REGA Digital Property Registration Framework
The Real Estate General Authority (REGA) administers the regulatory infrastructure that determines whether tokenized fractional ownership can achieve legal recognition in Saudi Arabia. In late 2025, REGA announced the successful completion of the first real estate tokenization of a title deed, with trading between the National Housing Company (NHC) and investors — making Saudi Arabia the first country in the world to deploy national-scale blockchain infrastructure for real estate registration, fractionalization, and marketplace integration, according to SettleMint, the technology partner powering the system.
REGA’s digital transformation agenda directly intersects with tokenization feasibility. Property tokens are only as legally robust as the underlying title system. REGA’s three-phase tokenization roadmap — Phase I (Core Blockchain Registry Infrastructure, now deployed), Phase II (National Tokenized Marketplace for buying, selling, and fractional investment), and Phase III (Open API Framework allowing PropTechs, banks, and developers to integrate with Real Estate Registry systems) — charts the path from today’s successful pilot to full-scale market integration. The Real Estate Registry (RER), operating under REGA supervision, serves as the blockchain operator, with Inspire for Solutions Development building the marketplace layer. REGA’s trajectory toward a fully digital, API-accessible property registry is therefore the most important infrastructure development for Saudi real estate tokenization in a market valued at $72.84 billion in 2026 according to Mordor Intelligence, with projected growth to $102.96 billion by 2031 at a 7.17 percent CAGR.
The Current Registration System
Saudi property registration operates under the Real Estate Registration System (commonly called “Mulkiya” after the digital platform launched in 2023). This system replaced the traditional “sakk” deed system with a registration-based title system in pilot regions — initially Riyadh, with phased expansion to Jeddah, Dammam, and other cities. The Mulkiya system records ownership, encumbrances, mortgage liens, and usage restrictions in a centralized digital database maintained by the Ministry of Justice with REGA oversight.
For tokenization purposes, the critical capability is whether Mulkiya can record fractional ownership interests. Under current implementation, the system supports: individual ownership, joint ownership (up to 4 co-owners in standard registration), company ownership (through commercial registration number linkage), and fund ownership (through CMA-licensed fund manager registration). The system does not yet natively support hundreds or thousands of fractional owners — the typical structure for tokenized real estate.
REGA’s published roadmap indicates that Mulkiya 2.0, planned for deployment in 2027, will support “digital fractional registration” enabling property rights to be divided into units that correspond to blockchain tokens. This feature is being developed in coordination with the CMA’s securities tokenization framework to ensure consistency between property registration and securities regulation.
Wafi Program — Off-Plan Protection Framework
The Wafi program — REGA’s flagship initiative for off-plan real estate sales — is directly relevant to tokenized offerings because most mega-project tokenization will involve properties that are under construction or in pre-development phases. Wafi imposes strict requirements on developers selling off-plan units:
Escrow account requirement: All buyer payments must be deposited in a Wafi-supervised escrow account at a SAMA-licensed bank. The developer can access escrow funds only upon achieving verified construction milestones (foundation completion, structural completion, finishing stages). For tokenized off-plan offerings, this means token sale proceeds cannot flow directly to the developer — they must pass through Wafi escrow, adding an institutional layer of buyer protection that is unique in the GCC.
Project licensing requirement: Developers must obtain a Wafi project license before marketing or selling off-plan units. The license requires: valid REGA developer registration, proof of land ownership or development rights, approved architectural plans from the relevant municipality, construction contract with a licensed contractor, and project completion timeline. Tokenized offerings of off-plan units must reference a valid Wafi license number.
Construction progress reporting: Wafi-licensed projects must submit quarterly construction progress reports verified by independent surveyors. This reporting requirement provides the data infrastructure that tokenized offering platforms need for ongoing disclosure — a structural advantage over jurisdictions where construction progress is self-reported by developers.
Completion guarantee: Developers must provide either a bank guarantee or insurance policy covering project completion in the event of developer insolvency. For tokenized offerings, this guarantee protects token holders against the catastrophic risk of developer failure and incomplete construction.
The Wafi framework provides a regulatory foundation that makes Saudi off-plan tokenization structurally safer than comparable offerings in markets without mandatory escrow and completion guarantees. The practical challenge is adapting Wafi’s procedures — designed for individual unit sales — to accommodate tokenized fractional interests where a single property unit may have hundreds of token holders.
