Despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, real estate loans in Saudi Arabia saw a rise by the second quarter, according to a report published by the Saudi Ministry of Housing.
The value of housing loans taken by individuals reached SAR13.8 billion (USD3.6 billion) with an increase of the real estate and construction sectors by 10.6 percent and 8.2 percent respectively compared to the first quarter.
Regardless of the economic damage caused by the COVID-19, real estate loans grew in June compared to the same month by 218 percent.
A total of 67,100 housing units were fully constructed during the second quarter and are ready to use. Riyadh ranked first in this aspect with around 14,400 housing units.
Quarterly data showed a drop in prices of apartments in Riyadh by 0.5 percent and in Eastern Province by 3.8 percent. As for Makkah and Medina, a slight increase of 0.7 percent, and 0.4 percent were recorded consecutively.
In a related context, the Saudi Contractors Authority (SCA) announced a new strategy for 2020-2024 during its fourth general assembly meeting.
The strategy aims to keep pace with the transformations taking place in the Kingdom's contracting sector and to fulfill its part in Saudi Vision 2030 and its various programs.
Through the strategy, the authority has built a vision for the contracting sector that prepares for the future and works to overcome the current challenges.
The strategy takes note of the entry of new official groups; changes in the tasks of some parties who have a direct or indirect influence on the sector; the aspirations of stakeholders and the challenges facing the contracting sector; international best practices and benchmarks; market trends; as well as the future aspirations of the authority.
The updated strategic plan comprises 22 initiatives, of which nine are organizational initiatives concerned with organizing the sector; eight are service-enabling initiatives to develop the contracting sector; four are internal initiatives to complete the internal capacity building and competencies of the authority and achieve financial sustainability; and one initiative is to provide specialized and high-impact services and solutions to the enterprises of the contracting sector, especially small and medium enterprises.
