Business & Money | Wednesday 15 July, 2015 5:45 am |

About 80 percent of the Kingdom’s population will have a house in about 9 years, if plans by the Ministry of Housing do not go awry. The ministry is seriously working on its plan to build 1 million residential units that will be sufficient to house 80 percent of Saudis by 2024.

A ministry source said the new Minister of Housing Majid Al-Huqail has challenging times ahead as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has high expectations from his ministry. Al-Huqail, the source said, will have to take forward earnestly the schemes pursued by his predecessors.

“The ministry’s 10-year plan includes mobilizing the private housing industry, updating the ministry’s hierarchy and job descriptions. The ministry aims to develop from simply providing and building housing units to legislating, monitoring, researching and developing the housing industry,” said the source.

The source added that the construction and selling of houses may be left to the private sector while the ministry regulates potential monopoly and ensures that offers meet the number of demands.

“The ministry aims to empower the citizens and facilitate the process of housing to the consumers and the private companies. The ministry also aims to set a common criteria for construction plans as private companies must have the ministry’s license and approval before commencing any construction projects,” said the source.

The source also said the ministry plans to take on a funding role as well.

“The ministry aims to fund and issue loans to private investment companies and individuals wishing to buy an apartment or a piece of land,” said the source.

The source also said there are 754,570 Saudi families on the ministry’s waiting list for housing.

“Of them, 713,739 applicants are men and 40,831 women — 10,702 divorcees and 29,950 widows. Over 452,000 families have two to four members, 234,375 families have five to seven members, 54,475 have eight to 10 members, 10,124 have 11 to 13 members and 3,502 of the families have more than 13 members,” said the source.

The source also said the number of housing applicants between the ages 20 to 24 represent 2,990 families.

“A total of 144,196 families are represented by applicants aged between 25 to 29, 367,475 families are represented by applicants aged 30 to 39 and 239,875 families were represented by applicants aged 40 and above,” said the source.

The source added the number of applicants working for the private sector is 150,318.

“There are 451,044 applicants working for the public sector and 18,342 have their own businesses or work as freelancers. A total of 6,827 applicants are students and 51,671 are retired,” said the source.