Private companies continue to suffer high employee turnover because Saudis frequently jump jobs in search of better salaries in order to secure real estate loans for building their dream house.

Private firms, however, are taking advantage of these short-term Saudi employees because they help fulfill their Nitaqat nationalization quota.

Most Saudis prefer to work in a limited number of major Saudi companies, such as Aramco, SABIC and other major Saudi employers that have a good reputation with Saudi banks, making it easier for employees at these companies to secure loans.

“Small and medium-sized firms have been badly affected by high employee turnover because they simply cannot afford to pay high wages,” Fadal Abu Al-Ainain, an economic expert, told Arab News. “Saudi banks only offer real estate-based loans to Saudis earning more than SR4,000.”

Around 40 percent of Saudi citizens are incapable of securing these loans due to their income, a banking expert told local media.

“The property loan portfolio at Saudi banks has grown by almost 180 percent in a five-year period to reach more than SR41 billion in 2013, compared with SR15 billion in 2008,” said Talaat Hafiz, secretary-general of the Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi Banks (MBAC). “Saudi banks have increased real estate loans since they have come under high demand by residents who prefer ownership over paying rent, which eats up 40 percent of their annual incomes.”

“Many Saudis work temporarily with us until they get better-paid jobs or find work with employers who offer real estate loans,” several human resource supervisors have told Arab News.

“Loan-takers are in need of SR1 million in order to build their dream home and they will stop at nothing to get there,” said Hani Salamah, another HR manager.

“I earn SR10,000 a month at a private company,” said Fahad Turki, a Saudi employee. “Even that is not enough to sustain a SR1 million loan. I plan to resign the moment I find a job that will provide me with a good loan or better pay.”

Saudi Arabia’s mortgage law will soon transform home financing in Saudi Arabia through the introduction of secured lending, which takes assets as collateral, instead of extending loans based on salary or monthly direct debit.