MULKIYA · GUIDES
Rua Al Madinah: Who May Own in This Madinah Zone
Rua Al Madinah is a named designated zone in Madinah, open to Muslim individual buyers worldwide. Foreign companies are excluded. The rules, per buyer class.
What and where Rua Al Madinah is
Rua Al Madinah, in Arabic رؤى المدينة, is one of the named designated zones in Madinah, the second holy city of Islam. At category level it is a development district in the central area, close to the Prophet's Mosque, planned as hospitality and residential stock. It sits 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 kingdom-wide; 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 Rua Al Madinah run like this. 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 the holding runs as usufruct for up to 99 years under the Premium Residency law. A foreign company: closed, whatever its ownership.
What the conditions mean in practice
Confirmed at purchase means the buyer's status as a Muslim individual is verified when the deal registers, not assumed at marketing stage. The underlying conditions are the standard foreign-buyer prerequisites: a digital identity approved by the Ministry of Interior, obtained by non-residents 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 real-estate registry is a validity condition of the purchase. The rule 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 before anyone checks a boundary. The authoritative check is parcel-level: the Kingdom's official register, REGA's Saudi Properties portal, publishes the designated zones and their boundaries. Confirm that the exact parcel you are offered sits inside Rua Al Madinah as the register draws it, not in a neighbouring district sold under a similar name. The official registry holds 4,000,000+ title deeds; a parcel either falls inside the zone or outside it, and the register is where that answer lives.
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, and is payable only when a broker is engaged. On exit, Madinah is one of the four cities, alongside Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah, where a foreign seller pays a 2% disposal fee; elsewhere the fee is 0%. The wider market is cooling: the official residential price index recorded -3.6% year on year for Q1 2026. Underwrite the asset, not the story around it.
The honest next step
Eligibility in a holy-city zone turns on one question beyond the standard 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 Rua Al Madinah.
Can a non-Muslim foreigner buy in Rua Al 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 his residency or capital.
Can a foreign company buy into the project?
No. Companies cannot own in the designated Makkah and Madinah zones, whatever their ownership. The company route that works in 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 track 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 the designated Madinah zones whether they live in the Kingdom or abroad, once the standard 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 a 2% disposal fee because Madinah is one of the four cities where the fee applies. Outside those four cities the fee is 0%.