Foreigners Can Now Invest in Makkah & Madinah Property Firms

Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority has announced that foreigners are now permitted to invest in publicly-traded companies owning property within the boundaries of Makkah and Madinah.

The decision enables foreign investors to purchase shares and convertible debt instruments in Saudi-listed firms that own real estate in the two cities. However, non-Saudi ownership is capped at 49% to maintain majority control within the Kingdom.

Makkah and Madinah are undergoing massive development projects, such as the Public Investment Fund’s Masar initiative, which aims to add 40,000 new hotel rooms in Makkah to cater to an anticipated 30 million pilgrims by 2030. In 2019, Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages generated an estimated USD 12 billion in revenue.

While non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the holy cities and cannot directly own property within their borders, this initiative looks to attract significant foreign capital while maintaining cultural and regulatory safeguards.