RIYADH: Spending on furniture and home supplies in Saudi Arabia saw a 22.5 percent surge during the week ending Sept. 20, keeping total point-of-sale transactions above the $3 billion mark.
Transactions in the category reached SR609.46 million ($162 million), helping overall POS payments hit SR12.40 billion despite a 5.4 percent weekly decline, the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, said in its latest bulletin.
The surge reflects rising demand in the housing market, which saw nearly 93,700 deals in the first half of 2025 — a 7 percent increase from a year earlier, according to Knight Frank.
The broader real estate sector also maintained steady growth in the second quarter, with residential property prices edging up 0.4 percent, data from the General Authority for Statistics showed.
SAMA’s weekly bulletin showed spending on electronics and electrical devices came second overall, rising 6.8 percent to SR201.34 million. Jewelry sales climbed 10.8 percent to SR352.10 million, though the number of transactions dropped 3.5 percent to 271,000.
The fourth positive change was seen in expenditure on construction materials. The category saw a 4.3 percent increase in spending to SR410.41 million, although this was alongsude a 5.5 percent decrease in terms of volume to 2.12 million.
The education sector saw the largest decrease, dropping by 39.5 percent to SR172.63 million. Laundry services followed, dropping by 12.1 percent to SR43.49 million.
In third place, the subcategory of books and stationery saw a 10.7 percent decrease to reach SR122.38million.
Food and beverages — the sector with the biggest share of total POS value — recorded a 7.9 percent decrease to SR1.81 billion, while the restaurants and cafes sector saw a 7.8 percent decrease, totaling SR1.44 billion and claiming the second-biggest share of this week’s POS.
Spending in gas stations claimed the third biggest share at SR955.70 million despite a 6.6 percent decline in transaction numbers.
The top three categories accounted for approximately 33.98 percent of the week’s total POS payments, amounting to SR4.21 billion.
Transportation and health saw a 3.6 percent and a 5.3 percent drop in expenses to SR931.91 million and SR829.53 million, respectively. A small decrease was seen in spending on public utilities and services at 1.3 percent to SR47.66 million.
Geographically, Riyadh dominated POS transactions, with expenses in the capital reaching SR4.49 billion, a 3.5 percent decrease from the previous week.
Jeddah followed closely despite a 4.3 percent dip to SR1.77 billion, while Dammam ranked third, down 4.2 percent to SR635.82 million.
