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Riyadh Hosts Inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit  

The inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit will kick off in Riyadh on Monday. (Saudi Proptech Summit)
The inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit will kick off in Riyadh on Monday. (Saudi Proptech Summit)
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Riyadh Hosts Inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit  

The inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit will kick off in Riyadh on Monday. (Saudi Proptech Summit)
The inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit will kick off in Riyadh on Monday. (Saudi Proptech Summit)

The inaugural Saudi Proptech Summit will begin in Riyadh on Monday to review the most prominent technical developments and beneficiaries’ experiences.

The two-day conference includes dialogue sessions and workshops with more than 25 speakers representing 20 countries and will be accompanied by a real estate technology exhibition.

Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Real Estate General Authority Majid bin Abdullah al-Hogail will inaugurate the conference.

Hogail said on his X account that he looks forward to meeting the creative and innovative people at Saudi Proptech, hoping it would develop the sector.

The Minister also expected the conference to enhance innovation and open investment horizons for entrepreneurs and emerging companies in real estate technologies to help achieve Vision 2030.

Real estate technology is an integrated system of emerging and rapidly growing companies that provide various innovative products or services in commercial and residential real estate.

It consists of four main areas: smart real estate, building technology, financial technology within real estate, and consumer-facing technology.

The summit will bring together a diverse array of participants, including specialists and experts in proptech, investors, and real estate service providers, with the participation of startups in the real estate and technology sectors.

It will also attract the latest international technical practices and experiences in the real estate field and showcase them within the Saudi market through partnership agreements among stakeholders.

Proptech brings together key activities, namely the technological ecosystem of real estate, government entities responsible for regulating the real estate sector, support for startups, real estate developers, proptech platforms, pioneering investment companies, and business accelerators.

It will also address the technological solutions sector in property and facilities management, artificial intelligence, data analysis, virtual and augmented reality, financing, mortgage, and construction technologies.

The conference will review several global technologies in real estate in the European market and the real estate technology in Hong Kong, China Sea region.

The Authority explained that the conference will discuss several topics through plenary sessions and workshops.

It would address important themes such as the role of technology in shaping public policies, the digital transformation of the Saudi real estate sector, the digital infrastructure of the Kingdom, and the future outlook for the real estate sector.

Moreover, the conference will explore urban environment innovations, the influence of smart city development on the real estate sector through information and decision-making mechanisms, and real estate technology solutions and their need in building the cities of the future.

Proptech connects technology and real estate and refers to various digital technologies used in the real estate sector and asset management.

It also contributes to managing various aspects of the real estate industry, including sales and delivery, facilities management, maintenance operations, and contract management utilizing computer technologies and software and mobile phone applications along with related devices, such as sensors, cameras, VR, and augmented reality technologies.

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Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
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Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week.
The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target, The Associated Press reported.
Asked at a news conference how Trump's election might affect the Fed's policymaking, Chair Jerome Powell said that "in the near term, the election will have no effects on our (interest rate) decisions.”
But Trump’s election, beyond its economic consequences, has raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions. Trump has argued that as president, he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions. The Fed has long guarded its role as an independent agency able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet in his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again.
Asked whether he would resign if Trump asked him to, Powell, who will have a year left in his second four-year term as Fed chair when Trump takes office, replied simply, “No.”
And Powell said that in his view, Trump could not fire or demote him: It would “not be permitted under the law,” he said.
Thursday’s Fed rate cut reduced its benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3%. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September.
When its latest policy meeting ended Thursday, the Fed issued a statement noting that the "unemployment rate has moved up but remains low,” and while inflation has fallen closer to the 2% target level, it “remains somewhat elevated.”
After their rate cut in September — their first such move in more than four years — the policymakers had projected that they would make further quarter-point cuts in November and December and four more next year. But with the economy now mostly solid and Wall Street anticipating faster growth, larger budget deficits and higher inflation under a Trump presidency, further rate cuts may have become less likely. Rate cuts by the Fed typically lead over time to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
Powell declined to be pinned down Thursday on whether the Fed would proceed with an additional quarter-point rate cut in December or the four rate cuts its policymakers penciled in for 2025.