Housing Costs in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar: Asking Rents, September 2026

Asking rents for an unfurnished one-bedroom apartment in September 2026 sat around SAR 3,200 a month in Riyadh, SAR 3,750 in Jeddah, SAR 2,500 in Dammam and SAR 2,600 in Khobar, based on listing samples. These are asking prices from listings, not signed contract rents, and they vary a lot by district, building age and floor.

Asking rents by city

Figures are monthly SAR for unfurnished apartments, taken from Bayut.sa listings on 14 September 2026 and processed for the site's cost calculator. Each row shows the median and, in brackets, the middle half of the listings (25th to 75th percentile).

Riyadh

• 1 bedroom: about SAR 3,170 (2,920 to 3,750), 45 listings
• 2 bedrooms: about SAR 5,830 (4,580 to 6,250), 37 listings
• 3 bedrooms: about SAR 6,670 (6,250 to 7,500), 45 listings

Jeddah

• 1 bedroom: about SAR 3,750 (3,750 to 5,480), 26 listings
• 2 bedrooms: about SAR 4,000 (3,420 to 5,230), 24 listings
• 3 bedrooms: about SAR 5,000 (3,630 to 6,250), 23 listings

Dammam

• 1 bedroom: about SAR 2,500 (2,200 to 2,500), 21 listings
• 2 bedrooms: about SAR 3,330 (3,080 to 3,710), 15 listings
• 3 bedrooms: about SAR 3,880 (3,020 to 4,580), 14 listings

Khobar

• 1 bedroom: about SAR 2,600 (1,850 to 2,800), 42 listings
• 2 bedrooms: about SAR 2,920 (2,330 to 4,580), 29 listings
• 3 bedrooms: about SAR 4,580 (3,000 to 6,040), 27 listings

How to read them:

• The samples are small and drawn from the first pages of listings. The Riyadh sample is mostly north Riyadh (Al Yasmin, Al Malqa, Al Olaya), the Jeddah one mostly north Jeddah (Al Rawdah, Al Salamah, Al Zahraa, Al Hamraa), and the Khobar one Al Hamra, Thuqbah and nearby districts.
• Jeddah and Dammam one-bedroom figures are the least reliable. In Jeddah, new-build Al Rawdah units pushed the one-bedroom median above the two-bedroom median, so we use the lower quartile instead.
• Studios, furnished units, rooms and villas are excluded. We do not publish villa or compound rents because we do not have a dated, verifiable sample. Check current listings on Bayut, Property Finder or Aqar for those.
• For official data, REGA publishes a rental index with average rental values by city on the Sakani platform (sakani.sa, reports and data). We could not open it when we checked, so verify what it shows.

Riyadh rents are frozen; Jeddah and Dammam are not

On 25 September 2025 a five-year suspension of rent increases took effect inside Riyadh's urban boundaries, for residential and commercial leases, new and existing. Vacant units that were rented before are capped at their last Ejar-registered rent; never-rented units are priced by agreement, and that price becomes the cap (King & Spalding, Argaam). Landlords can challenge a cap only in limited cases, such as major renovation or a last lease signed before 2024.

Bayut reported the freeze still in force in October 2026 and said it does not automatically cover Jeddah, Dammam or other cities (Bayut). REGA can extend the rules to other cities with approval from the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. Outside Riyadh, a landlord may ask for a rent change at renewal, at least 90 days before expiry, and you have until 60 days before expiry to answer; no reply counts as a rejection.

What this means for you: in Riyadh, ask for the previous Ejar rent on a vacant unit, because the landlord cannot legally charge more than that. See negotiating rent for how to use that.

Costs beyond rent

From the same dataset (September 2026, one adult, low to medium confidence):

• Electricity and water: about SAR 273 a month, estimated for an 85 m2 one-bedroom apartment as an annual average. Summer air conditioning pushes the bill above that average. Try the utility bill estimator.
• Home internet: about SAR 250 a month.
• Mobile: about SAR 115 a month for one line (mobile plan comparison).

Landlords bear Ejar's platform fees; compounds and some buildings add service charges for parking or cleaning that should be listed in the contract.

Plan your budget

1. Pick the bedroom count and city above for a starting range, then widen it by district using Bayut or Property Finder.
2. Add utilities and internet, plus furniture if the unit is unfurnished (furnishing guide).
3. Run the numbers in the rent affordability tool and the cost calculator.
4. Compare areas on our neighborhood pages for Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar.
5. Before you sign, read Saudi lease agreements and confirm the lease is registered on Ejar.

Sources

Facts in this guide were checked on 22 October 2026 against these pages. Fees and rules change, so confirm on the official page before you pay or apply.

• Bayut: Riyadh rent freeze 2026
• Argaam: Ejar outlines new rental regulations, addresses FAQs (29 Oct 2025)
• King & Spalding: Saudi Arabia introduces rent controls and automatic lease renewal
• REGA: Rental index, September 2023 (where the official index is published)