Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Housing (MoH) has been rolling out a number of initiatives since 2017 to increase the availability of affordable housing and improve accessibility to financing options.
Mortgage contracts, supported by the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) have registered more than 300,000 real estate loans in partnership with all banks and financing institutions.
As part of an effort to address this issue, the Ministry launched Sakani program in 2017 to increase the rate of homeownership through the provision of affordable housing.
It allocates financing and residential products, including mortgage loans, free land parcels, completed residential units and units under development and targets increasing homeownership to 70 percent by 2030 as part of the its Vision 2030.
The REDF explained that housing loans of up to SAR500,000 ($133,000) are supported by interest of up to 100 percent. They have enabled Sakani beneficiaries to purchase ready or under construction housing units in partnership with real estate developers or construction for those who own lands.
This comes in line with the program’s attempt to enable Saudi families to own houses according to various feasible housing options and solutions that meet their aspirations.
It has also provided facilitated procedures through its website and application, which review the various housing options and other services and facilities, such as the real estate consultant, immediate entitlement, reservation, and present the price offered by financing entities.
General Supervisor of the REDF Mansour bin Madi stressed that these efforts come in light of the facilitations provided by the fund, along with relevant authorities.
Housing finance contracts have seen steady growth due to the housing program, which is part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
The program, of which 16 government agencies are part, in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) and Saudi banks, in integration with real estate developers from the private sector, contributes to pumping more affordable and qualitative housing projects.
It has so far provided 79 projects with more than 131,000 housing units within projects that integrate facilities and services.
