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Saudi Arabia Officially Opens Property Ownership to Foreigners

A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia Officially Opens Property Ownership to Foreigners

A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia opened a new chapter in its development drive on Thursday as a long-anticipated law allowing non-Saudis to own real estate came into force.

The step marks a pivotal shift in the Kingdom’s property framework, anchoring a revamped set of real estate laws designed to reposition the Saudi market from a largely domestic arena into a global investment destination.

The overhaul aims to draw foreign capital, individuals, and companies from across continents, capitalizing on the Kingdom’s political stability and steady economic expansion as one of the Middle East’s largest economies.

The updated system, approved by the Cabinet on July 8, 2025, caps a series of structural reforms under Vision 2030 and reflects the broader economic transformation reshaping the country. It seeks to deliver a secure and equitable investment environment aligned with international best practice.

Its objectives extend beyond financial considerations to include broader development goals, such as stimulating growth in the real estate sector by increasing project diversity and quality, and creating high-quality job opportunities for Saudi nationals in development and property-related services.

By enabling non-Saudis to own property, the Kingdom is laying the foundation for more dynamic and diverse communities, directly enhancing urban quality of life and fostering a competitive environment that raises standards for residential and commercial real estate projects alike. The move underscores stability and growth as defining features of the next phase.

Under the law, a “non-Saudi” is defined as a person who does not hold Saudi nationality, or owns a foreign company, a foreign non-profit entity, or any other non-Saudi legal person designated by a decision from the Cabinet.

'Saudi Real Estate' platform

As part of efforts to ensure transparency and protect rights, the General Authority for Real Estate announced that the “Saudi Real Estate” digital portal will serve as the official platform for managing ownership applications. User journeys have been designed to accommodate different categories:

Residents within the Kingdom can apply directly through the portal using their residency number, with requirements verified automatically and the process completed entirely online.

Non-residents outside the Kingdom must obtain the required digital identity from Saudi missions and embassies abroad before completing their application through the platform.

Foreign companies and entities without an existing presence in Saudi Arabia must first register with the Ministry of Investment through the “Invest Saudi Arabia” platform to obtain a unified number, then proceed to the “Saudi Real Estate” portal to complete the ownership process.

Geographic scope

The new system grants broad flexibility for ownership across the Kingdom, with particular focus on Riyadh and Jeddah as global economic and commercial hubs.

For Makkah and Madinah, a special regulatory framework has been established based on a “Geographic Zones Document,” details of which are set to be announced in the first quarter of 2026. The framework restricts ownership in the two holy cities to Muslims, whether inside or outside the Kingdom, and to Saudi companies wholly owned by Saudis, balancing investment openness with the cities’ religious status.

Under the law, a legally resident non-Saudi may own one residential property outside the designated geographic zones. Makkah and Madinah are excluded, with ownership there limited to Muslims.

Non-listed companies established under Saudi company law, in which one or more shareholders are non-Saudi or legal persons, are permitted to own property or acquire related rights within the designated zones, including Makkah and Madinah, for the purpose of conducting business activities and housing employees.

Listed companies, investment funds, and special purpose entities licensed under Saudi regulations may also own property and acquire related rights, including in Makkah and Madinah, in accordance with capital market laws, their executive regulations, and rules set by the Capital Market Authority in coordination with the Real Estate Authority and other relevant bodies.

Sustainable economic impact

The law translates Saudi Vision 2030 targets into action by attracting foreign direct investment and localizing real estate expertise through the entry of international developers and specialized companies.

The resulting activity is expected to stimulate related sectors, such as housing, trade, industry, and tourism, boosting the real estate sector’s contribution to non-oil gross domestic product on a sustainable basis.

Linking the ownership portal to the real estate title registration system provides the highest levels of legal certainty, strengthening foreign investor confidence in Saudi regulations and reinforcing the Kingdom's commitment to building a diversified, transparent, and innovation-driven economy.

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Business

Asian Stocks Extend Gains but US Concerns Hit Dollar, Boost Gold

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, January 22, 2026. REUTERS/staff
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, January 22, 2026. REUTERS/staff
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Asian Stocks Extend Gains but US Concerns Hit Dollar, Boost Gold

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, January 22, 2026. REUTERS/staff
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, January 22, 2026. REUTERS/staff

Asian markets extended their recovery on Friday after Donald Trump withdrew his tariff threats over Greenland, although lingering uncertainty about US policy weighed on the dollar and helped push precious metals to fresh records.

