Foreign direct investment inflows into Saudi Arabia rose 2.4% year-on-year to SR26.6 billion ($7 billion) in the first quarter of 2026, the Ministry of Investment said in a Sunday release of economic indicators, the Q1 2026 data release from the Ministry of Investment. Gross inflows rose. Net FDI for the same period fell 2.4%, dropping to SAR 23.1 billion as Saudi capital outflows climbed 50.6% to SAR 3.5 billion, separate figures from the same GASTAT dataset show.
The split between gross and net, plus a quieter real estate slide, is the Q1 print. Real GDP grew 3%, real estate prices fell 1.6%, and government investment jumped 54%. Each line comes from the same Ministry release and the same GASTAT dataset. The Q1 print covers gross investment, GDP, real estate, labour, consumer prices, and oil.
Gross FDI Inflows Climbed in Q1, but the Net Figure Slipped
The Ministry of Investment’s headline reading on Q1 2026 came in at SR26.6 billion, a year-on-year rise from SAR 26 billion in Q1 2025. The figure is the gross inflow side, the figure the Ministry framed as continued interest in the Saudi market. The data the same release is built on also captures what left, and that line moved the other way. Outflows totalled SAR 3.5 billion in Q1 2026, up 50.6% from SAR 2.3 billion a year earlier, the data showed.
The net figure for the quarter totalled SAR 23.1 billion, down 2.4% from SAR 23.7 billion in Q1 2025, separate GASTAT figures show, captured in the SAR 23.1 billion net figure for Q1 2026. The 2.4% fall sits on the back of the 50.6% rise in Saudi capital outflows. Both lines are part of the same dataset, and the gross and net numbers moved in opposite directions.
Q1 2026 was below Q4 2025 on both lines. The net number in Q4 2025 totalled SAR 48 billion, the Mubasher report noted, and the Q1 2026 reading is down 51.9% from that level.
Gross inflows in Q1 2026 also slid 49.9% from the SAR 53.1 billion recorded in Q4 2025, the same data shows. The Ministry’s release, drawn from GASTAT data, led with the year-on-year comparison. The Q4 2025 to Q1 2026 change is a larger move than the year-on-year change on both lines.
| Measure | Q1 2026 | Q1 2025 | Year-on-year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross inflows | SAR 26.6 billion | SAR 26.0 billion | +2.4% |
| Net inflows | SAR 23.1 billion | SAR 23.7 billion | -2.4% |
| Outflows | SAR 3.5 billion | SAR 2.3 billion | +50.6% |
GDP Grew 3% as Oil and Non-Oil Activities Expanded in Lockstep
Real GDP expanded 3% year-on-year in Q1 2026, the Ministry of Investment release showed. Oil activities and non-oil activities each grew 2.9%. The 2.9% on the oil side came as Brent crude averaged $103.7 per barrel in May, a 62% year-on-year rise, the data showed. The 2.9% on the non-oil side came alongside a 5.1% rise in gross fixed capital formation, the release noted.
The equal split between oil and non-oil is the sub-line in the Q1 print. Brent at $103.7 in May is up 62% on the year, the data showed, and the non-oil line moved at the same pace as oil. Both readings come from the same Ministry release and the same GASTAT dataset. The 2.9% on the non-oil side sits in the same Q1 print as the 1.3% rise in non-government capital formation, the data noted. Saudi Arabia’s economy grew at the same rate on both sides of the oil divide in Q1 2026, the release noted.
How Saudi Real Estate Split Three Ways in Q1 2026
The same Ministry release carries a real estate price index that moved in three different directions at once. The headline index fell 1.6% year-on-year in Q1 2026, GASTAT said in GASTAT’s Q1 2026 Real Estate Price Index. Residential property, the component that carries the greatest weight in the index, fell 3.6% on the year, with land prices dropping 3.9%, apartments slipping 1.1%, and villa prices falling 6.1%. Residential floors were the one residential line that rose, up 0.6%, the data showed.
Commercial real estate prices rose 3.4% year-on-year in Q1 2026, driven by a 3.6% rise in commercial plot prices and a 2.6% rise in building prices, the data showed. The commercial sector carries a 25.4% weight in the index, GASTAT noted. Galleries and shops within the commercial category fell 3.5%, a smaller drag inside the broader gain.
Agricultural prices rose 11.8% on the year, all of it on a matching 11.8% rise in agricultural land prices, the data showed. The index as a whole dropped 0.2% from Q4 2025 to stand at 103.3, GASTAT noted. Residential prices rose 0.5% from Q4 2025, driven by a 1.7% rise in residential land prices. Commercial real estate fell 2.3% from Q4 2025, the data showed.
