Sarcc establishes ‘significant’ residential opportunity across Saudi Arabia
The Smart Accommodation for Residential Complexes Company (sarcc) attended Mipim 2025 for the first time as part of the Invest Saudi pavilions, heralding an important housing opportunity for investors.
Established in October 2024 by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the company’s mandate is to bring specialised employee accommodation to the market for staff involved in the major construction and development projects across the kingdom, as well as those working in hospitality, travel, logistics, retail and other industries. In turn, it will contribute to attracting talent and partners by providing modern, quality accommodation with suitable amenities, facilities and services.
Khalid Johar, co-head of the Local Real Estate Portfolio Department at PIF, said at the time of sarcc’s formation: “The staff accommodation market represents a significant opportunity, due to growing demand in the local market. Sarcc will play an important role in meeting the increasing need for accommodation solutions in Saudi Arabia, creating new opportunities for companies in the private sector.”
Current and future needs of communities
CEO Mark Taylor highlighted the scale of the opportunity in terms of meeting both the current and future needs of the kingdom with three to four million beds required. “When we look at the sectors we address, this equates to an investment value of SAR165 billion (€40 billion),” he told Real FDI.
The focus for sarcc is on creating permanent housing by creating accommodation that is flexible and can be adapted to meet both the current and future needs of communities.
“At the moment there is a significant demand in accommodation for construction workers for the many gigaprojects in the kingdom,” explained Taylor. “But as these are completed the needs will change towards more traditional residential demand across multiple sectors, including accommodation for employees at all levels in sectors like aviation, hospitality, healthcare, student living.”
Futureproofing buildings
The flexibility to enable change of use is key to futureproofing and adapting the buildings to meet current and future international standards, as well as supporting sustainability goals.
“Innovation, modern methods of construction and modular techniques create greater efficiency in construction, but also ensure the assets can have multiple useful lives – both of which contribute to a more sustainable, lower-carbon future,” Taylor said.
Community and quality of life are also fundamental to sarcc’s philosophy, as well as looking towards partnerships with both local and international businesses to support the overall aims. “We are here to be an enabler, our business model is predicated towards partnership with the private sector,” added Taylor.
In January, sarcc acquired the Al Nakhla Residential Resort, a private gated complex in Northern Riyadh for senior management professionals.
The acquisition reaffirms sarcc’s aim to transform living spaces into innovative, world-class communities that foster professional success and enhance wellbeing. The residential complexes are designed to ensure a quality standard of living, which is fundamental to the quality of life pillar of Saudi’s Vision 2030.
The project, now fully operational, features 484 villas, 652 apartments, and 6,000 sq m of green spaces over 259,979 sq m of land. The community will be home to 2,000 residents.
