Construction market in Riyadh ‘overheating’, #Dubai ‘hot’ and #Qatar most expensive

Construction market in Riyadh ‘overheating’, Dubai ‘hot’ and Qatar most expensive

Average building costs in Riyadh are currently less than half of New York, but the Saudi capital is one of two markets in a global survey that are ‘overheating’, boosted by strong pipelines and straining under robust activity levels.

As Saudi Arabia makes progress on giga projects towards its Vision 2030 goals and the capital becomes home to the regional headquarters of international companies, a new report by professional services firm Turner & Townsend revealed that Riyadh, along with Canadian capital, Ottawa, is one of two markets in a global survey that it considers as belonging to the overheating category for construction tendering.

Nearby hub Dubai is assessed as ‘hot’, and Abu Dhabi ‘warm’ according to Turner & Townsend’s assessments.

Saudi Arabia has an average build cost in Riyadh currently $2,379 per sqm, the report said, with construction costs higher than Dubai across most sectors, except for prestige car showrooms, where the cost is higher in Dubai at $2,478 per sqm compared with $2,403 in Riyadh.

High-rise offices prestige offices cost $2,136 per sqm to build in Riyadh compared with $1,852 in Dubai, and residential apartments cost $2,003 in Riyadh compared with $1,280 per sqm in Dubai.