The “Rental Index” recorded over 176,000 rental transactions during April, across more than 160 cities and governorates recently added to the index, thereby extending its coverage to all cities and regions of the Kingdom. This was reported in data and reports issued by the Electronic Rental Services Network “Ejar” in collaboration with the Sakani platform, reflecting an overall increase in rental transactions of over 48% compared to April 2022.

In a press statement issued today, Ejar explained that the Rental Index report for April revealed a significant increase in residential rental transactions, exceeding 68%, with over 152,000 recorded deals compared to the same month of the previous year. On the other hand, the index documented 23,000 commercial rental transactions, reflecting a 17% decrease in April 2023 compared to April 2022.

Riyadh topped the April Rental Index as the city with the highest number of recorded transactions, approaching 50,000 residential and commercial deals, representing 28% of total transactions. It was followed by Jeddah, which registered over 30,000 residential and commercial transactions, then Dammam, which recorded more than 9,000 transactions, followed by Makkah, which exceeded 8,400 transactions, and Madinah, which recorded over 7,900 transactions. The remaining cities collectively documented around 71,000 residential and commercial transactions. The Rental Index can be accessed on the Sakani platform at: https://sakani.sa/reports-and-data.

The Rental Index is designed to enhance transparency and encourage investment in the Kingdom’s real estate rental sector by establishing precise rental indicators for cities, neighborhoods, and various property types in both residential and commercial sectors. Users can determine price ranges for residential units, search for neighborhoods offering housing units within a beneficiary-defined price range, review the number of rental transactions for residential and commercial properties in a specific area during a given period, explore average rental values, and access charts illustrating price ranges for residential transactions. This initiative supports beneficiaries and contributes to raising market efficiency, in line with the objectives of the Housing Program—one of the key initiatives under Saudi Vision 2030.

It is also worth noting that beneficiaries of the real estate rental sector can now view the results of broker evaluations on the broker list in the Rental Index, as well as the number of evaluators per broker. Currently, these evaluations are based on landlords’ satisfaction with the broker’s performance and responsiveness during the contract authentication process, and on tenants’ feedback regarding their experience with the broker during the rental agreement signing process and the broker’s ability to clearly explain all terms and conditions.