Data from the Housing Bulletin for the second quarter of 2021, issued by the Housing Data and Monitoring Center, showed a significant increase in the number of households that moved into their homes during the second quarter compared to the same period in 2020, with 38,330 households moving into their homes, representing an actual occupancy rate exceeding 92.1%, and a 40.1% year-over-year increase in the construction completion index. The full bulletin is available at: https://www.housing.gov.sa/ar/periodical-magazine.
Data from the housing bulletin showed that the number of households benefiting from housing solutions through the housing program reached 41,448 during the second quarter of this year, including 38,330 households that moved into their homes, bringing the total number of households that moved into their homes during the first half of the year to 87,896, noting that this is a record figure not achieved in the first and second halves of 2020.
The bulletin indicated that the number of housing units whose construction began during the second quarter of 2021 reached 82,472 units, with the Makkah region accounting for 20,144 of them, followed by the Riyadh region with 17,038 units, while the Eastern Province recorded 9,740 residential units.
Regarding residential units completed during the second quarter of 2021, all regions of the Kingdom saw the completion of approximately 93,509 residential units, an increase of 39.1% compared to 2020, while the Real Estate Developers Services Center “Etmam” approved 9 new residential projects covering an area of 16.1 million square meters.
According to an analysis by the Population Data and Monitoring Center, the number of new residential mortgage contracts issued by banks and financial institutions exceeded 60,000 during the second quarter of 2021, with a value of 31 billion riyals, 98% of which were through banks. The proportion of financing provided by banks for the purchase of residential villas reached 80%, approximately 17% for the purchase of residential apartments, and 3% for the purchase of residential land.
The bulletin noted a decline in residential rental prices of 0.91% on a quarterly basis and -3.41% on an annual basis, while the general index of residential real estate prices across the Kingdom remained stable at 0.2%. Residential villa prices fell by 3.51% and apartment prices by 1.11%. The performance index for the 17 real estate funds recorded a notable improvement, reaching 5,054.11 points, and 3,622.66 points for real estate management and development companies listed on the Tadawul stock exchange as of the end of the second quarter of 2021.
It is worth noting that the periodic housing bulletin issued by the Housing Data and Monitoring Center covers the latest developments related to the housing and real estate finance sector in the Kingdom, as well as providing data, statistics, and information to stakeholders and specialists in the sector, based on official sources from government agencies and related sectors.