Retail centers are also continuing to benefit from high occupancy rates, it said.
Jones Lang LaSalle released its “Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview — Q3, 2011” Sunday covering the Jeddah residential, office, retail and hospitality market sectors.
According to the report, the Jeddah residential market gained momentum with a robust upward trend as average prices and rentals continued to increase across the city in Q3, 2011.
“There is strong interest from developers to deliver additional residential supply to meet the city’s growing requirements,” said Soraka Al-Khatib, co-head of Jones Lang LaSalle Saudi Arabia.
He said rental levels have also increased with a 14 percent increase in average rents being recorded over the year to date.
“The Jeddah market has seen a continued increase in land sales during 2011 as trading volumes and sale prices have picked up further during the last quarter,” Soraka Al-Khatib said.
The government’s announcement of additional funding for the affordable housing sector has had a positive impact on the Jeddah residential market.
Following this announcement, government-related entities are now planning to deliver more than 30,000 additional residential units across Jeddah over the next few years.
There is also strong continued interest in the luxury segment of Jeddah’s residential market, particularly along the city’s corniche area.
This trend is further illustrated by the announcement of the Al-Jawarah and Kingdom Tower projects. Due to be delivered in 2013 and 2016 respectively, these two projects will provide the first branded residences for sale in the Jeddah market.
Al-Khatib also said the strength of the Jeddah residential market is confirmed by the fact that most of the 16,000 units coming to the market over the remainder of 2011 have already been sold.
The limited future supply pipeline and the city’s growing population is expected to drive prices and sustain demand throughout the remainder of 2011 and into 2012, he said. He pointed out that major investment in infrastructure, transport, health and education sectors will further reinforce Jeddah’s market position.
The Jones Lang LaSalle report also looks at the office, retail and hospitality sectors of the market.
Although there has been a reduction in Jeddah’s CBD vacancy in Q3, office rents are likely to reduce in 2012 once additional supply is released to the market. The expected CBD supply pipeline will provide approximately 60,000 sq m GLA of additional space to the current stock of 445,000 sq m by the end of 2012. As a consequence, the office market is expected to remain tenant favorable during the next two years. Competition will concentrate on quality office space and landlords of older and secondary buildings will be required to develop their offerings by improving workplaces, enhancing security and increasing parking provision to attract occupiers.
Retail centers continue to benefit from high occupancy rates and the majority of the new supply has already been preleased. Retail sales have increased by more than 30 percent during the last eight months which demonstrates strong consumer spending. Pilgrim retail consumption during Haj will provide a further boost to the sector over the remainder of 2011.
The first three quarters of 2011 showed a marked improvement in hotel occupancies with rates increasing five percent year-on-year. Growth in business travel is expected to fuel hotel demand in the city. A strong Ramadan Umrah season over the summer reinforced Jeddah’s hospitality sector performance and the city looks well positioned to benefit from increasing domestic tourism over the long term.
The report provides key advice for Jeddah based landlords, occupiers, retailers and hotel operators, as well as anticipated trends for the near future.
Commenting on the report, Craig Plumb, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle MENA, said the SR500 million economic stimulus package announced earlier in 2011 has sustained the Jeddah real estate market during 2011.
“With Saudi Arabia’s oil output having been boosted to offset lower supply from other MENA producers and oil prices remaining relatively stable over recent months, there is likely to be increased investment in the infrastructure and real estate sectors of the economy over the next 12 months,” he added.
“The residential sector is likely to remain the “hot spot” during 2012, with further opportunities to create more affordable housing products. Moreover, continued growth in real estate financing and private sector lending will give a further boost to the overall real estate industry,” he said.
