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Saudi Arabia Underscores Women's Role in Real Estate, National Development

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Underscores Women's Role in Real Estate, National Development

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change.

On its second day, the Forum reviewed the positive transformations in the Kingdom's housing sector and its plan within Saudi Vision 2030. It underlined the role of programs and financing solutions for housing support that have allowed more than 755,000 beneficiaries to sign financing contracts that have totaled more than $124 billion.

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 kicked off in Riyadh on Monday under the auspices of the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing.

Held under the theme "The Power of Flexibility: Building a Sustainable and Flourishing Real Estate Future," the Forum features several strategic discussions about the real estate system on both local and global levels. Over 300 speakers representing over 85 countries worldwide are taking part in the event.

Executive Director of Urban Planning at Roshen Giovanna Carnevali stressed the importance of women's prominent role in society, which has significantly impacted real estate through purposeful planning.

Carnevali noted Roshen's participation in 100,000 housing units until 2030.

She said that 46 percent of the work in the facility depends on women, praising the Saudi opportunities available for women that are allowing them to develop in various fields.

Financing contracts

CEO of the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) Mansour bin Madi stated revealed that the Fund's share of the total real estate financing market reached 74 percent, out of a total of $166.6 billion recorded in the Kingdom between 2017 and 2023.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Housing Division of the Saudi Umran Society Abdulrahman al-Johani discussed the transformations of the housing sector in the Kingdom over the past years, reviewing the current reality of housing and its plan within Vision 2030.

Johani cited ten development plans in housing that began implementation in 1970 and until the launch of Vision 2030 programs. They all focused on providing suitable housing for citizens at economic costs.

Urban planning development

CEO of the Quality of Life Program Khaled al-Bakr confirmed that the program developed urban planning, addressed visual distortions, and developed public spaces and facilities through many initiatives that contribute to improving the urban landscape and the quality of services provided in cities.

Governor of the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization (SASO) Saad al-Qasabi indicated that the conformity index for construction products and building materials offered in the Kingdom's markets for 2022 increased by 84% compared to 60% in 2020.

Qasabi explained that this comes from the authority issuing several technical regulations to improve construction products.

On the sidelines of the Forum, the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing launched the professional volunteering initiative in real estate to support youth development and enhance the concept of volunteering in the commercial and non-profit sectors.

It aims to raise awareness among the real estate community on the goals and mission of professional volunteering and to empower pioneering and leading figures to transfer knowledge to beneficiaries and develop their capabilities economically and socially.

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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters

Although Turkish inflation slowed in September, it is still raging out of control with the government avoiding difficult decisions that could help tackle it, experts told AFP.

Türkiye has experienced spiraling inflation the past two years, peaking at an annual rate of 85.5 percent in October 2022 and 75.45 percent in May.

The government claims it slowed to 49.4 percent in September.

But the figures are disputed by the ENAG group of independent economists who estimate that year-on-year inflation stood at 88.6 percent in September.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said Ankara was hoping to bring inflation down to 17.6 percent by the end of 2025 and to “single digits” by 2026.

And President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently hailed Türkiye’s success in “starting the process of permanent disinflation.”

“The hard times are behind us,” he said.

But economists interviewed by AFP said the surge in consumer prices in Türkiye had become “chronic” and is being exacerbated by some government policies.

“The current drop is simply due to a base effect. The price rises over the course of a month is still high, at 2.97 percent across Türkiye and 3.9 percent in Istanbul.

“You can’t call this a success story,” said Mehmet Sisman, economics professor at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

Spurning conventional economic practice of raising interest rates to curb inflation, Erdogan has long defended a policy of lowering rates. That has sent the lira sliding, further fueling inflation.

But after his reelection in May 2023, he gave Türkiye’s Central Bank free rein to raise its main interest rate from 8.5 to 50 percent between June 2023 and March 2024.

The central bank’s rate remained unchanged in September for the sixth consecutive month.

“The fight against inflation revolves around the priorities of the financial sector. As a result, it is done indirectly and generates uncertainty,” explained Erinc Yeldan, economics professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

But raising interest rates alone is not enough to steady inflation without addressing massive budget deficits, according to Yakup Kucukkale, an economics professor at Karadeniz Technical University.

He pointed to Türkiye’s record budget deficit of 129.6 billion lira (3.45 billion euros).

“Simsek says this is due to expenditure linked to the reconstruction in regions hit by the February 2023 earthquake,” he said of the disaster that killed more than 53,000 people.

“But the real black hole is due to the costly public-private partnership contracts,” he said, referring to infrastructure contracts which critics say are often awarded to firms close to Erdogan’s government.

Such contracts cover construction and management of everything from motorways and bridges to hospitals and airports, and are often accompanied by generous guarantees such as state compensation in the event they are underused.

“We should question these contracts, which are a burden on the budget because this compensation is indexed to the dollar or the euro,” said Kucukkale.

Anti-inflation measures also tend to impact low-income households at a time when the minimum wage hasn’t been raised since January, he said.

“But these people already have little purchasing power. To lower demand, such measures must target higher-income groups, but there is hardly anything affecting them,” he said.