Riyadh – Sharikat Mubasher: Cityscape Global 2025 kicked off in Riyadh with Majid Al-Hogail, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, leading the inauguration, marking the start of one of the Kingdom’s largest showcases of urban development and real estate innovation.

Speaking at the opening, Al-Hogail said the exhibition has evolved into a global platform that reflects the Kingdom’s rapid urban, architectural, and economic transformation. He noted that construction and real estate activities accounted for 13.8% of GDP in Q2 2025 and contributed 15.5% of total employment.

He highlighted the growing demand for housing, with more than 1.5 million units needed across the five major cities by 2030—including 731,000 in Riyadh alone. During the first two days of the event, real estate agreements surpassed SR161.2 billion ($42.3 billion), driven by strong local and international investor interest.

Al-Hogail added that real estate financing has reached a new level of maturity, with total loans hitting SR961 billion by mid-2025 and helping raise homeownership rates to over 65% by the end of 2024. Foreign investment in construction and real estate made up 15.27% of total inflows last year, supported by updated foreign ownership regulations and opportunities in special economic zones.

The minister also emphasized the sector’s digital shift, including the adoption of PropTech, AI-driven tools, and modern building methods. The Kingdom recently completed its first tokenized real estate ownership deed and introduced global standards for real estate tokenization.

Al-Hogail said these advancements will expand the investor base, increase market liquidity, and support faster project financing. He described this year’s Cityscape as a national real estate season that brings together developers and investors to explore the opportunities shaping Saudi Arabia’s urban future.