The Ministry of Housing revealed that the number of housing loans granted by financial institutions to citizens saw a growing and notable increase during 2017, reaching 163,770 loans by the end of the fourth quarter.

Mortgage loans granted by financial institutions rose by 4.88% during the fourth quarter of last year compared to the previous quarter.

In its March 2018 periodic bulletin, the Ministry explained that this increase reflects growing demand among citizens for home ownership.

As for the Kingdom’s major cities, data from the Ministry of Housing showed that Riyadh led in the number of housing loans granted, with approximately 66,600 housing loans by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, which represents about 41% of the total loans granted in major cities, followed by Mecca with 21,100 housing loans.

Regarding the types of properties financed through housing loans by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, villas led the way with more than half of the total number of housing loans granted, accounting for 57.6 %, followed by land plots at 19.5%, and then apartments at 13.9 %.

The Ministry of Housing clarified that the number of delinquent housing loans during the fourth quarter of 2017 reached 9,281 thousand loans, an increase of 5.7% compared to the previous quarter.

It noted that this increase is normal, as it is linked to the rise in the number of loans granted and not to an increase in the rate of delinquency.

Conversely, nonperforming loans decreased during the fourth quarter of last year to 1,535 thousand loans, a decrease of 1% compared to the third quarter of 2017. This decrease resulted from the rescheduling of nonperforming loans.