SQM by CapitalSA
SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2026
Who's building, buying and selling.
INTRODUCING SQM
Who's building, buying and selling.
This is our first edition: the contracts, land deals and projects shaping the Kingdom, for developers, contractors, suppliers and brokers. Three mornings a week, every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, free.
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Today’s SQM
01 / CONSTRUCTION
Good morning, friends, and welcome to the very first SQM.
This one is for the people who actually build the Kingdom: the developers, the contractors, the suppliers and the brokers. Three mornings a week, we’ll tell you where the work is, where the money is going, and what it means for your next deal.
And we’re starting with a simple question: where are the cranes going?
Saudi builders are still busy, just not in the same places they were in the summer. Roads, pipes and power lines are taking the work. Offices and malls are waiting.
The alrajhi capital Saudi Construction Index, compiled by S&P Global from a survey of 200 builders, slipped to 52.3 in October from 54.4 in September, the figures showed last week. Anything above 50 means growth, so that’s a sixth straight month of expansion, but the slowest since May.
The split: infrastructure jumped to 64.3 from 55.8, its strongest reading since the survey began in January. About 40% of firms said they had more infrastructure work, and just 5% said less.
Homebuilding grew at its slowest pace since May, at 50.4. Offices, shops and industrial buildings shrank for the first time since January, at 48.8.
Why buildings are cooling: firms said clients were turning cautious and some projects slipped, partly because of regional instability. New orders grew at their slowest pace since May.
The cost squeeze: price pressures eased from September but stayed near the survey’s highest, with firms naming bitumen, electrical equipment and steel. Buying more from local suppliers kept deliveries on time.
The bigger picture: the state is pushing hard on roads, utilities and transport ahead of Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup. That work is mostly government-backed, so it keeps moving even when private clients hesitate.
Why it matters: if you build roads, utilities or civil works, your order book looks healthy. If you build offices, malls or fit-outs, expect clients to take longer to sign, and to push harder on price.
Still upbeat: 31% of firms expect activity to rise over the next three months, against 5% expecting a fall. “Planned project starts and resilient demand continue to support the sector’s growth outlook,” said Sultan Al-Towaim, head of research at alrajhi capital.
What to watch: whether commercial building bounces back in November’s reading, due early next month.
Read more:
02 / CEMENT
The building slowdown is already showing up at the cement plants. The Kingdom’s 17 producers sold less in October, and unsold clinker, the half-made material that gets ground into cement, kept piling up.
Sales fell nearly 9% to 4.8 million tons from 5.2 million a year earlier, according to data from Yamama Cement released last week.
Photo: Saudi Cement Company
At home and abroad: local sales dropped 7.4% to 4.7 million tons. Exports nearly halved to 96,000 tons.
The stockpile: clinker inventories rose 4.4% to 46.1 million tons. At October’s pace, that’s almost 10 months of sales sitting in the yards.
Winners and losers: Umm Al-Qura Cement grew local sales 27% and Eastern Province Cement 25.5%. Hail Cement fell 41% and Tabuk Cement 32%. The two biggest names, Saudi Cement and Yamama, each dropped about 17%.
Price is the real story: Saudi Cement’s third-quarter profit still rose 34% to 71.3 million Riyal ($19 million), the company said in a filing last week. Revenue rose nearly 4% to about $101 million on higher local volumes and prices, plus lower selling and financing costs.
Qassim Cement went the other way. Its nine-month profit fell 17.5% to about $42 million, which it blamed on lower volumes, lower prices and higher fuel costs.
Why it matters: full yards and slowing orders could hand buyers more room to negotiate. For contractors pricing new bids, cement may be one cost that stops climbing, even as imported materials keep getting dearer.
What to watch: whether producers cut prices to clear stock, and November’s sales figures early next month.
Read more:
A GOOD BRIEFING TRAVELS
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03 / LAND
Riyadh’s municipality wants a private partner to build on one of its plots in the north of the city, and run it for half a century.
Riyadh Region Municipality, the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing and the National Center for Privatization & PPP have opened bidding for a 30,015 sq m government plot on Zaid bin Asim Street in Al Narjis.
How it works: the winner will build, own and operate the project for 50 years, then hand it back to the government. It can mix homes, shops, offices and leisure space.
Fast track: expressions of interest, prequalification and proposals are all running at once, rather than one after another. Bidders can request documents through the center’s investor portal until Feb. 3, 2027.
A first for the capital: it’s Riyadh municipality’s first project under this model. Similar 50-year deals are already out in Makkah, for a 166,488 sq m site on Al-Hada Road, and in Madinah, for an 84,657 sq m site at Sikkah Al Hadid.
The bigger picture: fees on idle private land are pushing owners to build or sell. Now the government is putting its own plots to work too, without selling them.
Why it matters: developers get prime land without paying for it upfront. The trade-off is that the asset goes back to the state after 50 years, so the returns have to come from operating it.
What to watch: who bids, and whether the municipality rolls out more plots the same way.
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DATA POINT
46.1 million tons
That’s how much unsold clinker Saudi cement makers were sitting on at the end of October, almost 10 months of sales at the current pace.
