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Saudi Foreign Ownership Law: What Buyers Should Do
Saudi Arabia’s Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis - approved in July 2025 - has been in force since January 2026, and its first months have confirmed the shape of the new market: zone-based foreign ownership, concentrated in areas with established infrastructure in Riyadh, Jeddah, and the giga-project destinations.
What is now in effect
- Foreigners, including non-residents, can buy property inside designated ownership zones defined under the geographic zones framework.
- Foreign residents can own a residential unit under the framework, with ownership outside designated zones limited to one property (excluding Makkah and Madinah).
- Riyadh and Jeddah are open by zone, not city-wide - district-level status determines eligibility.
- Makkah and Madinah remain under a special restricted regime.
Full detail in our 2026 foreign ownership guide.
What it means in practice
Developers marketing to international buyers are now advertising zone eligibility on new launches, and the off-plan pipeline - from ROSHN’s communities to the giga-projects - is the main channel through which foreign money can enter, since new supply is concentrated exactly where the designated zones are.
For buyers, the action list is short:
- Confirm the project’s designated-zone status independently, not just from marketing.
- Verify the Wafi escrow licence before paying anything - the process is unchanged and is covered in our off-plan buying guide.
- If residency is part of your plan, evaluate the Premium Residency real-estate route as a separate application. Property ownership and residency are governed by different criteria, and owning a home does not by itself grant the right to live in the Kingdom.
- Budget the full transfer cost rather than the headline price, including the transaction tax and the disposal fee that applies to non-Saudi owners at exit.
Update: the zones have now been named
The open question when this framework took effect was where, precisely, the designated zones would fall. That was answered in June 2026, when the Council of Ministers approved the executive regulations and endorsed the Geographic Zones Document.
Riyadh received nine zones, all of them flagship developments including King Abdullah Financial District, Diriyah Gate, SEDRA, New Murabba and Qiddiya. Jeddah received considerably broader coverage, with the city centre plus roughly 55 further development zones. Makkah and Madinah have their own named zones under a more restrictive regime for corporate ownership.
The regulations also introduced a disposal fee of up to 5% when a non-Saudi transfers property, and moved applications onto a central digital platform rather than case-by-case approval. Non-resident buyers now need a digital identity issued through a Saudi embassy or consulate, a Saudi bank account and a Saudi contact number before transacting.
Full detail, including what each buyer category is permitted, is in our guide to Saudi Arabia’s designated foreign ownership zones.
We’ll track further zone announcements and new launches as they come - see all Saudi property news and current off-plan projects.
References
Details in this article are drawn from official Saudi regulatory sources (REGA, Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing), current as of August 2026.