KSA Business: Saudi real estate sector set to rebound in 2022, says expert – Gulf Digital News

KSA Business: Saudi real estate sector set to rebound in 2022, says expert – Gulf Digital News

Activity in Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector is expected to record a marked rebound in 2022, according to CBRE, a major commercial real estate services and investment firm.

Looking at Saudi Arabia’s office sector figures, visitation to the workplace has since late September 2021 remained above its pre-pandemic baseline and now sits 15.3% above the baseline, with the majority of occupier activity continuing to be centred towards capital Riyadh, stated CBRE in its 'Saudi Arabia Q4 Market Review & 2022 Outlook.' 

"As a result, we have seen average rents in Riyadh’s Grade A segment increase by 9.8% in the year to December 2021, and Grade B rents also rose marginally by 1.3%. While institutional occupier activity remains limited in Jeddah, Grade A rents rose by 12.2% in 2021, whereas Grade B rents fell by 1.8%," it stated. 

According to CBRE, the activity in the Eastern Province continues to be relatively subdued and resultantly rental market performance has followed suit, with Grade A rents in Dammam and Khobar seeing only marginal improvements of 0.2% and 2.1% in the year to Q4 2021. 

"In 2022, we forecast that office supply in the Eastern Province and Jeddah will increase by 0.8%