The Ministry of Housing’s “Wafi” Off-Plan Sales and Leasing Committee has received 18 reports of violations by real estate development companies engaged in off-plan sales without a license, The committee’s Secretary-General, Engineer Nayef Al-Sharif, explained that these violations occurred during the period from March 2017, when enforcement of these violations began, until now.

Al-Sharif added that financing for off-plan projects in the market is linked to buyers" payments, and these payments are not disbursed to the real estate developer from the project’s escrow account except in accordance with the project’s completion percentages.

Al-Sharif stated that the total number of permits issued since the beginning of this year has reached 30, ranging from residential to industrial projects, and that the residential units approved in these projects included villas, apartments, and ”townhouses," for a total of 17,000 residential units distributed across Dammam, Abha, Tabuk, Khamis Mushait, Rabigh, Riyadh, Al-Ahsa, Yanbu, Madinah, Jeddah, Taif, Makkah, and Al-Khobar.