Buying Off-Plan in Saudi Arabia: A Step-by-Step Guide 2026
A practical guide to buying off-plan in Saudi Arabia: the Authority's four licence types, the escrow account and how it protects your money if the developer falters, and the buyer's steps before paying anything.
Buying off-plan means buying a unit that has not yet been built, paying for it in instalments during construction, and receiving it on a date written into the contract. Your protection here does not come from your trust in the developer or from their reputation, but from the project's licence with the Real Estate General Authority, and from the escrow account into which your money is deposited and out of which nothing may be spent except on the project itself, in line with the completion percentage. This guide explains the regulatory mechanism in order, and what you verify before paying a single riyal.
This content is for general awareness and does not constitute legal, financial or investment advice. Regulations, fees and rates are subject to change, and every transaction differs. Verify with the official sources (the Real Estate General Authority, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Central Bank, Sakani, Najiz) before taking any decision.
What does buying off-plan mean, and how does it differ from buying a completed unit?
With a completed unit you inspect what you are buying with your own eyes, and ownership passes to you immediately after notarisation. When buying off-plan, what you see are drawings, show units and design renders, and the unit itself is built after you sign. There are three practical differences:
- Price and payment schedule: you agree the price today for a unit to be delivered later, and you pay it in instalments spread across the construction period, not in a single payment on handover.
- The waiting period: you are waiting until the delivery date, which is why that date must be specified to the day in the contract, not left as a general promise.
- The source of protection: with a completed unit, inspection and the title deed protect you. When buying off-plan, three regulatory things protect you: the project licence, the escrow account, and the annotation on the land deed barring disposal.
Your choice of district and of developer remains a separate decision from these protections, and we set it out in detail in how to choose the district and the developer in Riyadh.
Who regulates off-plan sales in Saudi Arabia?
The regulator is the Real Estate General Authority (REGA), through the Wafi programme for off-plan sale and lease. A great deal of older content attributes this remit to the Ministry of Housing, which is inaccurate: licensing, supervision and enquiry all sit with the Authority.
You can check for yourself through the "enquiry about projects licensed for off-plan sale and lease" service on the Real Estate General Authority portal, or from the Wafi programme page, or by calling the service centre on 199011.
What types of off-plan licence exist, and what is the practical difference?
There are four types of licence, and confusing them is the most common mistake buyers make. The difference that matters to you directly is this: is the person offering you the project permitted to take money from you at all?
| Licence type | What it relates to | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Off-plan sale or lease licence | The project itself | This is the licence you ask about first; it is the condition for offering units for off-plan sale or lease |
| Marketing licence with receipt of funds | The project marketing activity | The marketing party is licensed to receive funds within the terms of the licence, and the destination of those funds is the project escrow account |
| Marketing licence without receipt of funds | The project marketing activity | Marketing only. A holder of this licence may not take money from you, whatever the payment is called |
| Real estate developer qualification | The developer as an entity | It relates to the developer, not to a particular project, and its existence is no substitute for checking the licence of the project you are buying into |
What is the escrow account, and why is it the buyer's strongest protection?
The escrow account is a bank account specific to the project at a licensed bank, into which buyers' and financiers' funds are deposited, and which is designated for spending on the licensed project only. Your money does not go into a general account of the developer nor into a personal account, but into an account earmarked for this particular project. The escrow account agreement with a licensed bank is a mandatory document within the project licensing requirements — meaning the project cannot be licensed at all without it.
What does "its funds may not be attached for the benefit of the developer's creditors" mean?
This is the most important piece of information in this article, and it deserves to be read twice. If the developer runs into financial difficulty and claims accumulate against them from other parties — contractors, financiers or suppliers — those creditors may not attach the funds deposited in your project's escrow account and divide them among themselves. The money in that account is tied to the project you paid for, not to the developer's general financial liability.
In practice, this is the difference between being someone who handed money to a company and then became one name in a long queue of creditors, and having your money ring-fenced for its original purpose: building the unit you bought. The same principle means that any financing the developer or the landowner obtains for the project must also be deposited into the escrow account, so that the project is not financed from one side while the money is spent on another.
How are payments released from the account?