Mortgage lending by commercial banks rose 6.4% over the same period, GASTAT said, a sign that household credit kept flowing into a softer market. The cabinet introduced a five-year freeze on rent increases for residential and commercial properties in Riyadh in September, a measure the government framed as aimed at stabilizing rents in the capital. The freeze sits inside the same Q1 print, the data noted.
| Sector | Year-on-year | Key driver |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | -3.6% | Land -3.9%, villas -6.1%, apartments -1.1% |
| Commercial | +3.4% | Plots +3.6%, buildings +2.6% |
| Agricultural | +11.8% | Land +11.8% |
Why Did the Eastern Region Outpace Riyadh in Q1 2026?
The regional split inside the Q1 2026 real estate index puts the Eastern Region at the top of the Q1 2026 regional table, with a 6.9% annual price gain. Najran followed at 3.5%, Tabuk at 1.5%, and Asir at 1.1%, GASTAT said. Makkah was down 0.7%, the data showed. The capital and the second-largest region by economic weight both fall on the other side of the line.
Riyadh, the Kingdom’s capital and the regional real estate market subject to the September rent freeze, fell 4.4% on the year, the data showed. The four regions with the steepest declines are all outside the main urban corridors, with Al-Baha down 9.2%, Hail down 8.0%, the Northern Borders down 6.6%, and Al-Qassim down 5.1%, GASTAT said. Makkah’s 0.7% drop was the only one of the negative regions inside the main urban corridors, the data noted. Riyadh’s decline is the only one of the negative regions the cabinet intervention targets directly. The Eastern Region’s 6.9% gain sits at the other end of the regional table, the data noted.
The September cabinet freeze on rent increases in Riyadh sits inside the same picture, GASTAT noted. The capital is the regional market the regulatory intervention targets, and the price data shows it falling. The Eastern Region is the side of the Q1 2026 index that kept moving higher, the data showed.
| Region | Year-on-year |
|---|---|
| Eastern | +6.9% |
| Najran | +3.5% |
| Tabuk | +1.5% |
| Asir | +1.1% |
| Makkah | -0.7% |
| Riyadh | -4.4% |
| Al-Qassim | -5.1% |
| Northern Borders | -6.6% |
| Hail | -8.0% |
| Al-Baha | -9.2% |
Government Investment Jumped 54% in Q1
Gross fixed capital formation in the Kingdom rose 5.1% year-on-year in Q1 2026, the Ministry’s release showed. The line beneath it tells a sharper story. Government investment rose 54% on the year. Non-government investment, the line that captures private and foreign capital deployment, rose 1.3%.
Both lines moved in the same direction, and both are positive. The width of the gap between the two capital-formation lines sits in the same Q1 print as the gross and net foreign investment figures above. Saudi Arabia’s private markets drew SAR 20 billion ($5.3 billion) in foreign private capital in 2025, per the Saudi Venture Capital Company.
SAR 20 billion in 2025 represents a fivefold increase in the foreign investor base since 2019, the SVC data showed. The 2025 reading, tracked in Saudi Arabia’s $5.3 billion in foreign private capital in 2025, is the last annual data point ahead of the Q1 2026 capital-formation print. The Q1 2026 release is the latest in the Ministry’s quarterly series, the data noted. The 1.3% non-government line is the smaller of the two capital-formation lines in the Q1 data.
Government capital formation, at 54%, is the larger of the two lines in the Q1 release. The 1.3% non-government line sits inside the same capital-formation print, the release noted. Both lines come from the same dataset as the foreign investment figures above.
Tight Labour, Quiet Inflation, and a Brent Print above $100
The labour market in Q1 2026 continued to tighten. Unemployment among Saudi nationals fell to 6.4%, the data showed, while the overall unemployment rate stood at 3.1%. The labour force participation rate among Saudis reached 49%, and the participation rate among Saudi women was 33.9%, the data showed. The overall participation rate rose to 67.2%.
Consumer prices in May rose 1.8% year-on-year, GASTAT noted, and the main driver was housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, up 3.7%. Transport rose 1.5%, and restaurants and hotels rose 1.7%. Point-of-sale transaction values rose 6.1% on the year, the data showed, a reading the Ministry of Investment framed as continued strength in consumer spending.
Brent crude averaged $103.7 per barrel in May, up 62% on the year, the data showed. The Real Estate General Authority expects the Kingdom’s property market to reach $101.62 billion by 2029, with an 8% compound annual growth rate from 2024. Both projections sit ahead of the Q1 print the Ministry of Investment just released. The 1.6% index drop for the same quarter is the data point the property market forecast will be measured against.
