The Ministry of Housing held two workshops on the sidelines of the Restatex-Cityscape 2017 exhibition, which continues through Saturday evening, September 30, at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. The first workshop was dedicated to the “Sakani” program, during which His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Talal bin Badr, Advisor and General Supervisor of the Ministry’s Agency for Housing Support and Branches, spoke, while the second workshop was dedicated to a discussion of the Partnership Program, led by Ahmed Mandoura, Supervisor of the Private Sector Partnership Program.
“Sakani” Workshop: Reaching the Target Figure
His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Talal bin Badr emphasized that the Ministry has been committed to setting a number of strategic objectives through which it seeks to improve and regulate the housing environment, based on two main pillars: supporting supply and stimulating demand. This reflects on the Ministry’s services and its capacity to provide suitable housing of appropriate quality and at an affordable price to beneficiaries. He explained that among the Ministry’s most prominent strategic objectives are stimulating real estate supply and increasing productivity to provide housing products of appropriate quality and price, enabling citizens to access appropriate housing financing, as well as improving the performance of the real estate sector and increasing its contribution to GDP.
Regarding the “Sakani” campaign launched by the Ministry earlier this year, which aims to deliver 280,000 housing units and financing packages in 2017, he explained that the Ministry of Housing and the Real Estate Development Fund are continuing this campaign to reach the target figure by its conclusion in mid-December, noting that following the announcement of the eighth batch in mid-September, the number of housing units and financing packages allocated exceeded 184,000, and that over the next three months, additional housing and financing products will be made available as part of this campaign.
The Ministry’s Initiatives to Regulate the Housing Sector
The advisor and general supervisor of the Ministry’s Agency for Housing Support and Branches noted that the Ministry has launched a number of initiatives aimed at regulating the housing sector in general, pointing out that programs such as the Landlords“ Union, Ijar, Developer Services, and Off-Plan Sales, will play a role in bolstering confidence in the real estate sector and regulating the relationship between those who benefit from its services.
He explained that the Ministry has launched a number of projects in cooperation with real estate developers aimed at increasing the supply of housing units and expediting access to housing for applicants to the housing support program, noting the Ministry’s commitment to setting the price range for these units between 250,000 and 700,000 riyals.
The Partnership Program to Facilitate Investment in the Housing Sector
For his part, Ahmed Mandoura, supervisor of the Private Sector Partnership Program at the Ministry of Housing, affirmed that the “Partnerships” program seeks to achieve one of the Kingdom’s goals in Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020 by raising the homeownership rate from 47% to 52% as the target for 2020, The partnership with the private sector serves as one of the contributing factors in this regard, while providing a wide range of housing products with diverse options, high quality, and reasonable prices is one of the pillars the Ministry is committed to achieving, He noted that the program aims to facilitate investment in the housing sector, provide housing options, and create an attractive environment for local and international investment in the Kingdom’s housing sector.
Mandoura added: “In accordance with its regulatory procedures, the program will have a direct impact on creating diverse housing options—whether in terms of units, designs, or locations—at appropriate prices and quality, in addition to providing numerous financing solutions to enable beneficiaries of housing support to own a unit in line with their financial capacity and reduce the waiting period for obtaining housing.
He noted that the Partnerships System has three programs in collaboration with the private sector to achieve its objectives through the implementation of projects on land owned by the Ministry of Housing, others on private-sector land, and a third involving projects on land subject to fees, emphasizing that these projects and programs being undertaken by the Ministry achieve the primary goal of providing adequate, high-quality housing at reasonable prices and with diverse options, and will also result in shorter waiting periods for those on the housing subsidy eligibility lists.
