If you ask this question to a Saudi man, he will give a positive answer. It is a fact of life that every male or female citizen should have his/her own home.

It is also a fact of life that this is impossible. It has not happened anywhere in the world. So we will change the question and ask what percentage of citizens should have their own homes?

Answering this question requires a lot of research and study. The matter depends on the income and resources of each country as well as its plans and other details.

I did not come across statistics outlining home ownership in Europe, America or the Gulf countries but they are all in a better position than the Kingdom with regard to citizens owning their own houses.

It is not possible for every citizen to have his own house for a number of reasons. Not every one of them has an adequate income or guarantees, for example. Moreover, there is a large number of people who need accommodation. According to estimates, there are between 4 to 5 million applications for houses. If an average Saudi family consists of six people, then we will be talking about half the population. If the new loan limit of SR500,000 is enough to buy a house, then we will need more than SR2 trillion.

This shows the difficulty of the matter, which cannot be solved in a decade or two. Furthermore, population growth will eat up any progress made.

To solve this problem, we should work on two levels. The first one is enabling citizens to own their houses gradually and in steps. The second is to provide housing units with affordable rent. Many citizens who do not have the sufficient funds to buy private houses will go for rented homes. Average rent levels in the Kingdom have gone up at a rate that by far exceed average incomes.

The supply of houses for rent is little compared to the demand. This is not because of lack of money or land but because real estate investors are not certain that they will get their money back from charging rent.

In the absence of clear regulations that would ensure the rights of both landlords and tenants, why should any investor risk his money on real estate investments? Many landlords also do not prefer to rent their houses out to Saudis. The Ministry of Housing, governorates and all other concerned bodies should work hard to change this. They should make an effort to reassure investors that there are plenty of opportunities in housing. By doing so, we will have sufficient houses available for rent. The government will not incur any cost. The private sector has enough funds. All they need is a conducive atmosphere to attract real estate investments.