Statistics from the Ministry of Housing indicate that 80 percent of applicants on the Real Estate Development Fund’s waiting lists wish to build their own homes, a proposal that is still under review by financing agencies for approval in the near future. Khalid Al-Amoudi, General Supervisor of the Real Estate Development Fund, said that the delay in finalizing the applications of many of those whose names appear on the Fund’s waiting lists is due to this reason.
Various housing programs
Khalid Al-Amoudi, General Supervisor of the Real Estate Development Fund, explained that the fund has several programs still under review aimed at accelerating the reduction of the number of people on waiting lists, despite the fact that these programs are linked to the financing agencies with which agreements have been signed; the total number of such agencies has now reached 16 financing entities, noting that the Fund cannot approve a program until it has been thoroughly reviewed from all angles. The growing number of applicants in the Fund’s system and the limited number of allocations disbursed each year have prompted Fund officials—led by Housing Minister Majid Al-Hogail—to seek solutions for the more than 500,000 people who remain on the Fund’s waiting lists. He added that partnering with financing entities was the appropriate solution to expedite the disbursement of loans to those on the waiting lists, as 84,700 loans are expected to be disbursed through the «Sakani 1» program, and there are other programs—perhaps most notably the approval of self-construction—which is expected to be finalized with the launch of Sakani 2 next year, 2018.
Financing by «Banks and Companies»
The General Supervisor of the Real Estate Development Fund confirmed that more than 13,000 citizens have submitted their applications to financing entities—«banks and companies»— and that 32,000 citizens have booked appointments through the Real Estate Fund’s online portal. He noted that the Fund and its beneficiary support offices are working at full capacity to complete the necessary procedures, and to schedule interviews for beneficiaries with staff at the beneficiary service centers, in order to serve them and enable them to obtain subsidized housing financing from the financial institutions participating in the program, in a manner appropriate to their financial capacity.
Reducing the waiting period
Al-Amoudi noted that the Fund’s transition from a grantor to a facilitator has reduced the waiting period for support from two years to 20 days to obtain the full loan, after fulfilling the specific conditions required by the financing entities and the Real Estate Development Fund. He added that since the launch of the "Sakani" program up to this installment, the Real Estate Development Fund has approved approximately 61,600 subsidized loans, at a monthly rate of 7,700 loans. The financing mechanism is characterized by reducing the waiting period from 11 years to a maximum of 5 years, and providing support to 6 citizens for every 1 citizen under the previous mechanism.
