Riyadh-Amlak
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs confirmed the allocation of 238 sites across all regions of the Kingdom to the Ministry of Housing for the construction of housing projects with a total area exceeding 169 million square meters, taking into account the population density in each region and its housing needs.
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs clarified that the land areas allocated to the Ministry of Housing exceed the requirements set by the Ninth Development Plan, which stipulates a target of “12” million housing units, as these areas are sufficient to build more than 200,000 ”villa-style” housing units or more than 600,000 apartment-style units.
Hamad bin Saad Al-Omar, Director of Public Relations and Media at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Ministry’s official spokesperson, emphasized the Ministry’s commitment to playing a complementary role alongside the efforts of relevant government agencies, foremost among them the Ministry of Housing, in order to provide housing for all citizens of the Kingdom, whether through the program granting land grants to citizens for housing construction—through which the Ministry, represented by municipal secretariats and municipalities, has implemented over 2.2 million residential land grants benefiting more than two-thirds of Saudi families— at an annual increase of more than 80,000 grants per year—a figure exceeding the annual rate of building permits issued for residential construction across all regions of the Kingdom, excluding those allocated to government agencies or charitable institutions responsible for providing housing to certain segments of society eligible for assistance.
The official spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs noted that there are some challenges regarding the provision of residential land grants in certain areas, including a scarcity of land suitable for planning and housing—including the provision of services and facilities—particularly in major cities such as Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah, relative to the volume of demand for land grants and housing in general, as well as a shortage of land in other regions due to natural conditions, such as the Asir and Al-Baha regions, particularly given the private real estate sector’s focus on investing in major cities at the expense of medium-sized and small cities and villages.
Al-Omar emphasized that the Ministry, through the regional secretariats, will continue to allocate grants to citizens who have obtained loans from the Real Estate Development Fund in accordance with the established regulations in this regard, while ensuring that these lands have a minimum level of public facilities and linking the grant programs to “Housing” programs to ensure citizens obtain housing, in accordance with the Cabinet decision issued on 18/1/1431 AH. Since its issuance, the Ministry has provided more than 110,000 housing grants to eligible citizens, and has granted them building permits in preparation for transferring ownership to them upon completion of construction.