Arab News, Sunday, Jan 3, 2021 | Jamadi Al Awwal 19, 1442
Value of mortgage loans surges 79% in November: SAMA
Saudi Arabia: The total amount of mortgage loans provided by
Saudi banks increased to SR15.27 billion ($4.07 billion) in November 2020, up 79
percent compared to the same month in 2019, according to the Saudi Central Bank
(SAMA).
Villa loans accounted for 81 percent of the mortgages, while the total number of
contracts in the month was 30,017.
The huge increase in demand for mortgages is part of the Saudi government’s aim
to increase home ownership in the Kingdom to 70 percent as part of the Vision
2030 targets, up from 50 percent in 2018. Khalil Ibrahim Al-Sedais, office
managing partner for KPMG in Riyadh, said: “The lending space in the Saudi
banking sector has been rife with continued growth in mortgage financing
throughout the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) environment.
“It is an endorsement of the housing demand in the country and testament of
government support measures.”
A clear indicator of the mortgage sector’s resilience can be seen in comments by
Fabrice Susini, the CEO of the Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. (SRC). The firm
was set up in 2017 by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) with the aim of
helping the mortgage sector, and had set a target of 10 percent of total
residential mortgage loans by the end of 2020 and 20 percent over the next few
years.
However, Susini told S&P Global in June that the time frames for SRC’s targets
had been extended due to the “dynamic growth in the mortgage market in the past
year.”