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Infrastructure works at Masar development in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The project is being developed by Umm Alqura for Development and Construction (UAQ).
Global real estate advisory firm Alpha1Estates said that its real estate index for Makkah and Madinah had fallen by 7.6 percent in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown brought travel to the Holy Cities to a standstill.
Whilst the Saudi market’s major Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) was up 3.6 percent in 2020, the real estate index actually fell by 3.6 percent, and the Ihsan al-Haramain Index, the index used to solely track Saudi-listed companies involved in real estate development in Makkah and Madinah, down by 7.6 percent, representing a 10 percent underperformance with the market
‘Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global lockdown and global travel coming to a standstill in 2020, the fundamentals of demand for real estate in the Holy Cities meant that the impact, albeit significant, was in the short and medium-term, as the fourth-quarter opening allowed the sector to make some recovery,’ said Talal Mahmood Malik al-Alawi, Chairman and CEO of Alpha1Estates.
During the lockdown period in Saud Arabia, regular access and prayers to the Prophet’s Mosque were halted for over 70 days from March to May 2020. Regular access to the Grand Mosque in Makkah was halted, whilst Hajj was performed by around 1,000 pilgrims in July and Umrah came to a halt for over 200 days from March to October 2020.
Alpha1Estates International, launched in 2006, became the world's first company to market Saudi Arabian property globally and also the first company to market property in both Makkah and Madinah.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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