CONSTRUCTION PULSE · OCTOBER
52.3 ▼ from 54.4
alrajhi capital Saudi Construction Index (above 50 = growth)
BY SECTOR
Infrastructure
64.3 ▲ from 55.8
Residential
50.4 ▼ from 56.6
Offices, shops, industrial
48.8 ▼ from 50.9
04 / MAKKAH
Foreign state money has started buying in Makkah, and the developer that sold to it wants more buyers just like it.
Last month, Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara completed its purchase of the 1,461-room Novotel Thakher Makkah and 14 nearby plots from Thakher Development Company, in a deal the fund said was worth $553 million.
The new playbook: Thakher now plans to focus on selling whole blocks to large investors, while still offering single plots, Chief Executive Officer Faisal Shaker told Construction Week Saudi in an interview last week. A one-plot sale takes as much work as a big one, he said, and four large blocks are left.
What Danantara wants: a complex for Indonesian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims on the plots. Its chief executive, Rosan Roeslani, has said the fund also plans to buy land about 600 meters from the Grand Mosque.
The bigger picture: the law letting non-Saudis own property took effect in January, with its own rules for Makkah and Madinah. Since then, land near the Grand Mosque has been selling at twice its book value.
Why it matters: bulk sales mean fewer, bigger deals and faster cash for developers. For brokers and smaller buyers, they could mean less land reaching the open market in the most sought-after zones.
What to watch: whether other countries’ funds follow Indonesia, and what they pay per block.
Read more:
05 / SKYLINE
The building set to be the world’s tallest is entering the phase that suppliers care about most. Work is moving from pouring concrete to cladding the tower and fitting it out.
Jeddah Tower has reached level 120, about 482 meters, and is expected to pass 500 meters by the end of the year, Kingdom Holding said in its third-quarter results last week.
Photo: Kingdom Holding Company
Outside and in: more than 3,900 facade panels are up, the first round of mechanical, electrical and plumbing work has started, and the steel specialist for the Sky Terrace is on site.
The core: about 322,000 cubic meters of concrete has gone in, 72% of the total. Around 6,400 people are working on the tower.
Who’s building it: Saudi Binladin Group, under a 7.2 billion Riyal ($1.9 billion) contract signed in October 2024. Work resumed in January 2025, seven years after it stopped at 63 floors.
The bigger picture: the tower anchors Jeddah Economic City, a 5.3 million square meter district north of the city, with completion targeted for 2028.
Why it matters: every phase opens new packages, from facades to lifts and interiors. For suppliers, the tower is turning into a long pipeline of specialist work.
What to watch: the 500-meter milestone, and who wins the next fit-out and systems contracts.
Read more:
TENDER TRACKER
Who Won What
The contracts, tenders and land deals from the past week, in one place.
AWARDED
Madinah Downtown: Saudi contractor Lynx Contracting won an 825 million Riyal ($220 million) contract from Cenomi Centers to design and build a mall and offices, due in 30 months.
Rabigh 2: Power Mech Arabia, the Saudi unit of India’s Power Mech, won a $52 million job to install steam generators and a turbine at the power plant’s expansion, from builders Elsewedy Electric and Sinohydro.
Al Khobar: PIF-owned Saudi Downtown Co signed three deals with Sumou Real Estate to develop 61,500 sq m of homes in Downtown Al Khobar, the companies said in filings.
Qassim: Al-Suwaidani Real Estate won a 25-year contract worth 17.5 million Riyal ($4.7 million) to build and run a 1.03 million sq m industrial and logistics city in Al-Mithnab.
Land: Armah Sports bought a 5,280 sq m plot in north Riyadh’s Al-Sahafa for 55 million Riyal ($14.7 million) at auction.
OPEN NOW
Qiddiya: two wastewater plants and a desalination plant. Registration closes today.
King Salman International Airport: roads, bridges and utilities for Terminal 6. Bids due Dec. 6.
ROSHN: consultants have handed in design proposals for its north Riyadh district of about 32,000 homes.
Also out: a track-design framework from Saudi Arabia Railways, an Expo 2030 road package in Riyadh, and dam and irrigation tenders in Asir.
Won a contract or opened a tender? Tell us: [email protected]
THE WEEK AHEAD
What We’re Watching
Through Wednesday, 11 November / Pilgrims. Jeddah hosts the Hajj Conference and Exhibition, as planning for the 2027 season gets going.
Around Thursday, 12 November / Refunds. The window closes for individuals who sold property between 2018 and 2020 to claim back the VAT they paid.
Moved to February / Cityscape. Cityscape Global, Riyadh's biggest property show, will no longer open on 16 November. Organizers have pushed it to 1–4 February 2027 amid regional tensions. Next year's edition keeps its November dates.
BEFORE YOU GO
Follow the Concrete
The money is still flowing into Saudi construction. It’s just changing lanes.
Roads, utilities, giant towers and big-ticket land in Makkah are getting the money. Offices, malls and the cement that goes into them are waiting for clients to sign.
For anyone bidding this quarter, the question is simple: are you where the cranes are going?
Have a good week.
Who’s building, buying and selling.
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