Saudi developers are seeking foreign partners and expertise to meet the king's demand for thousands of new Saudi apartments (homes) for his people.
Saudi Arabia may have plenty of oil and a great deal of space, but, remarkably, it has a shortage of housing.
The government estimates that more than 500,000 people require new homes annually, equivalent to about 100,000 units a year. To meet the need, scores of house building projects are rolling off the architectural drawing boards, and the property business is booming.
In the last three years, 50 new real estate developers have received licenses from the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and regional property firms are entering the market.
Many of the new developments are spectacular mega-projects. The $26.6 billion King Abdullah Economic City, which is being built on the Red Sea coast north of Jeddah, will have three luxury residential districts that will house 75,000 residents.
A second project, Jeddah Hills, which is to be built in Jeddah at a cost of $11.2 billion, will consist of 20,000 top range residential units.
Al Oula Development Company, operating under the umbrella of Emaar Middle East, is responsible for building the properties on almost half of the 5,432 acre site. Ayedh Bin Farhan Al-Gahtani, president of Al Oula, says it will be developed in phases and will be the single biggest residential building project in Jeddah.
Al Oula has projects in all the kingdom's major cities, says Al-Gahtani, who believes that the real estate business in the kingdom is just starting and the potential for development is great, due to an alarming shortage of home ownership properties in the kingdom. He expects to see many more such developments and says that Al Oula will take the biggest share in the market in developing residential units.