Investors were also preparing for next week's Federal Reserve meeting following data broadly in line with forecasts and after US prosecutors took aim at boss Jerome Powell, raising fears over the bank's independence, AFP said.

Sentiment has picked up over the past two days after the US president pulled back from his warning to hit several European nations with levies because of their opposition to Washington taking over the Danish autonomous territory.

Asian stocks extended Thursday's gains in light of the row-back, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok in positive territory.

London was flat at the open but Paris and Frankfurt fell.

That followed a second successive advance on Wall Street.

However, Trump's latest salvo against allies -- as well as his ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this month -- revived trade war fears and uncertainty about US investment, putting downward pressure on the dollar this week.

Analysts said there was no guarantee that Europe-US relations had improved durably.

The Republican's willingness to threaten tariffs over any issue had rattled confidence on trading floors, weighing on the dollar and boosting safe-haven metals, analysts said.

In Asian trade, gold rallied to a fresh peak above $4,967 an ounce while silver touched more than $99.

With the Greenland crisis over for now, investors turned their attention to the US economy, which grew slightly more than originally estimated in the third quarter thanks to a boost in exports and investment, according to data delayed by last year's government shutdown.

Separate figures showed jobless numbers dipped and inflation settled slightly lower to where it was before the shutdown.

The bank is tipped to hold interest rates, having cut them in the previous three meetings.

The gathering comes against the backdrop of a deepening row between Trump and Powell, who the president has lambasted for not cutting borrowing costs quickly enough.

The pressure ramped up on Powell this month when the administration issued subpoenas hinting at a possible probe into a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters.

"The bar to a further cut is too high and (Trump appointee) Steve Miran notwithstanding the Federal Open Market Committee are likely to err on the side of a hold, which will inevitably incur the wrath of president Trump," wrote MCH Market Insights' Michael Hewson, referring to the Fed's decision-makers.

Fiona Cincotta at City Index added: "Sticky inflation and solid growth provide little incentive for the Fed to cut rates further for now. These data points support the Fed's wait-and-see stance."

The meeting also comes as Trump considers candidates to replace Powell when his term comes to an end in May.

The president told reporters on Thursday that "I have somebody that I think will be very good but I'm not going to reveal it".

"It's someone very respected, very, very well known, and will do, I think, a very good job."

While the dollar has struggled against most currencies, it rose against the yen on Friday after the Bank of Japan decided to hold off hiking interest rates while it tries to ascertain the impact of recent increases on inflation, which data showed remains above its two percent target.

In company news, Japanese giant Nintendo jumped as much as 6.9 percent after gaming data firm Circana said its Switch 2 console led the US hardware market in unit and dollar sales in 2025. The firm ended 4.5 percent higher.

The "Switch 2 remains the fastest selling video game hardware platform in tracked history", Circana's Mat Piscatella wrote on BlueSky.

Next week's US earnings calendar is packed with results from Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, Tesla, Meta and other corporate giants. There will also be a Federal Reserve monetary policy decision.

Business

US Control of Venezuela Oil Risks Debt Restructuring Showdown with China

A woman holds a candle next to a Venezuelan flag during a vigil to honor those killed on January 3 during the US operation to capture Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, at Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela, January 22, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman holds a candle next to a Venezuelan flag during a vigil to honor those killed on January 3 during the US operation to capture Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, at Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela, January 22, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Control of Venezuela Oil Risks Debt Restructuring Showdown with China

A woman holds a candle next to a Venezuelan flag during a vigil to honor those killed on January 3 during the US operation to capture Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, at Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela, January 22, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman holds a candle next to a Venezuelan flag during a vigil to honor those killed on January 3 during the US operation to capture Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, at Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela, January 22, 2026. (Reuters)

US control of Venezuela's oil exports has ensnared barrels that had been servicing debt to China, lining up another potential showdown between the two superpowers that could further complicate the South American country's path out of default.

Around a tenth of Venezuela's $150 billion foreign debt pile is estimated to ​be loans from China that the OPEC member was paying in oil cargoes - until the US seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

Debt experts said the ramifications of China's claim on the cargoes and any clash with the United States could make it tougher for Venezuela to restructure its debt after a 2017 default and put at risk Beijing's cooperation in restructuring deals for other developing nations.

"Even under the best circumstances, this was going to be very messy - trying to disentangle where all these creditors stand in the credit hierarchy," said Christopher Hodge, chief economist with Natixis and a former US Treasury official.

"The fact that now America is controlling all the finances into and out of the country...this seems to be unprecedented to me, that we're going to have such entanglements, such opacity about the finances of a government," Hodge said.