Digital Title and Blockchain Integration
REGA’s blockchain integration is no longer theoretical — the infrastructure is operational. SettleMint’s blockchain deployment powers the core registry layer, and the system adheres to W3C Verifiable Credentials and eIDAS 2.0 interoperability standards alongside Shariah-compliant asset structures. Two token types are supported: tokenized deeds (1:1 legal title representations) and fractional ownership tokens (buyable, holdable, and tradeable under regulated conditions).
The operational architecture involves three layers:
Layer 1 — Digital Title Registry: The Mulkiya system serves as the authoritative source of property title, maintained by the Ministry of Justice. The Real Estate Registry (RER), deployed on SettleMint’s blockchain infrastructure, anchors title records to an immutable ledger.
Layer 2 — Tokenization Layer: Licensed platforms operating within the REGA PropTech Sandbox — which has approved 9 platforms including Sahel, Jozo, Ghanem, Madak, Droub, Noula, Haseeltak, Gamma Assets, and Hustak — create digital tokens representing interests in registered properties. Ghanem became the first platform to launch regulated fractional ownership for Saudi investors, integrated directly with the Real Estate Registry.
Layer 3 — Settlement Layer: Token transfers on the blockchain trigger automated notifications to the Mulkiya system, which updates the fractional ownership records. Sandbox platforms must integrate with Yakeen (national identity verification), Sadad (payment system), and the Real Estate Registry.
Saudi Arabia has already achieved what most countries are still planning — a direct legal linkage between blockchain-based property tokens and the government property registry. REGA’s publication of tokenization standard technical specifications is expected in early 2026, with formal real-estate tokenization regulations anticipated by approximately June 2026, according to industry analysis. The second edition of the REGA PropTech Sandbox launched in February 2026 with a specific fractional ownership track and an application deadline of April 30, 2026.
Foreign Ownership Registration
The Law of Real Estate Ownership and Investment by Non-Saudis took effect on January 22, 2026, according to REGA, fundamentally expanding foreign investor access. Non-Saudi individuals, companies, and entities can now own real estate across different regions including Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, and Madinah — though Makkah and Madinah ownership remains restricted to Saudi companies and Muslim individuals. Foreign investors can invest up to 49 percent in listed Saudi companies owning real estate in the holy cities, a provision effective since January 27, 2025. Non-Saudi disposals carry a fee of up to 5 percent of transaction value, and violation fines can reach SAR 10 million.
For tokenized real estate, this means foreign investors can hold tokens representing Saudi property interests across most of the Kingdom — a critical requirement for global distribution of Saudi RE tokens. Saudi Arabia attracted $31.7 billion in FDI inflows in 2024, representing 24 percent growth, with Q1 2025 showing a further 44 percent year-on-year surge according to Vision 2030 progress reports.
Practical Implications for Tokenization Platforms
Platforms seeking to tokenize Saudi real estate must navigate REGA’s framework at multiple points: developer verification (Wafi license check for off-plan properties), title verification (Mulkiya registry check for completed properties), ongoing compliance (escrow account maintenance, construction progress monitoring), and eventual fractional registration (when Mulkiya 2.0 enables it).
The near-term practical approach — and the one being tested in CMA sandbox programs — uses a special purpose vehicle (SPV) structure: a CMA-licensed entity purchases the property, registers title in the SPV’s name in the Mulkiya system, and issues tokens representing fractional interests in the SPV. Token holders own interests in the entity that owns the property, not direct fractional title. This structure works within current registration limitations but adds a corporate layer that increases costs and complexity.
Valuation Standards and CMA-Approved Appraisers
REGA’s role in establishing property valuation standards directly affects tokenized asset pricing. REGA accredits property appraisers through the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers (Taqeem), which maintains a registry of licensed real estate valuers who meet education, experience, and ethics requirements.
For tokenized real estate, CMA requires independent valuations from Taqeem-accredited appraisers at: initial token offering (establishing the offering price), annually (for ongoing NAV reporting), and upon material events (property damage, significant market correction, tenant default). These valuation requirements create transparency that protects token holders but also add cost (SAR 15,000-50,000 per valuation depending on property complexity) that platforms must factor into operating expenses.
