PHOTO
More than $1 trillion worth of projects have been rolled out in Saudi Arabia since the launch of the Vision 2030 strategy, which seeks to transform the kingdom into an economic powerhouse, according to a new analysis.
The projects include stand-alone super-cities such as NEOM, which will feature 300,000 new homes for nine million residents, according to Knight Frank on Tuesday.
The global real estate consultancy is currently tracking 15 giga projects that are in various phases of construction around the kingdom.
It estimated that the total value of real estate and infrastructure projects since the launch of Saudi Arabia's transformatio plan has already crossed $1.1 trillion.
"The phenomenal transformation taking place in the world's fastest growing economy is clearly visible across the entire urban landscape... The planned construction in the kingdom will easily make Saudi Arabia the largest construction site the world has ever known," said Faisal Durrani, Partner - Head of Middle East Research.
As part of Saudi's massive transformation plan, the kingdom is expected to deliver more than 555,000 homes, 275,000 hotel rooms, in excess of 4.3 million square metres of retail space and more than 6.1 million square metres of new office space by 2030.
Among the projects announced to date, NEOM is considered the largest. NEOM will have sub-cities like Oxagon, Trojena and The Line.
According to Knight Frank, about a third of homeowners in Saudi Arabia are prepared to spend upwards of $800,000 on a second home in the kingdom, so developments like the sub-cities in NEOM should satisfy this pent-up demand.
However, Knight Frank said only $7.5 billion of sub-projects have been commissioned so far, with construction progress standing at 29%.
Another colossal undertaking is the $20 billion Diriyah Gate in Riyadh, which will add 20,000 homes to Saudi's residential stock by 2027. Nearly half (46%) of construction has been completed on the $5 billion spent so far, according to Knight Frank.
Over the last six years, around $104 billion worth of real estate projects have been unveiled in Riyadh. Population in the city is expected to grow to 17 million by 2030, up from around 7.5 million today.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
