Thousands of upgraded properties in Saudi Arabia see rental yield soar by up to 50% – The National

Thousands of upgraded properties in Saudi Arabia see rental yield soar by up to 50% – The National

Thousands of property owners in Saudi Arabia – particularly in Riyadh – are upgrading and retrofitting their assets to take advantage of the kingdom’s growing property market, experts said.Carrying out upgrades and modernising properties can yield an increase in rent revenue of between 25 and 50 per cent in a market that has been relatively flat outside the capital Riyadh, where 44 per cent of the kingdom's real estate transactions took place.With the influx of newer, modern buildings in the kingdom in recent years, rents for apartments or units in malls that were built 30 to 40 years ago are not yielding as high a rent. In addition, some residential properties are being transformed into office space to take advantage of Riyadh's commercial market, which is at near-capacity, analysts said.Knight Frank said villa and apartment prices in Riyadh rose by 0.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent last year, but were down 2.5 per cent and 2 per cent in the next biggest centre, Jeddah. Apartment prices in the Saudi capital have grown 57 per cent since 2020 and villa prices are 32 per cent over the same period.Riyadh is likely to see “relatively strong price growth” in the coming