Real Estate

Saudis sold on online home sales, says developer Roshn

January 7, 2025, 1:12 PM

Roshn says trust in Saudi Arabia's centralised digital ID verification system is helping online home sales

Half of Roshn sales online
Saudi digital ID eases process
Reduced reliance on attorneys

Saudi developer Roshn, a unit of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), said half of its home sales are now made online, marking a significant shift in the kingdom’s property market.

Buyers on Roshn’s platform can verify their identity using national digital IDs, sign contracts electronically and make payments online, streamlining a process that traditionally required in-person visits, manual signatures and physical paperwork.

It also sets Saudi Arabia apart from neighbouring Gulf countries, including major property markets such as Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, where real-estate developers still rely on a mix of digital, in-person and paper-based processes.

“Buyers save multiple visits and hours of paperwork [with] fully online transactions,” Pablo Salcedo, executive director of digital products at Roshn, told AGBI, adding that about 50 percent of sales have been conducted digitally since August.

“This is pretty unique for Saudi Arabia because you are able to digitally sign documents,” he said.

The kingdom’s centralised digital identity verification system has played a critical role in enabling seamless online transactions, Salcedo said.

“Saudi Arabia has very special trust in their national identity verification,” he said, adding that the UAE has a similar system and could potentially adopt the same approach.

Salcedo also highlighted the reduced reliance on attorneys and notaries, who are often paid to verify identification during property transactions elsewhere.

“In Saudi Arabia, it’s possible without that process,” he said.

Roshn launched its digital sales platform in August 2023 and plans to expand its scope by the first quarter of 2025 to include premium residency visa holders, currently excluded from using the service.

Salcedo said 8 percent of buyers have completed purchases without viewing properties in person so far, but the majority of reservations – 80 percent – were made online after an in-person visit to the sales centre.

“But then we saved them one, two or three trips to come back and do the purchase,” he said.

Roshn’s platform includes tools such as 3D property maps, transparent pricing, unit availability information and home finance calculators.

Homes listed on the platform are priced between SAR1.5 million and SAR3 million on average.

Salcedo said Roshn is also exploring ways to digitise parts of the mortgage process, adding that current tools provide estimates based on salaries but cannot account for existing loans.

“We are evolving into that area to make it easier because we have all the banks sitting at our sales centre,” he said.

Under Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia has been working to boost home ownership among citizens, with a goal of reaching 70 percent by the end of the decade.

The country is progressing rapidly toward this milestone, with estimates putting the amount of people who own their houses at nearly two in three.

The push to increase ownership, combined with making the process easier with technological advances, has led to increased demand and rising unit prices.

Residential sale numbers in the capital Riyadh climbed 31 percent year on year in the third quarter, consultancy company CBRE said. Average villa and apartment prices rose five and four percent respectively.