Financial Model Audit & Market Benchmarking for a Jeddah Mixed-Use Masterplan

Saudi Arabia  |  Real Estate & Mixed-Use Development  |  Financial Model Audit & Feasibility Advisory

Finwiserr carried out a full financial model audit and market benchmarking exercise for a large-scale mixed-use masterplan development in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, spanning residential, retail, commercial, and hospitality asset classes across a multi-decade development horizon. The client needed independent assurance that a complex, multi-sheet feasibility model was mathematically sound, internally consistent across scenarios, and grounded in current market evidence before it was used to support investment decisions.

Our Approach & Solution

Turning a dense, multi-sheet feasibility model into a fully verified, market-tested investment tool meant combining automated rigor with hands-on financial modelling judgement:

• ✔ Systematic Formula Audit — Cross-checking formula consistency across every time-period column, verifying SUM ranges against their underlying line items, and tracing every INDEX/MATCH, SUMIFS, and payback-period calculation back to source.
• ✔ Cross-Version Reconciliation — Comparing successive iterations of the model to confirm which findings carried over unresolved and which were newly introduced, so review effort stayed focused on what mattered.
• ✔ Structured Error Tracking — Logging every formula reviewed into a dedicated audit tracker with clear status, priority, and explanation for each finding — from confirmed errors to formulas verified correct by design.
• ✔ Market Assumption Benchmarking — Cross-referencing land cost, construction cost, sales and lease rates, hospitality performance, cap rates, and macroeconomic escalation assumptions against current data from CBRE, JLL, Knight Frank, Turner & Townsend, GASTAT, and SAMA.
• ✔ Client-Ready Reporting — Consolidating every finding into a structured benchmarking workbook and an executive-ready presentation, so management could act on the results without wading through the underlying spreadsheet detail.

Why Saudi Mixed-Use Masterplans Need This Kind of Rigor

Jeddah sits at the centre of one of the fastest-growing real estate markets in the region. As Middle East Briefing’s analysis of Vision 2030 real estate investment notes, Jeddah’s strategic position on the Red Sea and its role as a gateway for tourism and trade make it a prime candidate for large-scale coastal and mixed-use development, with giga-project momentum and Public Investment Fund-backed spending sustaining a long development pipeline across the Kingdom. That scale of ambition is exactly why a feasibility model for a project like this can’t be taken at face value — a masterplan spanning multiple asset classes and a multi-decade build-out needs every formula stress-tested and every assumption checked against the market, not just once, but every time the model is revised.

The Impact

• A fully reconciled audit trail covering over 7,000 formulas across the model’s core sheets.
• Confirmed, documented findings — including structural errors, orphaned formulas, and label/formula mismatches — each with a clear explanation and priority.
• A market-benchmarked assumption set, flagging where the model was aligned, conservative, or in need of revision against current data.
• A structured benchmarking workbook mapping every assumption to its source, verdict, and commentary.
• An executive-ready presentation translating the technical review into a clear, decision-focused narrative for management.

Value Delivered

By combining a systematic formula audit with independent market benchmarking, Finwiserr gave the client verified confidence in a model that underpins a multi-decade, multi-asset-class investment decision — turning a dense, hard-to-audit spreadsheet into a transparent, defensible, and decision-ready tool.