Rents for warehousing facilities in Saudi Arabia continued to rise in 1H 2024 on the back of rising demand, according to a report (pdf) from London-based real estate consultant Knight Frank. Investments have been plugged into expanding warehousing facilities in KSA in a bid to leverage higher demand and surging rents, with capacity boosted in Riyadh and Jeddah.

The lay of the (rented) land: There was a 10.4% increase in average lease rates for light industrial units and grade B facilities over the past 12 months in Riyadh, settling at SAR 210 per sqm. Average lease rates in Jeddah reached SAR 208 per sqm — a 1.5% y-o-y increase in 1H of this year — with a 97% occupancy rate. Meanwhile, average rents in the Eastern Province were higher at SAR 228 per sqm, while lease rates in the Dammam Industrial and Al Taawun districts range between SAR 280 per sqm and SAR 300 per sqm.

Driving the growth in demand: Investments in Saudi’s industrial sector hit SAR 7 bn in 1Q 2024, after growing 63% in 2023 to SAR 15 bn, Knight Frank notes. Manufacturing activity in the Kingdom has been growing for most of the year, according to the local industrial production index, which saw the sub-index for manufacturing rise for six consecutive months. The Kingdom’s growing e-commerce industry — spurred by covid-era boom — drove demand for “modern warehousing and logistics solutions,” the report says. E-commerce is currently Saudi’s second-highest VC funded sector in the Kingdom.

Supply hasn’t been keeping pace with demand growth, creating a shortage of warehousing space across the Kingdom. The shortage is “exacerbated by the cautious behavior of landowners … [who] are hesitant to develop speculatively due to their lack of experience in creating a real estate that meets international standards,” said Mikhail Vereshchagin, associate partner at Knight Frank.

CAPACITY BREAKDOWN BY GEOGRAPHY-

Riyadh’s warehouse and logistics capacity has grown to 28 mn sqm over the past 12 months, with most of the new facilities located in the Industrial Gate City (IGC). There’s another 820k sqm of industrial and logistics space under construction in Riyadh, with the majority again in IGC, followed by Jabal Ali. Meanwhile, ASMO — a supply chain JV between Aramco and DHL Supply Chain — marks some of the efforts to meet the rising demand in the energy, chemical, and industrial sectors. However, much of the supply currently under construction is meant for light industrial use, Knight Frank notes.

Over in Jeddah: Capacity at the Red Sea city has grown to 19.6 mn sqm, driven by key projects including Maersk’s logistics park, and Aramex’s warehouse at Jeddah Islamic Port. Projects in the port city’s pipeline include joint venture Jeddah Logistics Park by Mawani and DP World. The project — slated for completion in 2Q 2025 — will add 185k sqm of warehousing space to the city’s capacity, and stands to become DP World’s largest warehousing space in the region. German shipping giant Maersk and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) also jointly inaugurated a SAR 1.3 bn logistics zone at Jeddah Islamic Port last month, spanning a 225k sqm area.

And in Dammam: The Dammam Metropolitan Area’s industrial and logistics infrastructure supply remain “relatively unchanged due to a lack of major completions” over the past year, Knight Frank says. Stock in the area remains at 7.96 mn sqm, with occupancy rates standing at 96%. High-quality warehouse facilities were in greater demand on the back of new industrial cities being set up, including King Salman Energy Park and the Industrial Valley. “These industrial zones house numerous manufacturing and petrochemical companies that require extensive storage and logistics support,” according to the report.

The upshot: With key areas like Riyadh currently “starved of supply” of warehouse space and logistics solutions, international developers now have an appealing window to enter the market through partnerships with local players. However, Knight Frank expects the supply crunch to persist for some time, as “the construction and availability of new warehouse spaces would likely take around two years from the time the partnership is established.”

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