Not according to the developer's need nor their wishes, but according to the project's engineering completion percentage and in line with the payment schedule in the contract. Put more plainly: the money moves behind the construction, not ahead of it. Every amount leaving the account corresponds to actual progress on the ground, and this is what makes your tracking of the completion percentage a matter of following your own money rather than mere curiosity.
What does annotating the land deed against disposal mean?
Among the licensing requirements, the property owner agrees that the land deed be annotated to bar any disposal. The effect is direct: the land on which your project stands is restricted against any dealing for as long as the project is running, so it cannot be used in another transaction while you are paying your instalments. This protection and the previous one work together: the land is restricted, and the money is ring-fenced for its purpose.
What did the Authority examine before granting the project its licence?
The licence is not a formality but the outcome of a file that is submitted and reviewed. The requirements for licensing an off-plan sale project include:
- A valid commercial registration, and the developer's credit record
- The property's title deed number, and the owner's consent to annotating the deed against disposal
- Approved designs and drawings, and the unit subdivision record
- A contract with a certified accountant, and a feasibility study from a consultancy
- An undertaking to begin construction works within 6 months
- A sale contract template with delivery dates specified to the day
- An agreement to open an escrow account with a licensed bank
When you ask "is the project licensed?" what you are really asking is: has this project passed through all of the above? This is why a verbal answer will not do; an enquiry on the Authority's portal settles the question in a minute.
What must the contract contain, and where is it registered?
The system obliges the developer to submit a sale contract template approved by the Authority as part of the licensing requirements, and requires delivery dates in it to be specified to the day. "In about two years" or "by the end of next year, God willing" are not delivery dates, and the date written to the day in the contract is the only reference in a dispute.
And where the project's property is under title registration, all contracts and disposals must be documented in the "off-plan sale register" at the real estate register. Ask the developer which documentation track your project follows, and request proof that it was carried out after signing.
As for the transfer of ownership to you at the end of the journey, it has its own procedures, and we devoted a separate article to it: the contract, transfer of title and ownership transfer in Saudi Arabia. For now it is enough to know that the real estate transaction tax at 5% applies to the property whether it is completed, under construction or off-plan; that the disposing party (the seller) bears it in law; and that the date of disposal in an off-plan sale is the date ownership transfer is notarised before the notary public — as at the date of this article (28 July 2026).
How do you buy off-plan, step by step?
- Verify the licence before reserving. Search for the project in "enquiry about licensed projects" on the Authority's portal, and ask what type of licence the person speaking to you holds: off-plan sale, marketing with receipt of funds, or marketing without receipt of funds.
- Read the contract in full, starting with the delivery date. Make sure it is specified to the day, and read the payment schedule and what each instalment corresponds to, the unit specifications and finishes, and the consequences of delay.
- Make sure payment goes to the project's escrow account. Not to a personal account, not to a representative's account, and not in cash. Ask for the escrow account details and keep the receipt for every instalment.
- Register the contract. If the property is under title registration, registration is in the "off-plan sale register" at the real estate register — ask for proof of it.
- Track the completion percentage until handover. As long as instalments are released on the basis of the engineering completion percentage, tracking it is following the movement of your own money, not a courtesy to the developer.
Which mistakes are the expensive ones?
- Paying outside the escrow account. An amount that does not enter the escrow account is not covered by the protection the whole system is built on, including the bar on attaching it for the benefit of the developer's creditors.
- Relying on a verbal promise of a delivery date. Unless it is written to the day in the contract, it is not a date you can rely on.
- Not verifying the licence before paying a reservation amount. Verifying after payment does not bring the money back; verifying before it is free and takes minutes.
RYLIST Global's role
Reading an off-plan sale contract, matching its particulars against the project licence, and understanding the payment schedule against completion percentages: all of this is detailed work that takes time and experience, and is not something settled during a visit to a sales gallery. This is precisely the side we work on with buyers: what must be verified, where it is verified officially, and which questions to put to the developer before signing.
You can browse the projects available through RYLIST, or start a conversation with Fahem, the real estate advisor to put your questions about buying off-plan. The decision remains yours; our job is to make sure it rests on correct information you can verify yourself.
