Over 49,000 Loans Via Sakani in Six Months

Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)
Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)
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Over 49,000 Loans Via Sakani in Six Months

Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)
Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)

The Saudi Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) revealed that the total number of mortgage loans announced by Sakani Program during the past six months reached 49,800 backed by the fund in partnership with banks and financial institutions. These loans represent 39 percent of total housing and funding options announced by Sakani program on a monthly basis – in addition to loans, they include prefabricated units, under construction units and free lands.

REDF added that this number of mortgage loans is half Sakani's target in its second phase of 2018 -- the target total of loans until December is 100,000 for those on the waiting list at Real Estate Development Fund. It added that during the past year it announced 85,000 mortgage loans distributed around the kingdom.

Within the program, Riyadh has the greatest percentage of mortgage loans, reaching around 28 percent, followed by Makkah, with 16 percent. The remaining percentage was distributed over the other regions.

REDF spokesman Hamoud Al-Osaimi said the fund, in partnership with financial institutions, continues to provide services to beneficiaries whose names were announced during recent batches of Sakani.

Thousands of citizens have completed their applications and been approved for mortgage loans, he added, stressing the fund’s aim to help citizens get housing that suits them.

The ministry and the fund urged citizens to visit the sakani.housing.sa portal for a list of people allocated housing this month, and to visit the portal eskan.gov.sa and the REDF portal redf.gov.sa to complete the necessary procedures, update data and approve products.



Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
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Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices retreated to a one-week low on Monday as the dollar firmed and traders digested US President Donald Trump's extension of his July 9 tariff deadline to August 1 and assertion that the US is close to several trade deals.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at $3,307.87 an ounce at 1302 GMT after hitting its lowest since June 30 at $3,296.09. US gold futures lost 0.7% to $3,318.

The stronger dollar, up 0.2% against a basket of other major currencies, makes dollar-priced gold more expensive for buyers with other currencies, Reuters reported.

"The market volumes remain quiet at this moment, and price action is probably still just reflecting the latest piece of economic data, but also starting to look forward to the potential for trade deals to be announced," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.

Last week's stronger than expected US payroll data cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates as early as previously expected.

Minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting and speeches by several Fed officials are due this week for further insights into the central bank's policy path.

Elsewhere, China's central bank added gold to its reserves in June for an eighth consecutive month, official data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) showed on Monday.

"The PBoC in particular has been diversifying foreign exchange reserves substantially and an uptick in uncertainty and geopolitical risk may speed up the process," said Zain Vawda, analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA.

In other precious metals, spot silver fell 1.6% to $36.32 an ounce, platinum shed 2.9% to $1,350.97 and palladium lost 3% to $1,100.65.