Saudi real estate price index slid 1.5% in Q1

The Saudi real estate price index fell 1.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter of 2018 to 84.2 points, from 85.5 a year earlier, data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed.

The base year for the index is 2014 (100 base points).

The real estate index comprises three segments: Residential sector, which covers residential land plots, buildings, villas, apartments, and houses; the commercial sector, which covers commercial land plots, buildings, shops and malls; and the agricultural sector that covers agricultural land.

Prices of all segments fell for the quarter, except for villas and shops.

The commercial sector led the decline by a 4.4 percent drop in Q1, followed by agriculture land at 0.4 percent, and residential sector by 0.2 percent.