With the qualitative leap that Saudi Arabia has achieved at the global economic level, the real estate sector is expected to lead one of the engines of the country’s economic growth in the coming period, as private sector investments have exceeded 254 billion riyals ($67.7 billion), according to recent estimations.
Infrastructure
Mohammad Al-Murshed, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh and Head of the Real Estate Committee of the Federation of Saudi Chambers, expected that major infrastructure projects and government initiatives would contribute to stimulating the entertainment sector in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Murshed pointed in this regard to the completion of construction work in several major real estate projects such as Qiddiya City, the Red Sea Project, AlUla, King Salman Park and the Sports Track, within the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Rise of Real Estate Prices
The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) announced on Monday that the real estate price index recorded an increase of 0.7 percent in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in the previous year.
GASTAT attributed the rise in real estate prices to an increase in residential real estate by 1.9 percent, due to the increase in the prices of residential plots by 2 percent in the second quarter.
The prices of villas as well as apartments recorded a decrease of 1.1 percent, while that of houses by 0.9 percent whereas the prices of commercial buildings remained stable.
Beneficiaries’ satisfaction
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the head of the Real Estate Committee of the Federation of Saudi Chambers pointed to the high satisfaction rates of beneficiaries for the provided housing programs and solutions.
He noted that the satisfaction rate was 32 percent before the launch of the housing program, and reached 80 percent by the end of 2020.
Al-Murshed stressed that the real estate sector was linked to multiple factors in sustainable development, due to its vitality and harmony with the Kingdom’s economic and social renaissance that seeks to build a vibrant society, a prosperous economy and an ambitious nation.
The National Committee
Al-Murshed said: “The committee works on serving and developing the sector by studying the challenges and obstacles, proposing appropriate solutions, preparing studies and research, as well as holding seminars and training courses on real estate awareness...”
He added that the approved Committee plan “seeks to organize the sector and strengthen its pillars,” through the adoption of laws and regulations that control the movement of the real estate market and determine its direction.
Real estate digitization
Regarding the digitization of the real estate sector, Al-Murshed noted: “In light of Saudi Arabia’s plans to adopt the e-government system, many government sectors have provided assistance through many different platforms, which helped in the completion of millions of daily transactions.”
The head of the Real Estate Committee revealed that the recently launched real estate digitization project has produced a kind of integration between all parties during all stages of service provision.
Entertainment Projects
Al-Murshed pointed to the impact of the new entertainment projects on the real estate sector.
He added that the entertainment sector was expected to record positive growth in parallel with the expansion of commercial centers in complexes and residential neighborhoods.
