The cost of building a home is high, owning a piece of land even higher. It has become impossible for many to turn their dreams of owning a house into reality.
The only hope that people had in the past was to queue up in a long line in hope of benefiting from the Real Estate Development Fund. This might have caused the housing shortage that has continued to grow and reach current levels.
Those who are trying to solve the problem say that the government is taking steps to help more Saudis own homes. One of the actions taken by the government was to scrap a rule stating that applicants to the Real Estate Development Fund needed to own a piece of land.
Governor of the General Housing Authority Shuwaish Al-Duwaihi in a TV interview comforted us by saying that the authority has started preparing a national housing strategy.
He scared us by saying that there are only 4.6 million homes for 27 million people. He then contradicted himself by promising to solve the problem and predicted a bright future, before claiming that 60 percent of Saudis do not own homes.
Personally, I am optimistic about the government’s actions to solve the problem within the next five years.
I am sure that a large number of Saudis will own homes under the condition that projects of the General Housing Authority continue.
The authority now owns large pieces of land and will start building houses. However, what guarantees do we have that its projects will not stop? If this happens, the problem will grow and become more complicated.
