Saudi Arabia's headline properties are giga-projects, not record villas. What was reported about Jeddah Tower homes and Sindalah, what the 2026 law lets a foreigner own, and what to ignore.
Records are what make property headlines, and Saudi Arabia is full of superlatives: the planned tallest tower, an island built from scratch, cities in the desert. But for a buyer the useful question is different: which of these can an individual actually own, and what is just marketing? This article collects what was published, with the source and date where we found them. None of these properties is offered through us, prices change fast and some figures come from summaries rather than the original pages, which we say where it matters.
We found no verified record villa
We looked for a confirmed record sale of a villa or plot in Riyadh in 2026 and found none. What the search returned was market-level data, which is useful for scale:
- Cavendish Maxwell reported that in the first quarter of 2026 Riyadh apartments averaged about 6,200 riyals per square metre and villas about 5,700, with sales volume far below the first quarter of 2025 peak (down about 64% in volume and 72% in value).
- The General Real Estate Authority's June 2026 monthly report, as relayed by the trade site Amlak, put the Riyadh region at 5,437 sales worth 8.04 billion riyals, about a third of the national value.
- A year earlier, in the first half of 2025, Riyadh residential sales value was reported up about 63% to 65.7 billion riyals (Arabian Business).
A headline number tells you the market is big and cyclical. It does not tell you that any single property sold for a record, and we do not name one. See prices and buying costs in Saudi Arabia for the broader picture.
Homes in the planned tallest tower
The most talked-about residential product is in Jeddah. AGBI reported in November 2025 that apartments in Jeddah Tower, the building planned as the world's tallest, were due to go on sale in 2026, with completion expected in 2028. The developer is Kingdom Holding. We could not open the original article and found no price per square metre or number of units, and large projects often shift their timelines. Treat it as a project to watch, not a price to quote.
Two things worth remembering about off-plan homes in any market: the title only exists once the building does, and you are lending the developer your money until then. Check what protections the contract gives you before you look at the view.
Islands that are hotels, not titles
Sindalah, the first NEOM destination, opened in October 2024. Trade reports describe 440 rooms, 88 villas and 218 hotel suites across three hospitality brands, with villas that have private pools. We found no source saying that any of these villas are sold to individuals, or on what tenure. Read it as a hospitality island: you can book a stay, which is not the same as owning anything.
This is the key habit for Saudi giga-projects. The pictures show a place; the question is whether a plot, a villa or a unit is for sale to individuals, on what terms and from whom. For islands elsewhere, where real sales do exist, see island real estate.
What the 2026 law lets a foreigner own
The real news in Saudi property is legal, not architectural. According to a law-firm summary, the foreign-ownership law took effect on 21 January 2026, and the Council of Ministers approved the implementing regulations and the designated zones on 23 June 2026, with publication in the official gazette on 3 July 2026.
- Foreign ownership is limited to designated zones. Our earlier article, citing Enterprise in August 2026, counted 57 zones in Jeddah, 9 in Riyadh, 17 in AlUla, 12 in Makkah and 10 in Madinah. The official zone map is on the Saudi Properties portal, and the count can change.
- Makkah and Madinah stay under extra controls.
- A disposal fee of about 2% for non-Saudi sellers in the main designated cities was reported by one source, and the rates may still be draft.
Details are in what the foreign-ownership law changes and Riyadh or Jeddah for a foreign buyer. Check the exact plot against the official map with a Saudi lawyer before paying anything.
What we left out, and why
We did not find verifiable data on the smallest units or on historic Najdi houses; only district averages with tiny samples turned up, so we do not print them. For properties linked to well-known people, the only material was secondary and unconfirmed, so we name nobody. A famous owner is a marketing story, not a title record.
What an ordinary buyer should take from it
- Do not use a giga-project picture as a price signal. Ask who sells, what tenure it is and when the title exists.
- Zone first, property second. A cheap unit outside a designated zone may not be something you can legally own.
- Off-plan means waiting. Check the developer, the escrow or payment structure and the handover remedies.
- Plan the exit. Resale rules, the disposal fee and a small pool of foreign buyers make selling slower than buying.
- Count the full cost, not just the price. See yield and investment in Saudi Arabia before assuming a return.
- Use your own lawyer, not the seller's.
If you are weighing a Saudi property, an independent buyer-side adviser such as D.H. Realting, based in Warsaw, can help line up local lawyers who have been checked first.