Knight Frank has launched VIEW, Voices in Real Estate for Women, a regional initiative to support women across investment, development, and real estate leadership in the Middle East, with its first official gathering held in Riyadh as women's workforce participation in Saudi Arabia continues its multi-year rise.
June 03, 2026 | Riya Malhotra | UAE | Real Estate
Global real estate consultancy Knight Frank has launched VIEW, Voices in Real Estate for Women, a new initiative designed to bring together women across the Middle East's real estate industry through mentorship, networking, and professional connection.
The platform held its first official gathering in Riyadh, convening senior leaders and influential figures from across real estate, investment, development, and business. VIEW has also introduced its first mentorship cohort, drawing women from across the region to learn from one another, build confidence, and access guidance from peers further along the path.
The launch lands at a particularly relevant moment for the wider regional industry. Female labour force participation in Saudi Arabia has risen from 17 per cent in 2016 to over 36 per cent in 2024, surpassing the original target under Vision 2030 and reflecting a meaningful structural shift in how the Kingdom's workforce composition is changing. Real estate, alongside investment, development, and family enterprise, has been one of the sectors most visibly reshaped by the change.
For Knight Frank, anchoring the initiative in Riyadh rather than Dubai signals strategic positioning. Saudi Arabia is increasingly the centre of gravity for the region's most ambitious real estate capital deployment, particularly through the Vision 2030 megaproject pipeline. Establishing a women's professional initiative there places it within the market generating the highest volume of senior decision-making roles across the region.
VIEW was conceptualised under the leadership of Susan Amawi, General Manager of Knight Frank Saudi Arabia, and Buthainah Albaity, Partner and Head of Private Capital and Family Enterprises at Knight Frank MENA, two senior figures whose roles span investment advisory, family enterprise management, and the wider regional real estate consultancy practice.
Amawi described VIEW as reflecting the lived experiences of women she and her peers faced in their early careers, framing the initiative as a way to open doors for the next generation of leaders. Albaity highlighted the calibre of women at the Riyadh gathering and the quality of cross-sector conversations as the foundation for what the platform aims to build over time.
For UAE and GCC real estate professionals, VIEW joins a growing set of structured initiatives focused on women's leadership development across the regional industry, a category that has historically been underdeveloped relative to the volume of women now in senior roles. The mentorship-cohort model, in particular, signals an attempt to move beyond one-off events and toward sustained professional development infrastructure.
The initiative also arrives as Knight Frank's regional research output continues to highlight the changing composition of the GCC real estate buyer and decision-maker base. According to Dubai Land Department Q1 2026 data, women accounted for 15,540 real estate investments in Dubai worth AED 32 billion in the quarter alone, a data point that underscores the commercial as well as professional dimensions of the trend VIEW is built around.
The Riyadh gathering marks the first step in a broader regional programme of mentorship, networking, and industry engagement that will bring together women from across real estate in Saudi Arabia and the wider region throughout 2026 and beyond.
Sources: Knight Frank press release on the launch of VIEW (Voices in Real Estate for Women), 2 June 2026; statements from Susan Amawi, General Manager, Knight Frank Saudi Arabia, and Buthainah Albaity, Partner and Head of Private Capital and Family Enterprises, Knight Frank MENA, via the announcement; Saudi Arabia female labour force participation data (17 per cent in 2016 to over 36 per cent in 2024) as referenced in the announcement and aligned with Vision 2030 targets; supporting context on Dubai Land Department Q1 2026 transaction data referenced from prior REM Times coverage.
