Wafi
وافيThe programme that licenses off-plan sales in Saudi Arabia. A developer needs a Wafi licence for the specific project before marketing or selling units that are not yet built, and buyers’ payments go into the project’s escrow account at a licensed bank. You meet it when a developer asks for a deposit, which is the moment to ask for the licence number and check it.
Also called off-plan sales licence
Looking this up because you mean to buy? Your next question is How do I buy from abroad?
Where you meet it
- The question to askFreehold or usufruct in Makkah and Madinah
- Check the Wafi licence and escrowVerify before you pay
- Buying off-plan through WafiHow a non-Saudi can own near the Haram
- Reserve and signHow to buy a property in Makkah or Madinah, step by step
- Off-plan escrow and instalmentsPaying for property in Makkah or Madinah
- MakkahProjects open to buyers from abroad
- Verify before you pay
Related words
- Off-plan
- Buying a unit before it is built and paying in instalments as construction reaches agreed stages.
Sources
REGA — Wafi off-plan sales and lease platform
REGA describes Wafi as the official organisation in Saudi Arabia that grants licences for selling off-plan real estate units, and its licences include off-plan sales licences, marketing licences with or without receiving reservation amounts, and developer qualification certificates.REGA — Wafi off-plan sales and lease platform
A Wafi off-plan licence requires an escrow account agreement between the developer and a licensed bank in the Kingdom, and a developer that takes reservation amounts during marketing must deposit all of them into that escrow account.
Where each fact above comes from, with the source’s own date where it gives one.