MULKIYA · GUIDES
Qiddiya: The Entertainment City, and Who May Own Inside It
Qiddiya is the entertainment giga project west of Riyadh and a named entry in the designated-zones register: foreign buyers may own inside it under the zone rules.
What Qiddiya is, and where it sits
Qiddiya is a giga project on the western side of the Riyadh region, planned around entertainment, sports and culture, per the project's own published materials. For a foreign buyer the category that matters is legal. Qiddiya is a named entry in the designated-zones register endorsed by Council of Ministers Decision 43 of 23-06-2026, under the Law of Real Estate Ownership by Non-Saudis, Royal Decree M/14, in force since 22-01-2026. It is one of the 100+ designated zones across the Kingdom, and one of the Riyadh entries in that register. Inside the designated boundary, a foreigner may own. Outside every designated zone, a non-resident foreigner may not.
Who may own inside Qiddiya
The register answers per buyer class, and for Qiddiya the answer is open for every individual class. A non-resident foreign individual may own here. A foreign resident holding an iqama may own here, and may separately apply for approval to own one home outside the zones. A Premium Residency holder may own here under their own regime. A GCC national may own here, broadly as a Saudi does, under the GCC ownership statute that continues alongside M/14. A foreign company may own here only on conditions: registration with the Ministry of Investment through Invest Saudi, a Unified (700) Number, and a representative who holds a Saudi ID, with owners disclosed. Qiddiya sits in Riyadh's register, not in Makkah or Madinah, so the holy-city restriction does not apply: no Muslim-only rule, and no usufruct alternative is needed here.
The conditions, and the cash-first reality
For a foreign individual, Article 2 of the Implementing Regulations sets three prerequisites before any zone purchase: a digital identity approved by the Ministry of Interior, which non-residents obtain through a Saudi embassy and activate with Absher or Nafath; a Saudi bank account in the buyer's name; and a Saudi mobile number in the buyer's name, linked to that identity. Registration in the Real Estate Registry is a validity condition of the purchase, not paperwork after it. Financing follows the same reality as the rest of the Kingdom: bank lending is structurally closed to non-residents today, so foreign buyers purchase cash-first. A project that sells early-stage units will offer payment plans; a payment plan is a schedule of payments, not credit.
Verify the parcel before you price it
Zone names in circulation are press-derived. The boundary that counts is the one on the official register, the Saudi Properties portal run by the Real Estate General Authority (REGA). Before you price any unit marketed as part of Qiddiya, confirm the specific parcel sits inside the designated boundary on the official register. A unit described as being in Qiddiya is a location claim; the register entry is the legal fact. If the parcel is inside, the zone rules in this article apply to it. If it is outside, they do not, whatever the brochure says.
Costs, and the cooling tape
The cost frame is set by law and is the same across Riyadh's zones. At purchase: the 5% real-estate transaction tax, legally the seller's liability and commonly priced into the deal, plus brokerage capped at 2.5% with 15% VAT on the commission, payable only if a broker is engaged. On exit, the register lists Qiddiya as a Riyadh entry, and Riyadh is one of the four cities where the 2% REGA disposal fee applies to a non-Saudi seller, on top of the 5% tax on the transfer; the fee is 0% outside Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, and the law caps it at 5%. On the wider tape: the market is cooling, not booming. The official residential price index recorded -3.6% year on year in Q1 2026. A project still being built has no long price record; treat any projected figure as a claim, not data.
The honest next step
Whether you may own inside Qiddiya is a legal question, not a sales question, and it turns on your buyer class: nationality, residency, and whether you buy as a person or a company. Mulkiya's eligibility check asks seven questions about your status and your target property, and a deterministic rules engine answers against the law, with citations. Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission or success fee. Run the check first; price the project second.
Can a foreigner buy property in Qiddiya without living in Saudi Arabia?
Yes. Qiddiya is a designated zone, and a non-resident foreign individual may own inside it once three prerequisites are in place: a digital identity approved by the Ministry of Interior, a Saudi bank account and a Saudi mobile number. Residency is not required inside the zones.
Does the Muslim-only rule apply to Qiddiya?
No. That rule governs the designated zones in Makkah and Madinah. Qiddiya is a Riyadh entry in the register, so all foreign buyer classes may own there, Muslim or not, subject to the standard zone conditions.
Can a non-resident get a mortgage for a unit in Qiddiya?
No. Saudi bank lending is structurally closed to non-residents; no identity field exists for them in the lending system. Plan cash-first, and read any developer payment plan as a schedule of payments, not credit.
How do I confirm a unit really sits inside the designated zone?
Check the specific parcel on the official register, the Saudi Properties portal run by REGA. The register lists Qiddiya as a designated entry, but only the portal's boundary decides whether a given parcel is inside it.
What fees apply when I sell a property in Qiddiya?
On exit you pay the 5% transaction tax as transferor, plus a 2% disposal fee for non-Saudi sellers because the register lists Qiddiya under Riyadh, one of the four named cities. The disposal fee is 0% elsewhere in the Kingdom and capped at 5% by law.