Riyadh Commercial Rent Index 2026

What This Publication Is

The Riyadh Commercial Rent Index is a quarterly publication tracking 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. The Q1 2026 baseline edition is now published, with the full data report available for download below.

This page sets out the methodology, defines the district taxonomy and asset-class boundaries, presents headline findings from Q1 2026, and shares qualitative market observations drawn from our advisory work. Quantitative data — medians, bands, and year-on-year deltas — are presented in the downloadable report, with the index narrowing each quarter as SAT’s proprietary transaction data accumulates.

Unlike gated consultancy reports, this index is free to cite with attribution under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. 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.

Riyadh Office Rent Prices by Grade (Q1 2026)

Headline office rents across Riyadh in Q1 2026, by grade and benchmark source. Prime Grade A continues to set the cycle high, with Grade B compression closing the gap.

Sources: JLL Q1 2026 Riyadh Office Market Report; Knight Frank KSA Office Market Review Q3 2025; SAT data, Q1 2026, across 200+ transactions advised.

Grade A Office Vacancy in Riyadh 2026: Tightest in the GCC

Riyadh is the tightest office market in the GCC in Q1 2026. Grade A occupancy reached 99 percent in Q4 2025 (CBRE), prime vacancy compressed to 0.5 percent (JLL Q1 2026), and city-wide vacancy held at 1.3 percent (JLL Q1 2026). The Grade A scarcity is driving occupier spillover into Grade B, where rents rose 26 percent year on year through Q3 2025 (Knight Frank).

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

• Public Q1 2026 and late-2025 releases from JLL, Knight Frank, CBRE and Savills
• Listing-derived medians from Bayut KSA, Property Finder, Aqar.fm and Sirdab Marketplace
• Signed lease heads of terms and executed contracts from SAT-advised transactions across 200+ transactions and 500+ buildings reviewed
• Direct building inspections, named-building review 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 five primary Riyadh sub-markets. Boundaries are defined by road network and established market usage, not administrative sub-municipality lines. Industrial cities are tracked separately under the warehouse asset class.

Industrial cities (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are tracked separately under the warehouse asset class. Sudair Industrial City leases through a ground-lease + ready-built factory model and is not directly comparable to SAR/sqm benchmarks; rates on application from MODON.

Asset-Class Definitions

The index tracks six asset classes — the structure mirrors the published matrix in the Q1 2026 report.

Market Observations (Qualitative)

The following observations summarise the Q1 2026 commentary published in the downloadable report. Numeric figures are drawn from JLL, Knight Frank, CBRE, Savills and AGBI releases between September 2025 and May 2026, and from SAT's tenant-side and owner-side advisory work in the same period.

A two-tier market — the September 2025 Royal Decree

The September 2025 Royal Decree caps existing commercial leases in Riyadh's urban area for five years. New-build and first-lease product is unaffected and continues to set headline rents. The result is a structurally bifurcated market: mature stock frozen at signature versus new builds setting the headline. Most mall portfolios — including Cenomi Centers — concluded leases ahead of the decree, limiting freeze impact on their book. The Q1 2026 thesis is summarised as "capped at signature, open at delivery."

Riyadh Office Rent Prices 2026: Tightest GCC Market, Spillover into Grade B

JLL puts prime Riyadh office at SAR 3,630/sqm (+7.3% YoY), with prime vacancy compressed to 0.5% and city-wide vacancy at 1.3% — the tightest office market in the GCC. Prime KAFD rents are reported holding above SAR 4,000/sqm. Knight Frank's broader Grade A average sat at SAR 2,750/sqm in Q3 2025 (the apparent gap is methodology — JLL measures prime, Knight Frank measures the Grade A average).

The most striking move of the cycle is in Grade B, not Grade A. Knight Frank reports Grade B at SAR 1,335/sqm at end-2024 with 95% occupancy, rising +26% YoY through Q3 2025 as occupiers priced out of Grade A spill into secondary stock. CBRE places Grade A occupancy at 99% in Q4 2025. Looking into Q2 2026, the directional signal is Grade A rising but decelerating from 3–4% QoQ to around 1.0%, with Grade B rising sharply on Grade A spillover.

Riyadh Warehouse Rent Index 2026: Supply Absorbed Faster Than Rents Could Moderate

Industrial and logistics reproduced the office pattern in compressed form. Modern warehouse rents rose +16% YoY in H1 2025, city-wide average SAR 208/sqm, prime stock above SAR 250/sqm. Riyadh added 1.3 million sqm of new warehouse supply in H1 2025 with occupancy held at 98%. Vision 2030 infrastructure contracts and e-commerce growth absorbed the supply faster than it could moderate rents. Sudair Industrial City (MODON-operated) leases through a ground-lease + ready-built factory model rather than open-market warehouse rents.

Riyadh Retail Rent Index 2026: Lifestyle Cluster Resilient, Malls Under Pressure

The Hittin / Al Yasmin lifestyle cluster — U-Walk, Boulevard World and VIA Riyadh — sits at SAR 2,400/sqm with 97% occupancy across 27 developments totalling 484,900 sqm. Mall in-line rents rose 4.2% YoY in Q3 2025 to SAR 2,845/sqm. Tahliah Street flagship retail sits in a SAR 2,500–4,000/sqm band, median SAR 3,200. Cenomi Centers told AGBI in September 2025 that the rent-freeze impact on its mall portfolio will be limited — most leases were concluded ahead of the decree, confirming the two-tier dynamic.

Riyadh Medical Clinic Rent 2026: Vision 2030 Healthcare Buildout

Specialized Medical Co. (Tadawul: 4009) signed a SAR 99 million 15-year lease in October 2025 for a 35-clinic outpatient centre in Al Malqa — the largest publicly disclosed clinic lease of the cycle. Knight Frank's healthcare zoning analysis projects 3,575 new beds through 2030 with 63% concentrated in North Riyadh near KAFD and the 2030 Expo site. The directional signal into Q2 2026 is medical clinic rising on Vision 2030 healthcare buildout, with serviced & furnished repricing 5–15% as RHQ arrivals take interim space.

Q1 2026 Data Release

The Q1 2026 baseline edition covers January through March 2026 across six asset classes and five primary districts. Rates are sourced from JLL, Knight Frank, CBRE and Savills Q1 2026 releases, listing-derived medians from Bayut, Aqar.fm and Sirdab, and SAT Real Estate’s tenant-side and owner-side advisory work across 200+ transactions advised across 500+ buildings reviewed. The full report runs to 13 pages and includes district-level matrices, commentary on the September 2025 Royal Decree’s two-tier impact, and directional signals for Q2 2026.

Free to cite with attribution. See citation formats below.

Data Release Timeline

The Q1 2026 baseline edition is now live — the first quantitative release of the Riyadh Commercial Rent Index. From Q2 2026 (publishing August 2026), bands will progressively narrow using SAT’s proprietary transaction data. Each subsequent release will disclose the number of transactions and buildings underpinning the index for that quarter.

To be notified when the Q2 2026 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.