They have been forced to halt construction of their houses and are now hoping prices of certain materials, including plumbing and electrical appliances, come down.
Some citizens have already made changes in their architectural plans to scale back the built-up area of their homes and other facilities to reduce costs.
Many contractors are unwilling to take up new construction projects while others are hesitant to complete projects they have already started unless their clients are ready to meet the increased costs of construction.
They pointed to a decision by the Ministry of Finance that stipulated contractors are not entitled to claim any excess amount they spend to complete a project due to the unexpected hike in the prices of construction materials, according to a report in Al-Madinah Arabic daily.
Saudi citizen Daifallah Al-Zahrani said many of his friends have halted construction of their houses due to their inability to cope with the price hikes.
“Apart from this, labor costs have almost doubled. Needless to say, the huge increase in the prices of electrical and plumbing materials has not helped,” he said while noting that contractors are also not in a position to complete construction work due to their inability to finish the work within the allocated budget.
Saeed Al-Kanani, another citizen, said that a large number of people are facing the harsh reality of being forced to rent and not realizing their dreams of building a house of their own.
“There has been a steady increase in the prices of construction materials as well as labor charges. The delay in getting loans from the Real Estate Development Fund is another hurdle,” he said, adding that the loan would not even suffice to build a small bungalow.
Abdul Rahman Al-Hassani, another Saudi, pointed out that traders of construction materials attribute the soaring costs to an increase in the prices of materials abroad, despite the fact that most materials used are locally manufactured.
Echoing the same feeling, Khamees Atiyyah and Gharam Al-Zahrani said they need to pay between SR250 and SR300 for construction materials that used to cost SR100 before.
“A steep hike in the prices of construction materials has forced us to change our building plans in order to stick to our budgets. Therefore, we are forced to abandon many of the dream features we wanted in our homes,” he said.
Ali Al-Ghamdi, a contractor, said a large number of citizens are forced to remain at rented houses after halting the construction of homes they had planned to build.
Meanwhile, a dealer of electrical appliances attributed the hike in prices to an increase in global consumption. There has been a huge increase in the prices of raw materials imported from European countries, he said.
Abdul Aziz Atiyyah, a citizen, urged the urgent intervention of authorities to rein in the unreasonable hike in prices of construction materials, including electrical, sanitary and plastic wares.
Hamdan Saad Al-Hamdan, head of the contractors' section at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Al-Baha, said the prices of all construction materials have shot up and that this would harm consumers.
“Contractors are afraid of taking up new construction projects due to these unexpected hikes. The Ministry of Finance has prevented them from seeking the excess amount that they have to spend to complete the projects due to price increases. This was not the case in the past. All these factors lead to delays in finishing the project,” he added.
