Ministry of Housing initiatives. Land tax adds costs to housing products and discourages investment in the real estate sector

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A number of real estate specialists expressed their reservations about some of the initiatives presented by the Ministry of Housing within the National Transformation Programs, which contained 21 initiatives with a total cost estimated at 59.2 billion riyals, because they contradict the growth and development of the movement and the growth of the real estate market.

Real estate professionals rely heavily on the increase in the sector's contribution to GDP and enhance the effectiveness of the National Transformation Program plan as an integral part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, but the part that was mentioned in item 14 (a tax imposed on undeveloped land plots located within the urban boundaries) may help increase the costs for the final beneficiary, which deepens the distance between the seller and the buyer who aspires to housing after long waiting and saving, because these taxes are borne by the citizen in the final outcome.

Real estate professionals hope to increase the sector's contribution to GDP and enhance the effectiveness of the National Transformation Program as an integral part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

In order for the real estate sector to play its role, investment in it must be encouraged by reducing costs and removing obstacles from its path so that the third item achieves its objectives, which states (involving large private landowners in the process of developing housing units as (family companies), to achieve the desired housing goals and achieve financial returns for landowners.), and the process of involving large landowners needs incentives and facilities that the competent authorities must take into account, foremost among which is safe real estate financing that attracts developers and brings them rewarding benefits with landowners, and we suggest that the ministry experiment by setting frameworks for a strategic partnership between owners and developers under the supervision of the ministry to pump affordable housing products that benefit the citizen who deserves housing.

We suggest that the ministry experiment by setting frameworks for a strategic partnership between owners and developers under the supervision of the ministry to pump housing products at reasonable prices to benefit the citizen who deserves housing.

Perhaps the above proposal is parallel to the first item of the Ministry of Housing's initiatives, which seeks to devise appropriate solutions for the use of unused or unproductive government land, through the exchange of land between four ministries, namely the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Transport, with the aim of helping the Ministry of Housing to develop and provide affordable housing units. In order to provide affordable housing products, before developing solutions and incentives, it is necessary to remove the obstacles facing housing development, and generalize what the Ministry of Housing initiative aspires to in its first item by incentivizing private sector developers by issuing fast-track permits, in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and providing the necessary financing, in cooperation with special expenses and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, to develop affordable housing projects on private land and reduce capital expenditures incurred by the government.

Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Transportation, with the aim of assisting the Ministry of Housing in developing affordable housing projects on private land and reducing capital expenditures incurred by the government.

The Ministry of Housing's 21 initiatives should be aimed at correcting the course of the real estate market and encouraging investment in it away from putting additional costs on the shoulders of the citizen because he is the ultimate beneficiary of housing development.