Arab News, Tue, Apr 16, 2024 | Shawwal 7, 1445
Saudi housing program Sakani benefits over 32,000 families in Q1
Saudi Arabia:
As many as 32,343 Saudi families benefitted from Sakani’s housing options during
the first quarter of 2024, marking an annual 15 percent increase.
In collaboration with the Real Estate Development
Fund and financial institutions, the program provides a variety of housing
support packages to encourage first-time house buyers, including non-refundable
financial assistance of SR100,000 ($26,659) or SR150,000.
The number of the Kingdom’s households that
purchased their first homes reached 25,391 in the first three months of the
year, reflecting the objective of Sakani to offer a variety of residential
options and financial solutions.
Founded in 2017 by the Saudi Ministry of Housing
and the Real Estate Development Fund, the program aims to increase the
proportion of families that own a home in the Kingdom to 70 percent by 2030, in
line with the economic diversification strategy Vision 2030.
Figures from Sakani showed that the number of
beneficiary households reached 12,184 in March, with 9,381 Saudi families
obtaining their first residence.
In January, Sakani announced that more than
100,000 Saudi families benefited from the initiative in 2023, while the number
of applicants who obtained their first home over that 12 month period
reaching 98,475.
The core objectives of the Sakani initiative are
to enable homeownership in the Kingdom by creating new housing stock, assigning
plots and properties to citizens, and providing financing for their purchases.
The Sakani website and application provide a wide
range of housing facilities and services, such as real estate consultancy,
issuance of real estate transaction tax certificates and a display of financing
institution rates.
It also provides electronic financing and the
disbursement of land contracts, engineering design services, access to certified
contractors, and additional services.