Arada enters Saudi Arabia with $13.3bn land bank, $3.8bn Riyadh project

Summary

• Sharjah developer Arada launched its Saudi arm in Riyadh with a 10 million square metre land bank.
• First project Al Rimal, worth $3.8 billion, brings about 3,500 villas to north-east Riyadh.
• Al Rajhi Capital manages the funding vehicle, placing the Emirati developer inside Saudi-regulated capital markets.

The latest

A 10 million square metre land bank across Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah underpins Arada Saudi Arabia, the Saudi arm the Sharjah-based developer launched in Riyadh on Monday 19 October 2026. Al Arabiya, citing Reuters, valued the holding at SAR 50 billion, or USD 13.33 billion. The National put it at AED 49 billion.

Details

• The valuations: Al Arabiya, citing Reuters, reported the land bank at SAR 50 billion, equivalent to USD 13.33 billion. The National reported AED 49 billion for the same holding. Both figures track the same announcement in Riyadh, and neither publication reconciled the gap between the two currencies and totals.
• The first project: Al Rimal, in north-east Riyadh, is valued at AED 14 billion, or USD 3.8 billion. The National described the plot as roughly 2.5 million square metres, while its own summary of the launch put the site at 3.2 million square metres.
• The housing mix: Al Rimal is planned for about 3,500 villas and townhouses, priced between SAR 1,000 and SAR 1,400 per square foot. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2027, with completion due within five years of that start date.
• The funding structure: The project is financed through an investment vehicle regulated by the Capital Market Authority and managed by Al Rajhi Capital, according to the two reports. That structure routes an Emirati developer's Saudi expansion through a domestically supervised financial platform rather than direct corporate balance-sheet funding.
• The local partner: Saudi investor Xtopia is a partner in Arada Saudi Arabia, and its chairman Mohammed AlDhabaan chairs the new Saudi unit. The companies did not disclose the ownership split between the two sides, nor the capital each partner is committing to the venture.
• The build target: Arada said it is targeting 100,000 homes in Saudi Arabia within three to five years, half of a group-wide goal of 200,000 homes. No breakdown was given for how those units divide between Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah.
• The group portfolio: Arada's portfolio is valued at AED 185 billion with more than 70,000 units across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Australia and Syria. The developer has delivered roughly 17,000 homes to date, a fraction of its stated long-term pipeline.
• The capital arm: A separate platform, Arada Capital, is targeting USD 5 billion in assets under management within four years. The announcement did not specify which asset classes or markets that platform would cover, or whether the Saudi land bank sits inside it.

Background

Arada is a Sharjah-based developer with projects in the UAE, the UK, Australia and Syria. Its Saudi entry marks the first time the company has built a dedicated national arm with a land bank spanning three Saudi cities rather than a single project.

Between the lines

The structure matters as much as the headline numbers. Routing the project through a Capital Market Authority-regulated vehicle managed by Al Rajhi Capital, with Xtopia's chairman heading the Saudi unit, gives the expansion a domestic financial and governance anchor. The 100,000-home target is also roughly six times the 17,000 homes Arada has delivered across all markets to date, which sets the scale of the execution gap the developer is taking on.

What's next

Watch for a mid-2027 construction start at Al Rimal, the first sales release and pricing confirmation, and any disclosure of the Arada Saudi Arabia ownership split or the Jeddah and Makkah project pipeline.

Source: The National; Al Arabiya (citing Reuters)