The decline in residential sales in general and the villa product in particular has continued, and the volume of sales has seen a significant decline since the beginning of last year (2015). Several stakeholders pointed out that villas in the Kingdom's regions are on the decline until the return of real estate loans that were suspended more than last year, and sources indicated .space"> that a comprehensive change is currently taking place in the price map of real estate products, due to the official regulations and procedures announced by the government during the past years, the most prominent of which was the imposition of fees on white lands that fall within the urban area of cities, and the activation of housing lending programs from banks.

Weak liquidity and financing

In 2016, the decline in sales of residential units and villas increased on average by more than 40 percent, the decline also included housing sales by more than 11 percent, and residential land sales by more than 5 percent.

There are other reasons that contributed to the decline in sales of residential units, especially villas with other residential products, perhaps the most prominent of which is poor liquidity, which directly affected a large part of the citizens of the Kingdom, who currently suffer from low liquidity, which affected their purchasing plans for real estate and other basic commodities.

The relevant authorities await the new projects announced by the Ministry of Housing, within the framework of its public programs, to provide housing products that meet the needs of the citizen and provide him with the housing he dreams of despite the stagnation in the real estate market at the present time, which in turn encouraged many citizens to wait and wait, in choosing the housing product that suits them at the lowest possible prices.

Loan suspension

The decline in the sales of real estate products in the Kingdom in general, especially residential villas during 2016, started since the first quarter of (2015). This led to a contraction in the performance of the local real estate market, and sales recorded a record decline in the value of its transactions continuously. This comes as a result of the recession in many economic sectors as well as due to the low oil prices that affected the plans, programs and economic and construction projects significantly, as well as one of the most prominent reasons that led to the decline in the sales of residential units in various regions of the Kingdom, .converted-space"> the cessation of disbursement of mortgage loans from the Real Estate Development Fund, which occurred since October 2015, and replaced this with the new mortgage financing system that set a very difficult condition for citizens eligible for loans, namely that they must pay 30% as a down payment. All of these factors are considered one of the reasons for the decline in sales of residential units, especially residential villas.

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Housing projects and land fees

One of the most prominent reasons for the decline in sales of residential units of villas and apartments, is the fact that the Ministry of Housing pumped housing units and products and other products (land and loan) in addition to signing a number of agreements with major international companies (Korean, Chinese) as well as signing agreements with national developers, banks and financing institutions, to contribute to pumping more units housing in various regions and governorates of the Kingdom, .space"> All these successful steps have in turn greatly and effectively helped in the decline in the number of those wishing to buy, in addition to that The approval by the Honorable Cabinet of the White Land Fees System and the issuance of the executive regulations thereof by the Council and the subsequent binding procedures converted-space"> to register white lands located within the specified ranges in the Kingdom's largest cities (Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam), all these reasons helped to significantly reduce the sales of residential villas and other residential units.