While Washington currently controls only oil sale proceeds, Hodge noted that these are Venezuela's ‌main source of revenue.

OIL ‌FOR DEBT

Documents and sources from state-run oil firm PDVSA show three supertankers have been shuttling between ‌Venezuela ⁠and ​China over the last ‌five years carrying oil for interest payments under the terms of a temporary deal struck in 2019. But these shipments are only a fraction of Venezuela's total crude exports to China.

AidData, a research lab at the US university William & Mary that tracks lending, said some cash proceeds from oil sent to China went into an account controlled by Beijing and on to service the debt - even as sanctions and default blocked payments to many of Venezuela's other creditors.

The Trump administration has now said that proceeds from the sale of Venezuela's oil will go into an account controlled by Washington, potentially giving the US President himself substantial leverage over which creditors get paid, and when.

In response to a request for comment on the cargoes and debt payments, China's foreign ministry said Beijing "has repeatedly stated its position".

Beijing condemned the redirection ⁠of Venezuelan oil exports during a January 7 news conference, adding "legitimate rights and interests of China and other countries in Venezuela must be protected".

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Reuters that Trump had brokered an oil ‌deal with Venezuela that "will benefit the American and Venezuelan people".

The Trump administration is allowing China to ‍purchase Venezuelan oil but not at the "unfair, undercut" prices at which Caracas sold ‍the crude previously, a US official said on Thursday. Traders managing Venezuelan oil sales have offered some to Chinese refiners, but these are private market transactions, not ‍intended as debt payments.

"The people of Venezuela will collect a fair price for their oil from China and other nations," the US official said.

The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

OTHER OPTIONS

Trump could yet make a deal with China. However, the planned US takeover of Venezuela's oil sector and control of its revenue could upend the hierarchy of creditors, restructuring advisors warn.

"All of these things will have the practical effect of subordinating the ​claims of legacy debtholders," said global sovereign debt expert Lee Buchheit, adding it was unclear if Trump had the legal right to determine who gets paid first.

Some $60 billion of Venezuela's bonds tipped into default in 2017, and a restructuring agreement is essential ⁠to enable it to borrow again and attract new investment.

In a typical restructuring, bilateral lenders come together and agree what losses they will accept, usually via the Paris Club of creditor nations. This sets the bar for the "comparable" losses private lenders - bond investors, banks and others - must take.

"Comparability of treatment will be a real challenge, particularly if the US controls the use of oil revenues," said Mark Walker, a longtime sovereign debt advisor who previously worked on potential Venezuelan restructurings.

PUSHING CHINA

If the US pushes China to swallow significant writedowns on its debt - and China digs its heels in - it could slow a restructuring and hinder Venezuela's economic recovery in the process.

That could keep Venezuela "in very dire straits during the foreseeable future", said Jean-Charles Sambor, head of emerging market debt with TT International, which holds Venezuelan bonds. In turn, this would limit how much the country can afford to repay to bondholders and other creditors.

China has little immediate leverage. Countries typically do not take other nations to court or arbitration over lending claims, Walker said, and would need to settle the situation "on a government-to-government basis".

But ramifications are possible: China is the largest bilateral lender to the developing world and its cooperation with the Paris Club has been crucial over the past decade. Beijing agreed restructuring terms via a platform called the Common Framework during ‌Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia's debt restructuring talks.

"China's obvious leverage is to refuse to cooperate in future Common Framework sovereign debt workouts until it feels that it has been treated fairly in Venezuela," Buchheit said. "And that threat would have some force."

Business

Mawani Signs Agreement to Construct Offshore Structures at Ras Al-Khair Port

Mawani Signs Agreement to Construct Offshore Structures at Ras Al-Khair Port
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Mawani Signs Agreement to Construct Offshore Structures at Ras Al-Khair Port

Mawani Signs Agreement to Construct Offshore Structures at Ras Al-Khair Port

The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has signed a contract with Singatac Arabia to establish a fabrication center for offshore structures and platforms at Ras Al-Khair Port.

The contract supports the oil and gas industry and includes warehouses for prefabricated parts, specialized welding equipment, systems, and cranes to serve offshore platform and marine structure projects with an investment of SAR139 million across 100,000 square meters, according to SPA.

The project aims to create over 500 direct and indirect jobs, strengthen Ras Al-Khair Port’s operational capabilities and value-added services, expand port capacity, and increase the contribution of exports to the national economy.

Ras Al-Khair Port is distinguished by its strategic location and its ability to efficiently handle a wide range of goods. It features 14 berths with a total capacity of 35 million tons and spans an area of 23 kilometers.