Saudi Arabia to offer 1 mln housing units by 2022

Saudi Arabia’s housing ministry plans to deliver one million residential units over the next five years, housing minister Majid Al-Hogail said on the sidelines of the Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference 2017.

Beneficiaries of the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) earning less than SAR 14,000 – representing 85 percent of the fund’s current members – will not pay interest on mortgage loans, Al-Hogail added.

Moreover, a total of 500,000 of applicants will be able to secure interest-free housing loans over the next five years, he said.

Last year, Saudi Arabia announced plans to boost the proportion of citizens who own their homes to 52 percent by 2020, from the current 47 percent.

The initiative is part of wider economic reforms aimed at reducing reliance on oil revenues, and will provide housing subsidies for Saudi families, allowing them to take out mortgages. 

In December, the Kingdom said it would set up a company to refinance up to SAR 50 billion ($13.3 billion) for the country’s housing sector over the next five years.

The Saudi Refinancing Company, which will be wholly owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), is expected to buy strategic stakes in mortgage portfolios by mid-June, and will start securitization by year-end, the minister said.