Retail space in the Saudi capital Riyadh is expected to grow from the current 2.3 million sq m to 2.9 million sqm by 2014, an expert said.

This growth will complement the development of new suburban districts and support the emergence of a ‘New Riyadh'.

'Retail property sales in Riyadh are being driven up by improving consumer confidence,' said Deep Marwaha, the director of Cityscape Riyadh, the first local edition of Saudi's premier real estate investment and development event to be held from December 12 to 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.
 
'Year-on-year point-of-sale transactions were up 22 per cent in April 2010 and the Kingdom's robust economy will help sustain this trend over the next few years,' he pointed out.

The office market is also on the rise, with more than one million square feet of new office space set to be introduced by 2015, Marwaha said.

Housing remains Riyadh's main property segment though, with total local inventory currently estimated at 900,000 units and prices expected to increase by around five to 10 per cent over the next two years, he noted.

According to him, apartment rates throughout the city are up by around 6 per cent over the second half of 2009, while villas are fetching prices around 3.9 per cent higher.

These and other key industry trends will be highlighted during Cityscape Riyadh 2010. The highlights of the three-day event include Cityscape Riyadh Exhibition and Investor Round Tables, the Cityscape Riyadh Conference and the Cityscape Riyadh Leaders in Real Estate gala dinner.

'Cityscape Riyadh 2010 will give us a clearer picture of where the opportunities are and what strategies developers and investors should take as Riyadh overhauls its local infrastructure,' Marwaha added.

Over 50 domestic and international real estate firms will exhibit at Cityscape Riyadh 2010 and tap the extensive market reach of the Cityscape network, which comprises more than 350,000 global investors and real estate professionals.
 
Cityscape Riyadh follows the huge success of Cityscape Jeddah 2010 which welcomed more than 9,500 participants, he added.

The Riyadh show will meet the huge demand for a real estate platform serving the Kingdom’s Central Provinces, and with four months more to go, it has already booked almost 70 per cent of its exhibition space, Marwaha said.-TradeArabia News Service