MULKIYA · GUIDES
Buying Saudi Property as a Foreign Company
A foreign company may own property inside Saudi Arabia's 100+ designated zones after investment-ministry registration and owner disclosure. The holy cities stay closed.
The corporate buyer class
The Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis, issued by Royal Decree M/14 on 14 July 2025 and in force since 22-01-2026, gives a foreign company its own buyer class. Council of Ministers Decision 43 of 23-06-2026 approved the Implementing Regulations and endorsed the designated zones document, and from that date a company can complete a purchase inside one of the 100+ designated zones. Outside the zones a foreign company owns nothing. Registration in the official real-estate registry is a validity condition of the acquisition, not paperwork afterwards.
Registration before purchase
The company path is conditional, not automatic. Before it can buy, the company must register with the Ministry of Investment through the Invest Saudi platform and obtain a unified number. It must disclose its owners, appoint a representative who holds a Saudi ID, and hold a Saudi bank account in the company's name. The duty continues after registration: the ministry must be notified when ownership in the company changes hands above the set threshold. None of this is a formality; the zones open to the company only once the file is complete.
Makkah and Madinah are closed to companies
The holy-city rule admits no corporate route. Companies cannot own in the designated Makkah and Madinah zones, whatever their ownership structure. A Muslim shareholder does not change the answer, because the holy-city right belongs to Muslim individuals, not to vehicles they control. If the owners are Muslim individuals, the honest structure is a personal purchase under the individual rules, not a company vehicle around them.
Costs, and the market you are buying into
The cost stack matches what individuals pay. The real-estate transaction tax is 5% of the price, legally the seller's liability and commonly priced into the deal. Brokerage is capped at 2.5% plus VAT on the commission, payable only if a broker is engaged. When the company sells, a 2% disposal fee applies only in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. Underwrite against a cooling market: the official residential price index recorded -3.6% year on year for Q1 2026. Gross yields across Riyadh and Jeddah sit in a band of roughly 7-9%, per licensed yield data, and Riyadh rents, residential and commercial, are frozen for five years by royal order of 25-09-2025.
Company or individual: an honest comparison
A company structure earns its cost when the buyer is an operating business, a joint venture, or a family office that needs governance around the asset. For a single home or a single income unit, the individual path is shorter: three prerequisites under Article 2 of the Implementing Regulations and no ministry file. Bank lending is structurally closed to non-residents today, so either way the purchase is cash-first. Choose the vehicle for governance reasons, not because one path looks easier; both end at the same registry.
The honest first step
Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission or success fee. Its eligibility check asks seven questions about your status and your target property, and a deterministic rules engine answers against the law, with citations. For a company the answer spells out the registration path and the zones it opens; for the owners behind the company it shows what the individual classes allow. Run the check before you price any asset.
Can a foreign company buy property anywhere in Saudi Arabia?
No. A foreign company may own only inside the 100+ designated zones, and only after registering with the Ministry of Investment, disclosing its owners and appointing a representative with a Saudi ID. Outside the zones it owns nothing.
Can a company buy in Makkah or Madinah?
No. Companies cannot own in the designated holy-city zones, whatever their ownership. Direct ownership there belongs to Muslim individuals and to Saudi companies. A foreign company with Muslim shareholders is still excluded.
Does a company pay more tax than an individual buyer?
No. The 5% transaction tax applies to the deal whatever the buyer, and it is legally the seller's liability. The 2% disposal fee on exit applies in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, for company and individual sellers alike.
Can a foreign company get a Saudi mortgage?
Not today. Saudi bank lending is structurally closed to non-residents. Corporate buyers should plan cash-first, through the Saudi corporate account the registration path already requires.
Is a company a way around the individual prerequisites?
No. The company path has its own file: investment-ministry registration, owner disclosure, a representative with a Saudi ID and a bank account in the company's name. It is a governance choice, not a shortcut.