RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s real estate price index witnessed a 0.7 percent increase in 2023, primarily attributed to a surge in residential sector prices, official data showed. According to the report released by the General Authority for Statistics, average prices in the housing sector rose by 1.1 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. This increase was particularly driven by a 1.2 percent rise in land plot purchasing expenses. Similarly, apartment prices experienced an uptick of 0.8 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. The report highlighted a marginal decline of 0.1 percent in house prices, while expenses for villas dipped by 3.2 percent during the same period. GASTAT further noted that real estate prices in the overall commercial sector diminished slightly by 0.1 percent last year compared to 2022. On the other hand, the prices of commercial buildings and commercial centers stabilized and did not record any relative changes during 2023. Additionally, real estate prices in the agricultural sector for the year 2023 witnessed a decline of 0.3 percent compared to 2022. In another report, GASTAT revealed that the Kingdom’s real estate index for the fourth quarter of 2023 remained steady, rising by 0.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The authority added that this slight increase in the index was attributed to the prices of residential properties, which went up by 0.6 percent. “The decline in both commercial real estate by 0.5 percent and the agricultural sector by 0.1 percent also contributed to keeping the rise in the index contained,” stated GASTAT. “Given the heavy weight of the residential sector, it had a significant impact on the general index,” it added. On the other hand, the general real estate price index increased by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of the same year. In January, speaking at the Future Real Estate Forum in Riyadh, Abdullah Saud Al-Hammad, CEO of the Kingdom’s Real Estate Authority, said that Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector is undergoing significant transformations. He noted that the property market is one of the key pillars of Saudi Arabia’s economy and added that it is making significant contributions to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product. In the same month, Ahmed Al-Rajhi, Saudi Arabia’s minister of human resources and social development, said that property development has emerged as a powerhouse for job creation and sectoral advancement in the Kingdom.