Confidence survey puts Saudi Arabian real estate market as top Middle East performer

Saudi Arabia is the strongest performing real estate market at present and could stay like that for the next 12 to 24 months, far exceeding expectations in other Middle East markets, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle Investor Sentiment Survey.
 
Some 40% of investors, analysts and economists questioned said they believe that  the kingdom’s real estate market had already stared to recover while another 40% expect the market to recover by the end of 2010.
 
‘The report shows that there is currently more maturity and stability in Saudi Arabia than elsewhere in the MENA region. Investor confidence in the Saudi real estate market performance is certainly partly attributable to the government's active role in stabilising its economy and with investors increasingly coming from within the borders of Saudi Arabia this trend looks likely to continue,’ said John Harris, head of Jones Lang LaSalle Mena’s KSA branch.
 
The survey also found that investors expected yields of 12% but there had been seen some yield compression over the last year. ‘However, there are more buyers than sellers of investable assets in the kingdom so demand remains high,’ the report added.
 
It is not just the traditional cities of Riyadh and Jeddah that interest investors. They survey found that they are interested in the Eastern Province and the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
 
It also shows how much the real estate market has suffered in other parts of the region, most notably Dubai. Some 25% of investors were confident about Abu Dhabi and 13% in Egypt.
 
The investor sentiment survey incorporated the views of more than 100 institutional investors comprising investment companies, sovereign wealth funds, investment banks, private equity firms and high net worth investors.