GCC real estate law endorsed

RIYADH, 30 May — Saudi Arabia has approved amendments to a GCC law on real estate ownership by Gulf nationals, the GCC secretariat said. The amended law allows citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council countries to own three residential plots with the total area not exceeding 3,000 square meters in any of the six member states. Construction work on the plot should begin within six years — it was three years under the old law — of purchasing the property.

Naturalized GCC citizens are now allowed to own properties in the member states five years after obtaining citizenship. The time bar was 10 years earlier. (SPA)