Real Estate Price Index
Synonyms: Real Estate Price Index، Property Price Index، REPI
Last updated: 2026-08-04
Short Definition
A quarterly index issued by the General Authority for Statistics measuring property price changes, with 2023 as base year and a 72.7% weight for the residential sector.
Overview
Legal Basis
The Real Estate Price Index is issued by the General Authority for Statistics, the official body responsible for statistics in the Kingdom. The Authority adopted a new calculation methodology from Q3 2024 in cooperation with the Real Estate General Authority, the Ministry of Justice and the Saudi Central Bank, setting 2023 as base year. The index is built on actual transaction data and published quarterly, classified by sector, property type and administrative region, with index series and annual and quarterly change rates. The Authority publishes a methodology and quality report explaining calculation and relative weights.
Practical Example
An investor holding a portfolio of 12 apartments in Riyadh with a book value of SAR 9,600,000 reviews performance at the end of Q2 2026. Finding the apartment index rose 1.1% year on year, he estimates portfolio market value rose by roughly SAR 105,600. He also notes villas fell 9.7% over the same period and postpones plans to diversify into villas. An owner of residential land, meanwhile, sees the index rose 6.3% annually and 6.1% quarterly, the strongest growth among residential components, and revisits sale timing. The index here is a directional tool, not a substitute for an accredited valuation of a specific property.
Common Mistakes
- ✗Using the index to value a specific property, when it is an aggregate indicator at Kingdom and administrative region level and no substitute for accredited valuation.
- ✗Reading the headline figure without breaking it down by sector, since the overall index may rise while the sector that actually matters falls, as commercial did in Q2 2026.
- ✗Comparing figures before and after Q3 2024 without accounting for the methodology change and the shift of base year to 2023.
- ✗Confusing annual with quarterly change, which are distinct figures that may point in opposite directions.
International Differences
In the UAE, the Dubai property price index is issued by the Land Department based on registered transactions, with periodic updates and sub-indices by area. In Turkey, the central bank publishes a house price index monthly rather than quarterly, giving it greater sensitivity to market swings. In Egypt, no unified official property price index is published regularly, and the market largely relies on private sector estimates. The Saudi model differs in building the index on actual transaction data through cooperation between the General Authority for Statistics, the Real Estate General Authority, the Ministry of Justice and the central bank, strengthening its reliability.