Apr. EN 2019

17 The Saudi Ministry of Housing provides several options for citizens of different needs and segments, as part of a plan to boost homeownership among Saudi citizens to70%by2030. The report in this regard highlighted the Saudi “Sakani” Program, which has provided 280,000 units in 2017 and 300,000 units in 2018. Since its launch, the programme has been receiving hundreds of thousands of residential real estate applications by Saudi citizens and handling them on an urgent basis. State-sponsored financing plans are likewise underway and making good strides. The decline in market prices by up to 11% on apartments and 12% on villas in KSA has contributed to reducing pressures on the housing sector and has enabled new segments to get suitable and high-quality real estate units. Saudi Arabia plans to build 1 million housing units within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030. The Sultanate of Oman has allocated more than OMR 90 million for housing projects. The Kingdom of Bahrain is likewise investing extensively in social housing schemes and managed to provide more than 36,000 housing units for its citizens, including apartments via easy housing loans, residential plots and subsidised rented flats. The need is growing, and the gap is widening in the markets outside the GCC region to offer more projects to low and middle-income people, especially in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Al Mazaya cites the Saudi model in recent years as a good example for addressing the challenges faced by the housing market, and for providing solutions to meet the needs of target segments. Mazaya Monthly Real Estate Report - Week 5 - April 2019 In spite of the tangible achievements being made in the region as a whole in this respect, public-private partnerships need to be further developed. PPP-carried out projects should be given the same incentives andadvantagesprovided to real estate projects being offered by private developers, including credit facilities, and mortgage plans through which the banking sector can be encouraged to provide more homeownership loans.