The Ministry of Housing does not buy land from real estate developers because of the danger of prices skyrocketing, a senior official said here recently.

The official, who did not want to be named, said the ministry only purchases land from municipalities and other government bodies. He said the ministry recently purchased land in Hail in this manner for state housing projects.

On housing loans, he said the ministry allows citizens to pay off their loans in installments for land, houses and construction. He said the government would also write off loans of deceased people that were provided by the Real Estate Development Fund. The inheritors have to submit the necessary documentation to the Ministry of Finance, which in turn would repay the amount on behalf of the deceased.

He said the fund does not facilitate loans from banks for those needing extra funding. These are considered personal loans and transactions solely between beneficiaries and banks.

Meanwhile, Minister of Housing Shuwaish Al-Duwaih said earlier that his ministry would next week provide 381 residential units in Buraidah for citizens. He said the ministry would continue providing housing for citizens. The ministry has in total approved 306,629 land, housing and construction loans for citizens. There have been 252,216 loans for land, 12,496 for residential units, and 41,917 loans to buy apartments built on government land in partnership with real estate developers.

During a meeting in Riyadh recently, the ministry said it had posted all this information on its website, including the preferences of citizens for housing products on offer by the government.

The grace period granted for applicants to amend their preferences ended last week. There were 49,165 objections, of which 40,983 were accepted, with 55,893 approvals.