Emaar EC’s CEO says construction costs falling in Saudi Arabia

Fahd Al Rasheed, chief executive of Emaar the Economic City (Emaar EC), said prices of construction firms have become more competitive, and costs are falling between 10 percent to 15 percent per square meter as a result.

In an interview with Reuters, he added that since the number of government-related contracts is lower, contractor capacity has improved, leading to contractors lowering their margins to compete for new work.

Saudi Tadawul-listed Emaar EC is the developer of King Abdullah Economic City, a business, industrial and residential zone on the Red Sea coast near Jeddah.

Emaar EC swung to a net loss of SAR 81 million for the third quarter from a profit of SAR 8 million a year earlier.

"The loss was related to a court case that was related to a real estate project we did a while ago. It's a one-time. So without it, I believe we would have been positive for the quarter," Rasheed told Reuters without elaborating.