The Real Estate Authority announced a package of regulatory and professional updates to develop the real estate brokerage sector, including launching a new track to qualify brokers, classifying brokerage and auction establishments into 5 categories, and expanding supervision tools, during the third edition of the Real Estate Brokerage Forum held in Riyadh, with broad participation from brokers, developers, experts, and relevant authorities.

The authority revealed that the value of real estate deals executed in the Kingdom over the past three years exceeded 1.6 trillion riyals, and the number of sale and lease deals surpassed 13 million deals, with more than 1.2 million real estate ads published, more than 1.1 million brokerage contracts concluded, and the number of licensed real estate brokers reaching about 116,000.

The spokesperson for the Real Estate Authority, Taisir Al-Mufarrij, confirmed in an exclusive statement to 'Okaz' that the Real Estate Brokerage Forum has become an annual platform gathering brokers from various regions of the Kingdom, contributing to building professional partnerships and exchanging expertise, noting that this year's edition coincided with the third anniversary of the implementation of the Real Estate Brokerage Law, which helped regulate the profession and raise the level of professionalism in the market.

He explained that the authority is working to enable brokers to keep pace with the transformations in the sector, whether in regulations and legislation, major projects, or modern technologies and artificial intelligence, stressing that these changes require raising the efficiency of practitioners and continuously developing their skills.

New track to qualify brokers

The authority announced during the forum the launch of a new track to qualify real estate brokers based on 5 training courses and a comprehensive exam held in person at the National Center for Assessment in more than 76 locations across the Kingdom, to begin implementation in the coming weeks, with current licenses continuing until their expiration.

The authority revealed a project to classify real estate brokerage establishments and auction establishments into 5 categories, according to criteria including experience, number of deals, level of compliance, violations, training courses, number of branches, and human resources, ahead of announcing the classification results in February 2027.

Requirement of 'Fal' alongside 'Mawthooq'

The authority explained that in the future, celebrities wishing to advertise real estate will be required to obtain a 'Fal' license in addition to a 'Mawthooq' license, ensuring that all advertisers are subject to the same professional controls.

It also announced the activation of the 'mystery shopper' mechanism to monitor irregular real estate practices and verify activity without a license, in addition to launching a specialized diploma in real estate systems and legislation, and reviewing initiatives to support innovation, real estate technology, and artificial intelligence.

Al-Yahya: 'Real Estate Registry' covers 10 regions

The spokesperson for the Real Estate Registry, Yazid Al-Yahya, confirmed in an exclusive statement to 'Okaz' that the Real Estate Registry has expanded services provided to real estate brokers by enabling the implementation of in-kind real estate registration procedures within the services they offer to beneficiaries, contributing to improving service quality, speeding up procedures, and enhancing integration between the brokerage system and the Real Estate Registry.

He pointed out that the Real Estate Registry's work currently covers 10 regions in the Kingdom, noting that registration indicators reflect the growing awareness of property owners of the importance of in-kind registration, while work continues to expand the scope of benefit from the system.

He added that the system of non-Saudi ownership has granted the Real Estate Registry a pivotal role in implementing real estate transactions, as property transfer operations subject to the system are now linked to registration in the Real Estate Registry, calling on property owners and developers to take the initiative to register their properties to benefit from the investment opportunities the system provides.