The Ministry of Housing’s initiatives, presented as part of the National Transformation Program, included the launch of 11 indicators to achieve the ministry’s objectives, which are centered on three strategic pillars: first, improving the performance of the real estate sector and increasing its contribution to GDP; second, stimulating real estate supply and increasing productivity to provide housing at appropriate prices and quality; and third, enabling citizens to access affordable housing financing in accordance with the National Transformation Program 2020 plan.
Indicators for improving the real estate sector’s performance and increasing its contribution to GDP
Increasing the real estate sector’s contribution to GDP from 5 percent to 10 percent; the global benchmark is 20 percent and the regional benchmark is 13 percent.
The second indicator is to increase the annual growth rate of the residential sector from 4 percent to 7 percent; the global benchmark is 11 percent, and the regional benchmark is 6 percent.
The third indicator is to reduce the average time required to approve and issue permits for residential real estate development projects from 730 days (two years) to 30 days (one month), while the global benchmark is 26 days and the regional benchmark is 44 days.
Indicators for Stimulating Real Estate Supply and Increasing Productivity
With regard to the second strategic objective, which is "stimulating housing supply and increasing productivity to provide housing products at appropriate prices and quality," This objective consists of three indicators. The first indicator is reducing the "ratio of the average price per housing unit to total annual per capita income"—also known as “affordability”—from ten to five times, which is the target for 2020.
The second indicator is an increase in the percentage of housing units constructed by accredited real estate development companies from 10 percent to 30 percent, while the third indicator is raising the percentage of housing units made available on the market (vacant or new) to the number of those eligible for support from 10 percent to 50 percent.
It also aims to raise the homeownership rate for Saudi families from 47 percent to 52 percent by 2020.
Indicators for enabling citizens to access affordable housing financing
The indicator for increasing the homeownership rate among Saudi households from 47 percent to 52 percent by 2020, while the global standard for homeownership is 64 percent and the regional standard is 48 percent
Indicator: "Households receiving housing financing among those enrolled in homeownership programs," which will increase from 0 percent to 40 percent.
The "Households Receiving Housing Support to Qualify for Housing Finance" indicator, for which the rate will be raised from 0 percent to 60 percent.
And the "average waiting time to obtain housing financing" indicator: the waiting time is scheduled to be reduced by 67 percent, from 15 years to five years.
