Brokerage Law Prompts Competitiveness in Saudi Real Estate Sector

 Real Estate Brokerage Law benefits the establishments, real estate brokerage, brokers, real estate auction owners, and property and facilities managers. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Real Estate Brokerage Law benefits the establishments, real estate brokerage, brokers, real estate auction owners, and property and facilities managers. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Brokerage Law Prompts Competitiveness in Saudi Real Estate Sector

 Real Estate Brokerage Law benefits the establishments, real estate brokerage, brokers, real estate auction owners, and property and facilities managers. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Real Estate Brokerage Law benefits the establishments, real estate brokerage, brokers, real estate auction owners, and property and facilities managers. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

CEO of Saudi Arabia's Real Estate General Authority (REGA) Abdallah al-Hammad said the adoption of the brokerage law will help create an attractive competitive environment in the sector according to governance that raises the quality of services, overcomes obstacles and preserves the rights of brokers.

He stressed that the sector will help achieve sustainable development, ensure good quality in its dealings and services, and support real estate establishments.

In late June, the Saudi cabinet approved the Real Estate Brokerage Law to regulate the services and reduce disputes.

The law helps govern transactions and ensures the brokerage contracts are reliable.

It covers all real estate activities and services and is exercised exclusively by licensed and qualified parties.

The regulation benefits the establishments, real estate brokerage, brokers, real estate auction owners, and property and facilities managers.

Hammad stressed that the law is a part of the legislation developed to maintain real estate rights.

It promotes the quality of services and reduces disputes, he remarked, adding that under the law, mediation is required by licensees.

The new law helps achieve Vision 2030, which aims to increase the Kingdom's global real estate indicators classification.

Hammad made the remarks during an event organized by the Real Estate Commission of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.

The event was attended by businessmen and women who discussed the newly approved law.

Hammad underlined the role played by the Kingdom’s chambers to achieve the law’s objectives, namely supporting real estate establishments in various regions, raising the efficiency of human capital and the awareness of the target audience in the real estate sector, and striving to enable the sector to provide quality real estate services in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

All these goals aim to achieve the growth, sustainability and development of the real estate sector.



IMF Appoints First Mission Chief to Syria in 14 Years

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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IMF Appoints First Mission Chief to Syria in 14 Years

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The International Monetary Fund has appointed Ron van Rooden as head of its mission to Syria, Syria's Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh said in a written statement, making him the first country mission chief since war erupted there 14 years ago.
Bernieh said van Rooden's appointment came "following our request" and he shared a post on LinkedIn, showing himself shaking hands with van Rooden while attending the annual IMF-World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, D.C.
"This important appointment marks an important step and paves the way for constructive dialogue between the IMF and Syria, with the shared objective of advancing Syria's economic recovery and improving the well-being of the Syrian people," Bernieh wrote, according to Reuters.
The IMF press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source familiar with the IMF's decisions on Syria confirmed van Rooden's appointment.
According to the IMF's website, Syria has had no transactions with the fund in the last 40 years. The last IMF mission trip to Syria was in late 2009, more than a year before protests against then-leader Bashar al-Assad erupted.
Assad's crackdown triggered a full-scale war that left much of the country destroyed before he was ousted in a lightning offensive by the opposition last December.
The new leaders have been keen to re-establish Syria's ties regionally and internationally, rebuild the country and secure the lifting of tough US sanctions to kickstart its economy.
Bernieh and Syria's central bank chief Abdelkader Husrieh are attending the annual spring meetings in Washington, the first time a high-level Syrian government team attends the meetings in at least two decades, and the first official visit by Syria's new authorities to the US since Assad's fall.
On Tuesday, the Saudi finance minister and the World Bank co-hosted a roundtable on Syria. Bernieh, in a separate LinkedIn post, described the roundtable as "very successful" and said there was "unprecedented" interest in supporting Syria's reconstruction.
A top official from the United Nations Development Program told Reuters last week the agency is planning to deliver $1.3 billion in support to Syria over the next three years.