Hintel Middle East publishes 2026 Real Estate Salary Report as Saudi Arabia's private sector competes with giga-projects for talent
Tom Brooks
Specialist real estate and construction talent advisory releases its first Kingdom of Saudi Arabia salary benchmark backed by direct workforce sentiment data, revealing
Key findings
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Expat talent attraction. 41% of expat professionals cite salary and compensation as the main reason they came to work in Saudi Arabia. Not one Saudi national gave this answer. Conversely, 65% of Saudi nationals cite home, family or national ties, an answer no expat gave.
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Salary decides who stays, regardless of why they came. 52% of respondents say salary or pay is what would make them change roles today, the single biggest driver at every seniority level surveyed.
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Pay rises are running small and slow. 45% of respondents received an increase of just 0 to 5%, and a further 10% report no increase at all, or one that has been put on hold.
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Senior leaders are where pay has stalled hardest. A quarter of Director-level-and-above respondents report no pay rise or one on hold, more than three times the rate seen at Manager level.
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Private sector pay continues to lag the giga-projects, with public sector-backed developments still poaching experienced professionals with career-defining opportunities that private developers and family offices are struggling to match.
Hintel Middle East, the Saudi Arabia-based real estate and construction talent advisory and a business of the deverellsmith group, has published its 2026 Real Estate Salary Report for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The report combines SAR salary benchmarks across Production, Construction and Development, Sales and Leasing, Real Estate Management, and Marketing, HR and Finance, with findings from a dedicated Workforce Sentiment Survey of professionals working in, or connected to, the Kingdom's real estate sector.
A market shaped by geopolitical caution and giga-project competition
The report paints a picture of a market recalibrating under regional pressure. Over the past 12 months, regional geopolitical tensions have driven a degree of economic uncertainty and led some expatriate professionals to leave the region.
Against this backdrop, private developers and family offices have become notably more active, competing aggressively with the well-established giga-project ecosystem for talent.
Historically, private sector employers in the Kingdom have paid below the levels offered by major state-backed developments, and this gap persists.
As a result, retention within the private sector remains challenging, as public sector-backed giga-projects continue to attract and poach experienced professionals with career-defining opportunities and the pull of globally recognised developments.
Tom Brooks, Country Lead for Saudi Arabia at Hintel Middle East, commented:
"Demand currently outpaces supply of opportunities, meaning there is more available talent than there are open roles, a dynamic amplified by the seasonal slowdown typically seen over the summer period. But businesses reporting strong performance in the current environment appear to have been largely insulated from these broader market pressures."
He continued: "Provided regional tensions continue to ease, the private sector in KSA is expected to keep growing.
Beyond the capital, the greatest opportunity is expected to emerge in the Kingdom's holy cities, where substantial investment is being directed into hospitality and residential developments tied to religious tourism.
We expect an upward trajectory in hiring activity from the final quarter of the year onward, with recruitment becoming more diverse geographically."
About the report
Hintel Middle East's 2026 Real Estate Salary Report covers salary benchmarks across Production, Construction and Development, Sales and Leasing, Real Estate Management, and Marketing, HR and Finance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It draws on Hintel's market-wide hiring intelligence alongside responses from real estate and construction professionals working in, or connected to, the Kingdom who participated in the 2026 Workforce Sentiment Survey.
Hintel Middle East is a business of the deverellsmith group, the largest and only global talent advisory exclusively for real estate and construction, with offices in London, the Middle East and North America.
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