Cost put at over $53bln 

Saudi Arabia will spend at least 200 billion riyals ($53.3 billion) to build nearly 300,000 houses in the next four years within plans to increase citizens’ house ownership to nearly 70 percent, according to a Saudi housing official. 

The Gulf Kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, has already pumped more than 500 billion Saudi riyals ($133.3 billion) into the housing sector over the past few years as part of its economic diversification scheme ‘Vision 2030,’ said Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Butti, CEO of the National Housing Company (NHC). 

Butti told a recent real estate conference in the capital Riyadh that NHC, an affiliate off the Housing Ministry, has “contributed to increasing house supply in the Kingdom by more than 146,000 units over the past four years.” 

“Our target, which we had announced before, is to expand house ownership by citizens to nearly 70 percent by 2030…in this respect, we aim to double house supply to more than 300,000 units by 2025, with total investments or more than 200 billion riyals,” he said. 

Opening the two-day ‘Real Estate Future Forum,’ Saudi Municipal and Rural Affairs, and Housing Minister Majid Al-Hogail said massive investments in the housing sector in the Kingdom over the past years have made it one of the most important components of the non-oil economy, coming behind only to the mining and manufacturing sectors. 

He noted that the Ministry is pushing ahead with plans to develop three Saudi cities to make them among the best 100 livable cities in the world. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

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