Buyer’s advocate for Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah & KAEC · Established 2007 +44 20 7060 9786 · info@alpha1estates.com
IHSAN AL-HARAMAINby Alpha1Estates
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Insights

Twenty years of market insight

Alpha1Estates has published a real estate index for Makkah and Madinah every year since 2013, and commentary on the sector since 2005.

Alpha1Estates index

Annual change in Holy Cities property values

The market is cyclical. It fell for four years from 2017 and sharply in 2022, then rose 34% in 2024 as the opening to foreign buyers approached.

RiseFall
Annual change in the Alpha1Estates real estate index for Makkah and Madinah, 2012 to 2024Rises in 2012, 2014 to 2016, 2021, 2023 and 2024; falls from 2017 to 2020 and in 2022. Largest rise 34% in 2024; largest fall 21.5% in 2022.-30%-20%-10%0%+10%+20%+30%+40%2012: +26%+26%20122014: +23%+23%20142015: +7%+7%20152016: +9%+9%20162017: -14%-14%20172018: -18%-18%20182019: -4%-4%20192020: -7.6%-7.6%20202021: +12.9%+12.9%20212022: -21.5%-21.5%20222023: +6.7%+6.7%20232024: +34%+34%2024

2013 is not shown: the index was reported as having “nearly doubled” that year, without a precise figure. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

Show as a table
YearChange
2012+26%
2014+23%
2015+7%
2016+9%
2017-14%
2018-18%
2019-4%
2020-7.6%
2021+12.9%
2022-21.5%
2023+6.7%
2024+34%

Timeline

Our commentary, 2005 to 2026

  1. The Makkah and Madinah real estate ecosystem reaches a quarter-century high as foreign ownership opens. Ihsan al-Haramain publishes its 2025 year in review.

  2. Index up 34% in 2024, after 6.7% in 2023, boosted by news of preparations to open the sector to foreign buyers.

  3. Index up 6.7% in 2023, after a 21.5% fall in 2022, helped by a record 13.5 million Umrah pilgrims.

  4. Index down 21.5% in 2022, hit by the global downturn, interest rate rises and a slow recovery in overseas pilgrim numbers.

  5. Index up 12.9% in 2021 as travel to the Holy Cities resumed after the pandemic, with restrictions.

  6. Index down 7.6% in 2020 as the pandemic brought travel to the Holy Cities to a standstill.

  7. Index down nearly 4% in 2019, while Saudi REITs gained almost 16% and a Holy Cities REIT rose nearly 9%.

  8. Index down 18% in 2018, reflecting a wider slowdown in Saudi real estate.

  9. Index down 14% in 2017, the first year of Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Programme.

  10. Index up 9% in 2016, the year Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030.

  11. Index up 7% in 2015, its smallest rise in five years, in a year of great change for the Kingdom.

  12. Index up 23% in 2014, despite the largest fall in oil prices in six years.

  13. Index nearly doubles in 2013, reflecting a boom for Holy Cities developers and investors.

  14. Index up more than 26% in 2012.

  15. Alpha1Estates calls for new real estate, regulatory, immigration, business and finance laws to unlock the Holy Cities market.

  16. Launch of Al-Tilal Villas, Madinah, and Royal Clock Tower residences, Makkah.

  17. Launch of the Ihsan al-Haramain Consulting Programme.

  18. Alpha1Estates becomes the first real estate company with its own YouTube channel.

  19. Alpha1Estates launches: the first company to let Muslims worldwide buy in the Holy Cities.

  20. Global television launch on the Islam Channel, presenting Zamzam Tower, Taiba Eastern Tower and the King Abdulaziz Endowment.

Official sources we follow

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