Riyadh rose 47 places to rank 50th worldwide among 1,000 cities across 163 countries in Oxford Economics' 2026 Global Cities Index, after placing 118th in 2024 and 97th in 2025; the index scores cities on five pillars and 27 sub-indicators covering economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.
Moving from 118th to 50th in two years reflects both strong performance and city improvement. Companies considering a regional headquarters should highlight this in their internal proposals, as boards typically accept such external rankings without question.
Explore more signals
Smaller mortgages, fewer riyals
New residential mortgages from banks to individuals fell 5% year on year in September to about SAR 5.53 billion, from SAR 5.82 billion. Banks signed about 9,680 contracts, and the average new mortgage fell 21% to about SAR 571,000. Villas took the largest share at SAR 3.8 billion, or 69%, according to SAMA data.
The average loan dropped much more than the total, which means buyers are taking out smaller loans instead of leaving the market. If you’re a developer selling off-plan, set your next phase’s price based on the current average loan, not last year’s.
SAR 4.98 billion to small firms
Financing to micro, small and medium enterprises through the SME Bank's programmes rose 11.4% to SAR 4.98 billion in Q2 2026, from SAR 4.47 billion a year earlier. The cumulative total through indirect lending and the Kafalah guarantee programme reached about SAR 139 billion since 2006, reaching more than 145,000 businesses, and Riyadh region took 44.4% of it.
Since Q2 lending increased to SAR 4.98 billion, the SME product head should focus more on promoting guaranteed loans in regions outside Riyadh, where their share is still low.
This year cut, next year doubled
A Bloomberg survey of 15 economists at major international banks, conducted between 11 and 16 September, put average expected Saudi GDP growth for this year at about 0.6%, down from 1.6% in the previous survey, with individual estimates ranging from growth of close to 3% to a contraction of 2.5%. The same economists expect the Saudi economy to grow about 6.1% in 2027, and the survey period coincided with the attack that temporarily halted the East-West pipeline.
The difference between this year and next reflects a disruption rather than a trend. Investors considering Saudi exposure should view the 6.1% figure as a rebound estimate that requires separate stress testing.
