Ownership’ will, for the first time, permit foreign individuals and companies to purchase residential, commercial, industrial and even agricultural real estate in designated zones across the Kingdom.

The move is designed to stimulate foreign direct investment and deepen international participation in a market long considered one of the most closed in the region. Officials say the change, combined with preparations for Riyadh Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup, will unlock unprecedented investment and cement the Kingdom’s role as a global real estate hotspot.

“The Kingdom continues to redefine urban development with world-class destinations and awe-inspiring projects,” Fahad Al Hashem, Deputy Assistant Minister of Investment Development at the Ministry of Investment, said. “The new foreign ownership law is a landmark development set to deepen investor appetite.”

The Kingdom first revealed the financial scale of its construction drive at MIPIM 2024 in Cannes, where officials set out a pipeline running through to 2030.

Delegates gathered in the French resort from 11–14 March to court the global real estate community and attract foreign investment, with the Ministry of Culture, Diriyah Company and New Murabba among those attending.

READ MORE: ‘Dar Global unveils $1bn Trump Plaza Jeddah in second Saudi venture with Trump Organization‘. The Trump Organization has signed its second Saudi venture with London-listed developer Dar Global, agreeing a $1bn project in Jeddah that will combine residences, offices and leisure space around a “Central Park-style” green spine

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