JEDDAH, 5 March 2008 — A real estate expert in Jeddah attributed the current trend of spiraling in building rents and property prices to the cumulative effects of an increase in prices, particularly of construction materials.
The prices of properties have been further boosted with the increasing number of investors entering the sector, Ahmad Al-Mohandis, member of real estate committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said.
“With large real estate companies and special real estate funds pumping in more than SR100 billion into the market, Makkah would become a city of high-rise buildings while every district in Jeddah would have skyscrapers over the next 10 years,” Al-Mohandis told Arab News at the sidelines of the Sixth Real Estate Financing and Housing Exhibition in Jeddah yesterday.
Mohandis, who is the supervisor general of the exhibition, said over 100 real estate establishments are participating in the three-day event that ends tomorrow.
Mohandis said several construction companies participating in the event would compete to announce their new construction plans. Four Saudi real estate companies disclosed their plan to build four high-rise towers at a cost of SR8 billion. The towers would be ideal for business administration offices and luxury housings, he said.
The exhibition administration has also plans to award prizes to the best real estate projects and the best pavilion at the expo with the aim of attracting novel ideas to the sector.
