{"id":104395,"date":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=104395"},"modified":"2026-01-21T04:23:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:23:37","slug":"rent-rally-masks-tech-deflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/01\/21\/rent-rally-masks-tech-deflation\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent rally masks tech deflation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"> <strong>Annual inflation in 2025 masked a divergence between a red-hot rental market and a <\/strong><strong>deflationary trend in tech and household goods<\/strong>, with the latest data from the General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) showing a 2.0% rise in the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/1\/753.pdf\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">annual CPI index (pdf)<\/a>. At the same time, wholesale prices (WPI) also rose 2.0%, driven by higher prices in refined petroleum and agricultural products. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The headline figure indicates stability, but the engine of inflation has narrowed.<\/strong> Housing costs and specific industrial inputs are now the primary drivers of the CPI and WPI baskets, while traditional \u201ccost of living\u201d items like food and communications have largely stabilized or dropped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The \u201crental trap\u201d remains the primary driver:<\/strong> Housing and utilities prices jumped 6.1% over the year, driven almost exclusively by an 8.2% jump in actual rentals for housing. Other key pricing shifts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The experience economy:<\/strong> Personal care and miscellaneous items rose 5.1%, fueled by an 18.6% rise in \u201cother personal belongings,\u201d while recreation and culture rose 2.5%;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ins. and financial services<\/strong> were up 6.3%;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stable sectors:<\/strong> Food (1.1%), tobacco (0.6%) and restaurants \/ accommodation (1.8%) saw modest growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Where the pressure eased:<\/strong> Tech and communications, home goods, and healthcare services were all on a deflationary path in 2026, with household maintenance leading the pack with a 0.8% decline.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Wholesale prices signal downstream pressure:<\/strong> The 2.0% <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/1\/762.pdf\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">increase in the WPI (pdf)<\/a> suggests potential cost-push pressure for industries in 2026. Refined petroleum, agriculture and fishery, and manufacturing input prices were all up throughout 2025, with ores and minerals providing a slight reprieve as prices in that sector fell 1.2%. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\">\n<p class=\"tag-border-left\">What to expect this year<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Price growth is <\/strong><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/01\/13\/the-2026-fiscal-pivot\/\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">projected<\/a><\/strong><strong> to hold steady at somewhere between 2-2.2% in 2026<\/strong>, according to NBK, Finance Ministry, and World Bank forecasts. A cooling housing market \u2014 aided by the rent freeze in Riyadh \u2014 will help offset rising global commodity costs, NBK previously noted. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\">(<strong>** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links<\/strong> to our background and outside sources.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The data reveals a surging rental market and luxury spending offset by a deflationary trend in tech and household goods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2571],"tags":[27,10,2891],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-104395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-economy","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-housing","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"b6f4dda2-6b5d-42d2-93d9-5ff2192349f8","order":"5","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/9\/2067.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Saudi inflation stabilizes at 2.0% in 2025 as housing demand masks cooling items","related_issue":[104387],"teaser":"The data reveals a surging rental market and luxury spending offset by a deflationary trend in tech and household goods."},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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