They expressed joy at Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's decision to support the housing sector through increased allocations totaling SR55 billion to the General Housing Authority and the Real Estate Development Fund.
Speaking to Al-Riyadh newspaper, Muhammad Al-Zahrani, a citizen, said the decision to increase personal loans extended by these bodies from SR300,000 to SR500,000 makes a large segment of Saudi society happy as it helps them realize their long cherished dream of owning their own homes.
Muhammad Abdul Latief, another citizen, is of the view that the royal decree to extend financial support was one of the decisions that people had been anticipating for a long time in the wake of the sharp rise in the prices of real estate and construction materials.
“In the past, loans extended by the General Housing Authority and the Real Estate Development Fund were not sufficient to build a house. The decision to increase the value of real estate loans is a wise one. It would enable citizens to either build or buy housing units,” he said.
Abdul Latief described the royal decree to support the Housing Authority for building as many as 500,000 housing units as an excellent one as far as those with limited incomes are concerned.
On his part, Amr Al-Qarni said King Abdullah’s decision would help a large number of citizens to own houses of their own.
“This would no doubt ensure the welfare of citizens,” he said, while urging the concerned authorities to take steps to speedily implement the royal decree.
Abdullah Al-Qahtani, another citizen, said that citizens have now obtained an opportunity to own a house and that this was not possible in the past. The decision to build 500,000 housing units will lower the prices of housing units and enable employees to own houses at the beginning of their career,” he said, while praying to Allah to bestow the king with good health.
Bandar Al-Nasir said that the royal decree has helped him make changes to his future plans. “The possibility to get a SR500,000 loan enables me to own an ideal house that suits my needs,” he said.
Referring to the impact of King Abdullah’s decrees on the real estate market, Muhammad Al-Najjar, regional chairman of Makeen Real Estate Company, said the real estate market would witness positive developments within the coming few months. He said the king’s directive to build as many as 500,000 housing units in various regions of the Kingdom would bring down the existing shortage of housing units from 1.2 million to 700,000.
“The royal decree to serve citizens in this way comes at an appropriate time. Saudi citizens always look forward to similar decisions from their rulers. Most people in the world may not have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of such welfare schemes,” he said.
Muhammad Al-Monaa, a real estate investor, said the decision to increase the real estate loan to SR500,000 reflected in the market with a boost in demand for plots of land for building houses and increased activities at real estate offices.
“Prices for a square meter of land range from SR750 to SR1,600. Most clients approach with demands for small plots of land covering areas ranging from 350 square meters to 500 square meters,” he said.
Welcoming the royal decree, Faris Al-Shammari and Abdul Rahman Al-Khaleel urged the authorities to expedite bureaucratic procedures to secure loans without any delay. They expressed hope that the Real Estate Development Fund will become drastically flexible in its policy and ease conditions for giving loans.
