Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. (SRC), a wholly owned company of the Public Investment Fund, on Saturday signed a new agreement worth SR2 billion ($533 million) with the General Organization for Social Insurance of Saudi Arabia (GOSI) to refinance the GOSI-backed Masakin Program portfolio.

Masakin, which GOSI launched in 2007, is a Shariah-compliant  subsidy lending program for Saudi nationals employed in the government and the private sectors and retirees. 

This is the third such transaction between the SRC and GOSI, building upon a series of transactions totaling more than SR5 billion in value, according to an emailed statement. 

The agreement aims at boosting liquidity for the Saudi home financing market to facilitate homeownership for Saudi families under the Masakin Programme. 

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Majed Al-Hogail, who is also SRC chairman, and GOSI Gov. Mohammed bin Talal Al-Nahas oversaw the signing ceremony.

Al-Nahas said: “Our crucial role has enabled us to partner with SRC once again, where we create synergies to realize the Vision 2030 housing program objectives. This agreement will help us realize these objectives and facilitate affordable housing in the Kingdom.”

The agreement is in line with the objectives of the housing program under Vision 2030 to raise home ownership rates by 70 percent by the year 2030.

SRC CEO Fabrice Susini said: “We will continue to collaborate with strategic partners to provide greater liquidity and risk management solutions in this market.”

SRC provides liquidity to originators by buying home financing portfolios from local banks and real estate financing companies, as well as aggregating and packaging the portfolios into Shariah-compliant mortgage-backed securities for sale to domestic and international investors.