Riyadh Commercial Rent Index

What This Publication Will Be

The Riyadh Commercial Rent Index is a forthcoming quarterly publication that will track rent bands and movement across the major commercial asset classes in Riyadh — Grade A and Grade B office, serviced and furnished office, modern and older warehouse stock, street-front and mall retail, medical clinic and hospital-wing space, and showrooms.

This page sets out the methodology, defines the district taxonomy and asset-class boundaries, and shares qualitative market observations drawn from our advisory work. Quantitative data — medians, percentile bands, and quarter-on-quarter deltas — will be published once the sample meets the disclosure thresholds described below.

Unlike gated consultancy reports, this index will be free to cite with attribution. Journalists, analysts, and research desks are welcome to reference the data in editorial coverage and reports — a pre-formatted citation block sits at the bottom of this page.

Methodology

Rates will be quoted on a per-square-metre per-year basis exclusive of service charges and VAT, except for serviced and furnished office which will be quoted per workstation per month. Each cell of the published matrix will show a 10th–90th percentile band, a median, a quarter-on-quarter delta, and a year-on-year delta. Districts with fewer than five data points in a given quarter will be marked ‘insufficient sample’ rather than reported — the index does not extrapolate.

Sample size will be disclosed with each quarterly release. SAT Real Estate has advised on 200+ transactions across 500+ buildings reviewed in Riyadh — the index is a structured publication of that operating data, drawn from tenant-side and owner-side advisory work and supplemented by direct market review of named buildings.

Data Sources

• Signed lease heads of terms and executed contracts from SAT-advised transactions
• Landlord-published rate cards and official quotations (where available)
• Direct building inspections and agent canvassing across each district
• Service-charge schedules normalised to gross-effective cost for comparability

What Is Excluded

• Fit-out contributions and rent-free periods are excluded from headline figures but noted where material
• Off-market or non-arm’s-length transactions (related-party deals, government allocations)
• Districts or asset classes with fewer than five qualifying data points in the quarter

District Taxonomy

The index covers the following districts. Boundaries are defined by road network and established market usage, not administrative sub-municipality lines.

Asset-Class Definitions

Market Observations (Qualitative)

The following observations are drawn from SAT Real Estate's advisory work across H1 2026. They describe directional trends rather than precise figures — quantitative data will follow once disclosure thresholds are met.

Office

Grade A vacancy in KAFD remains tight. Tenants seeking large contiguous floor plates (1,000+ sqm) face limited optionality, and landlords have reduced or eliminated rent-free periods on new lettings. In Olaya and the Northern Ring Road corridor, a quality gap persists: newer towers trade at a meaningful premium over legacy stock, with tenants willing to pay more for specification rather than accepting secondary buildings at a discount. Serviced-office demand has stabilised after rapid post-2023 growth, with operators reporting steady but not expanding occupancy.

Warehouse & Logistics

Modern logistics space (10m+ clear, dock-level, sprinklered) commands a growing premium over older stock. Last-mile distribution units close to the Northern Ring Road are particularly constrained. Industrial Cities continue to attract large-format occupiers on longer lease terms, though older units in the 2nd and 3rd Industrial Cities see upward pressure from deferred maintenance and landlord reinvestment costs.

Retail

The Tahliah / Al Olaya retail spine shows resilient demand from F&B and luxury operators. Mall in-line rents remain under pressure outside the top-performing centres, with landlords offering turnover-linked structures to attract tenants. Street-front retail on the Eastern Ring Road is bifurcating — automotive showrooms remain strong, while general-merchandise units see higher vacancy.

Medical

Clinic-floor demand continues to grow, driven by private healthcare expansion and regulatory encouragement of outpatient-care models. Landlords in Olaya and the Diplomatic Quarter are increasingly willing to adapt generic office floors for medical use, recognising the occupancy stability that healthcare tenants provide.

Data Release Timeline

The first quantitative release will be published once the current-quarter sample reaches disclosure thresholds across a sufficient number of district–asset-class cells. We expect this to occur in the second half of 2026. This page will be updated with the published data at that time.

To be notified when the first data release is available, contact us or subscribe to market notes via the Insights hub.

Citing the Riyadh Commercial Rent Index

The Riyadh Commercial Rent Index is free to cite with attribution. The following formats are provided for convenience.

Press, Commentary & Custom Cuts

Journalists, analysts and research desks can request commentary on Riyadh's commercial rental market, custom district or asset-class observations, or quotes for editorial coverage. Contact the SAT Real Estate team at our contact page or email directly.