MULKIYA · GUIDES
Downtown Madinah: Who May Own in Madinah's Central District
Reviewed against the official register · Updated 2026-07-30
Downtown Madinah is a designated zone in the center of Madinah, open to Muslim individual buyers. Foreign companies are excluded. The rules, class by class.
What and where Downtown Madinah is
Downtown Madinah, in Arabic وسط المدينة المنورة, is the central district of Madinah, the second holy city of Islam. For a foreign buyer the category that matters is legal, not geographic. The district appears in the designated-zones document 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. That decision covers 100+ zones across the Kingdom; the Madinah entries carry a status the others do not.
The zone's status: holy city, Muslim buyers only
Every designated zone in Makkah and Madinah carries a special status in the register: holy city, Muslim buyers only. Ownership in the two cities is limited to Muslim individuals and Saudi companies. Read per foreign buyer class, the verdicts for Downtown Madinah are these. A non-resident foreign individual: open to Muslim buyers, confirmed at purchase. A foreign resident holding an iqama: the same verdict. A GCC national: the same verdict. A Premium Residency holder: open, but under the Premium Residency law the holding runs as usufruct for up to 99 years. A foreign company: closed, whatever its ownership structure.
What the conditions mean in practice
Confirmed at purchase means the buyer's status as a Muslim individual is checked when the transaction is registered, not assumed at the marketing stage. The base conditions are the usual foreign-buyer prerequisites: a digital identity approved by the Ministry of Interior, which non-residents obtain through Saudi embassies; a Saudi bank account in the buyer's name; and a Saudi mobile number in the buyer's name. Registration in the official real-estate registry is a validity condition of the purchase, not a formality after it. The verdict rests on Royal Decree M/14 of 14-07-2025 and Council of Ministers Decision 43 of 23-06-2026, and the zone itself is recorded in the official register.
Verify the parcel on the official register
Zone names circulate in marketing material before anyone checks a boundary. The authoritative check runs at parcel level: the Kingdom's official register, REGA's Saudi Properties portal, publishes the designated zones and their limits. Confirm that the exact plot offered to you sits inside Downtown Madinah as the register draws it, not in a neighboring district sold under a similar name. The official registry holds 4,000,000+ title deeds; a parcel is either inside the zone or outside it, and the answer sits with the register.
Costs at category level, and the market
Purchase costs do not change for the holy cities. 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 15% VAT on the commission, payable only if a broker is engaged. On exit, Madinah is one of the four cities, alongside Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah, where a foreign seller pays the 2% REGA disposal fee; elsewhere the fee is 0%. The wider market is cooling: the official residential price index recorded -3.6% year on year in Q1 2026. Price the asset, not the story around it.
The honest next step
Eligibility in a holy-city zone turns on one question beyond the usual set: whether the buyer is a Muslim individual. Mulkiya's eligibility check asks seven questions about your status and your target property, and a deterministic rules engine answers with citations to the law. Mulkiya is not the seller and not the broker, and it takes no commission. Run the check before you price any parcel in Downtown Madinah.
Can a non-Muslim foreigner buy in Downtown Madinah?
No. Ownership in the designated Makkah and Madinah zones is limited to Muslim individuals and Saudi companies. Under the current rules a non-Muslim buyer cannot own there, whatever their residency or capital.
Can a foreign company buy in the district?
No. Companies cannot own in the designated Makkah and Madinah zones, whatever their ownership. The company route that works in the other designated zones is closed in the two holy cities.
I hold Premium Residency. What changes for me?
Under Premium Residency, property in Makkah and Madinah is held as usufruct for up to 99 years rather than direct ownership. Muslim individuals may own directly; the usufruct route is how Premium Residency holds holy-city property.
Do I need to live in Saudi Arabia to buy here?
No. Muslim individuals may own in Madinah's designated zones whether they live in the Kingdom or abroad, once the usual prerequisites are in place: a digital identity, a Saudi bank account and a Saudi mobile number.
What does it cost to sell later?
A foreign seller pays the 5% transaction tax as transferor, plus the 2% disposal fee because Madinah is one of the four cities where the fee applies. Outside those four cities the fee is 0%.