GLOSSARY.md

Glossary — Saudi Real Estate Terms

    

Arabic terms used in the data files, grouped by category.

Government Entities

Arabic	English	Role in this dataset
وزارة العدل	Ministry of Justice (MOJ)	Registers all property transactions: sales, mortgages, transfers, deeds
الهيئة العامة للعقار	Real Estate General Authority (REGA)	Regulates real estate sector, publishes market indicators and rental data
وزارة الشؤون البلدية والقروية والإسكان	Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing (MOMAH)	Administers White Land Tax, housing policy, municipal zoning
الهيئة السعودية للبيانات والذكاء الاصطناعي	Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA)	Manages the National Open Data Portal where this data is published
صندوق التنمية العقارية	Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)	Government fund providing subsidized mortgages to Saudi citizens

Property & Deeds

Arabic	Transliteration	English	Context
صك	Sakk	Title deed	Legal document proving property ownership. Central to all MOJ data
عقار	Aqar	Real estate / property	General term for any real property
أرض	Ard	Land (undeveloped)	Appears in نوع العقار (property type) column
فيلا	Villa	Villa	Standalone residential building
شقة	Shaqqa	Apartment / flat	Unit within a building
عمارة	Amara	Building / apartment block	Multi-unit residential or commercial building
دور	Dawr	Floor / story	A single floor in a building, sometimes traded separately
معرض	Ma'rad	Showroom	Commercial display space
مستودع	Mustawda'	Warehouse	Storage facility
استراحة	Istiraha	Rest house / chalet	Recreational property, common in Saudi market
مزرعة	Mazra'a	Farm	Agricultural property
المخطط	Al-Mukhatta	Plat / subdivision plan	The official survey plan number for a neighborhood
رقم القطعة	Raqam Al-Qit'a	Parcel/plot number	Identifies a specific lot within a plat

Transaction Types

Arabic	Transliteration	English	Description
إفراغ	Ifraagh	Ownership transfer	The formal transfer of a property title from seller to buyer
بيع	Bay'	Sale	General sale transaction
رهن	Rahn	Mortgage	A lien placed on property as loan collateral
فك رهن	Fakk Rahn	Mortgage release	Removing a mortgage lien after loan repayment
حجز تحفظي	Hajz Tahaffuzi	Precautionary seizure	Court-ordered freeze on a property preventing sale or transfer
فك حجز	Fakk Hajz	Release of seizure	Lifting a court-ordered property freeze
فرز	Farz	Subdivision / division	Splitting one property into multiple separate titles
دمج	Damj	Merger	Combining multiple properties or deeds into one
وكالة	Wakala	Power of attorney (POA)	Authorization for someone to act on the owner's behalf in RE transactions
تسجيل عيني	Tasjeel Ayni	Physical/in-rem registration	Registering a property in the in-rem (land-based) registry system, as opposed to the traditional person-based deed system
قرار بيع	Qarar Bay'	Enforcement sale	Court-ordered forced sale (e.g., debt enforcement, bankruptcy)
نقل ملكية	Naql Milkiyya	Ownership transfer	Transferring property ownership (same as إفراغ in practice)

Usage Note: صفقة vs عملية vs سجل

These three terms all translate loosely to "transaction" but are used differently in the data:

Arabic	Transliteration	English	Usage in data
صفقة	Safqa	Deal / sale transaction	Used by MOJ specifically for sales. Appears in الرقم المرجعي للصفقة (transaction reference) and تاريخ الصفقة (transaction date). Refers to a buy/sell deal with a price
عملية	Amaliya	Operation / process	Used by MOJ for the 18 non-sale categories (mortgages, seizures, transfers, etc.). Appears in نوع العملية (operation type) and عدد العمليات (operation count). Broader than صفقة — covers any registered RE action
سجل	Sijill	Record	General term for any data row. Used as an umbrella when referring to all records collectively (e.g., "5.10 million سجل عقاري" covers both sales and operations)
معاملة	Mu'amala	Transaction (bureaucratic)	Generic term for any government-processed transaction. Not used as a column name in the data but common in general discourse

When writing about this data: use صفقة for sales specifically, عملية for non-sale operations, and سجل or معاملة as umbrella terms for the full dataset.

Property Classification

Arabic	English	In data as
سكني	Residential	تصنيف العقار column — 85% of all transactions
تجاري	Commercial	تصنيف العقار column
زراعي	Agricultural	تصنيف العقار column
صناعي	Industrial	تصنيف العقار column — rare (<0.1%)

Note: تصنيف العقار (property classification) tells you the sector but cannot distinguish land from buildings. For that, see نوع العقار (property type) — only available in 2023 Q1-Q3 sales and REGA indicator files.

Service & Sector Types

Arabic	English	Meaning
القطاع العام	Public sector	Transaction involves a government entity
القطاع الخاص	Private sector	Transaction between private parties (individuals or companies)
خدمة إلكترونية	Electronic service	Transaction processed fully online through MOJ digital services
خدمة إلكترونية جزئيا	Partially electronic service	Transaction started online but required in-person steps
الخدمات الرقمية	Digital services	Aggregate label used in some files instead of a region name

Date Formats

Arabic	English	Format
تاريخ الصفقة ميلادي	Transaction date (Gregorian)	YYYY/MM/DD (most files) or M/D/YYYY (some 2024 monthly files)
تاريخ الصفقة هجري	Transaction date (Hijri)	YYYY/MM/DD in the Islamic calendar
التاريخ ميلادي	Date (Gregorian)	Shorter label used in operation files
التاريخ هجري	Date (Hijri)	Shorter label used in operation files

Saudi official records use dual dating (Gregorian + Hijri). The Hijri calendar is lunar, ~11 days shorter per year than Gregorian. Python: from hijri_converter import Hijri, Gregorian for conversion.

Regulatory Terms

Arabic	English	Context
رسوم الأراضي البيضاء	White Land Tax	Annual fee on undeveloped urban land to incentivize development
العقارات الشاغرة	Vacant real estate	Built properties left unoccupied — newly taxed since 2025 amendment
أجرة المثل	Fair market rent	Assessed rental value used to calculate vacant property fees
نظام التسجيل العيني	In-rem registration system	Saudi Arabia's ongoing transition from person-based deeds to a land-based registry (similar to Torrens system)
الهوية العقارية	Property identity	Unique digital ID assigned to registered properties in the new in-rem system

Geographic Terms

Arabic	English
المنطقة	Region / administrative region (13 total in Saudi Arabia)
المدينة	City
الحي	District / neighborhood
المدينة / الحي	City/District (combined field in sales data)