Saudi Arabia Opens Its Property Market To Foreigners As Vision 2030 Deepens
Saudi Arabia is getting ready to do something it has never done before: let foreigners buy homes and land almost anywhere in the country.
From 2026, non-Saudis will be able to own apartments, villas and commercial property in new “investment zones”, while long-term expats can hold a home outside those areas. Only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina will keep tight religious rules.
On paper, this is about Vision 2030: turning an oil state into a place that lives off services, tourism and private business. In practice, it is also a race against time. Saudi Arabia has a young population that needs jobs and affordable housing.
At the same time, it is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on showpiece projects and needs foreign money to make them real.
Laheq Island on the Red Sea is the glossy shop window. Designed by star architects and built by a sovereign-wealth-fund developer, it will offer more than 700 luxury homes, hotels, a marina and a golf course.
Apartments start around 5.5 million riyals ($1.5 million), with villas far higher. The message to wealthy buyers in Hong Kong, Singapore, India and China is simple: this is “the next Dubai”, but still cheaper.
Future of Saudi Urban Projects
Behind the marketing, the picture is more complicated. Housing prices and rents in Riyadh have jumped so fast that the government froze rent increases for several years.
NEOM’s futuristic “Line” city has already been scaled back, with construction focused on a short stretch and big write-downs at the public investment fund.
Human-rights groups and environmental researchers warn about displaced communities and fragile Red Sea ecosystems. For expats and investors, the question is not only whether prices go up.
It is whether these places become real cities, with jobs, schools and ordinary families, or stay as polished enclaves for global elites.
If Saudi Arabia manages to use foreign capital to build something lasting and productive, it will strengthen a more open, rules-based model in a troubled region. If it fails, Vision 2030 risks becoming another expensive promise that ordinary people pay for but never truly enjoy.
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