Saudi Arabia Hosts Successful 2023 CityScape Global Property Conference
In September, Saudi Arabia hosted CityScape Global in Riyadh. This event brought together hundreds of developers from more than 20 countries, making it the largest real estate exhibition in the world. Over the course of four days, the event highlighted exciting and groundbreaking projects in Saudi Arabia and other jurisdictions across the globe to provide inspiration for further development, get investors excited about the future of real estate, and further the kingdom’s mission of economic diversification.
CityScape Global is a product of Saudi Vision 2030, a plan initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to decrease dependence on oil and promote a more sustainable future. As Saudi Arabia has pulled away from oil, the kingdom has increased its investment in real estate as a primary means of generating revenue.
The Values Represented by CityScape Global
CityScape Global exemplifies the tremendous progress Saudi Arabia has made toward realizing Vision 2030. The multinational event attracted people from around the globe and is evidence of increasing interest in Saudi real estate. For its part, the kingdom will depend a great deal on foreign investment in its extremely ambitious real estate projects.
Events like CityScape Global demonstrate that the world is paying attention to what the kingdom is trying to achieve and want to support Saudis in achieving their goals. Saudi Arabia is in a unique position to build some groundbreaking projects and forge a path toward a greener tomorrow.
On the first day of CityScape Global, more than $17 billion in real estate deals were unveiled to demonstrate to potential investors the confidence that other people have had. These deals are part of a much larger pool of Saudi real estate investments associated with Vision 2030. They include the landmark National Housing Company initiative to expand suburban communities, which includes new developments in Khuzam and Al-Fursan, among other suburbs of Riyadh.
In addition, projects slated for both Trojena, and Oxagon, two suburbs of Neom, were highlighted at the conference. Trojena will eventually be a ski resort and wildlife preserve while Oxagon is designed as a large, man-made industrial island. Both developments will have residential tracts to accommodate people wanting to move to the Neom area.
An Extraordinary Real Estate Conference
The investment announcement was made to more than 2,000 investors excited about the prospect of investing in the future of the kingdom. While this set the tone for the rest of the event, the various activities were enough to keep people engaged and excited. Altogether, more than 350 exhibitors set up attractions at the event, which meant that there was very little on the real estate horizon that was not explored in some fashion during CityScape Global.
Moreover, more than 250 speakers hosted talks over the course of the conference. These speakers included professionals from the local real estate community along with plenty of representation from other nations around the globe. The various experts spoke on a variety of topics, from lessons people have gained from personal experience, to more general overviews of where they think the industry is headed, and how to stay ahead of the curve.
Some of the features of the weekend included the Design and Architecture Showcase, the Institutional Investor Forum, and CityScapeWIRE, which stands for Women in Real Estate. Another key attraction was the Future of Living Summit. It provided a forum for exploring what urban life might look like down the road and how to direct development toward the desired outcomes.
Each of the four days of CityScape Global had its own theme: Accelerating the Kingdom, Project Proptech, Developers Forum, and Smart Cities Tomorrow. Through these four topics, the event took people in attendance on a journey from present to future while exploring the technologies most important for advancing the industry. These technologies need investors as well as industry professionals sharing their potential with the public. Saudi Arabia is leading the charge in terms of smart city development and green planning, with Neom set to become the first truly smart, fully connected city in the world.
The Economic Future of Saudi Arabia
Accomplishments like Neom have only been possible through Vision 2030 and the kingdom’s pointed shift in priorities, which allowed more funding to funnel into unique projects. These include everything from floating man-made islands utilizing the naturally occurring water around them to help cool buildings, to a tower that may become one of the tallest in the world. With a focus on these unique attractions as, Saudi Arabia will already drive its tourism rates higher.
However, the kingdom is doing a lot to highlight the unique features in the kingdom. For example, at the conference, the Royal Commission for the Holy City of Mecca and the Holy Sites entered an agreement to create a large real estate fund that will fuel the development of Al-Kidwa, just south of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. These boosts to tourism and expansion of real estate into entirely new categories are moving Saudi Arabia away from oil and ushering in a greener, more sustainable future.