“It is obvious that the real estate market is gearing up to correct the spiraling prices of real estate in the coming few weeks,” a realtor, who did not want his name to be published, said.

Deputy chairman of the real estate committee in the Council of Saudi Chambers Muhammad Al-Khalil cautioned that such regulations might not be sufficient by themselves to check the rising prices of real estate. “Before we talk about a system to impose fees on empty lands, we should talk about the mechanism to implement this system,” he said.

Al-Khalil believes that controlling the prices of real estate in the Kingdom needs many other decisions. “The real estate developers should be encouraged to renew and reorganize the old districts in major cities to increase the supply,” he said.

The deputy chairman said another move to curb the high prices would be to facilitate the issuance of the licenses for plots of empty land. “This will increase the supply and hence lower the real estate prices,” he said.

Al-Khalil said it was difficult to say these days if the prices of real estate were up or down before referring to the data of the Justice Ministry. “The ministry has sufficient information about real estate deals, whether for accommodation or commercial and industrial purposes,” he said.

He said the decision of the Real Estate Development Fund to increase the longevity of the real estate units to 20 years would help reduce the rising prices.