REGA is developing automated valuation models (AVMs) using Ejar rental data and Ministry of Justice transaction data. When deployed, AVMs could reduce valuation costs by 60-80 percent while providing continuous rather than annual property value estimates — enabling the daily or weekly NAV updates that sophisticated tokenized RE platforms aspire to provide.
International Property Registration Comparisons
Saudi Arabia’s digital property registration trajectory can be benchmarked against international leaders:
Sweden (Lantmäteriet): The world’s first blockchain-based property registration pilot (2016-2018), demonstrating that government property registries can be maintained on distributed ledger technology. The Swedish model — which uses a permissioned blockchain with authorized nodes operated by government agencies, banks, and surveyors — is the closest functional equivalent to REGA’s planned Layer 2 tokenization architecture.
Georgia (National Agency of Public Registry): Implemented blockchain property registration in 2017 using Bitfury’s infrastructure. Over 2 million property records have been anchored to a blockchain, providing tamper-evident title verification. Georgia’s system is simpler than the Saudi design (anchoring existing records rather than enabling native blockchain ownership) but demonstrates government blockchain adoption at scale.
Dubai Land Department: DLD’s blockchain title verification pilot (2020-2023) tested the recording of Dubai property transactions on a Hyperledger-based blockchain. The DLD system does not replace the primary registry but creates a secondary verification layer. Saudi Arabia’s more ambitious design — direct registry-blockchain synchronization through Mulkiya 2.0 — aims to eliminate the gap between the official registry and blockchain records that DLD’s overlay approach permits.
UAE (Abu Dhabi): Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transport is developing blockchain-based property registration that could provide mutual recognition with Saudi Arabia’s system — enabling cross-border tokenized property ownership verification between the two jurisdictions.
Data Privacy and Access Controls
REGA’s digital registry contains sensitive personal and financial data — property ownership records, transaction prices, mortgage information, and beneficial ownership details — that requires strict access controls under Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL, effective September 2023).
For tokenization platforms, PDPL compliance creates specific requirements: consent must be obtained from property owners and tenants before their data is used in tokenized offering documents, data minimization principles limit the information shared in public offering documents to what is necessary for investment decisions, cross-border data transfer rules restrict the sharing of Saudi property data with international platforms without adequate data protection agreements, and data breach notification requirements mandate disclosure to the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) within 72 hours of a breach affecting registry-linked data.
These data privacy requirements add compliance cost to tokenization platform operations but also provide institutional investors with confidence that personal and financial data is handled according to modern data protection standards — a consideration increasingly important for European and Asian institutional allocators subject to their own data protection regimes.
Tokenization Platform Integration Requirements
Platforms seeking to tokenize Saudi real estate must integrate with REGA’s infrastructure at multiple touchpoints, creating a compliance architecture that determines operational feasibility:
Mulkiya API access requires authorized party registration through the Ministry of Justice’s electronic services portal. Platforms must demonstrate: valid CMA authorization or sandbox membership, REGA developer or property manager registration, data privacy compliance under the Personal Data Protection Law, and technical security certification. API access enables real-time title verification, encumbrance checking, and (when Mulkiya 2.0 launches) fractional ownership registration.
Wafi escrow integration for off-plan tokenized offerings requires partnership with a SAMA-licensed bank offering Wafi-compliant escrow services. The platform’s payment architecture must route investor funds through the escrow account, with smart contract logic that respects the milestone-based fund release schedule certified by independent engineers.
Ejar data connectivity for rental yield verification requires API access through the Ministry of Housing’s data sharing framework. Platforms use Ejar data for: initial offering underwriting (verifying current rental income), ongoing NAV calculation (tracking rental rate changes), and distribution verification (confirming tenant payments before triggering token holder distributions).
The combined integration requirement — Mulkiya for title, Wafi for escrow, Ejar for rental data — creates a government-data-backed tokenization infrastructure that is unique globally. Platforms that successfully integrate all three systems offer institutional-grade transparency that justifies the higher operational costs of Saudi regulatory compliance. The due diligence checklist should verify complete REGA system integration as a prerequisite for portfolio allocation to any Saudi tokenized RE platform.
See also: CMA Securities Tokenization | SAMA Fintech Framework | REGA Entity Profile | Wafi Program Glossary | Vision 2030 Housing | Mega-Projects | Saudi RE Price Index | Ejar Platform
Updated March 19, 2026