Owners have allegedly frozen 51% of Makkah landMAKKAH – Private property owners are not developing or selling 51 percent of available land in Makkah, which is shooting up rents and worsening the housing crisis in the city, say experts. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted Hussein Al-Sharif, a local expert, as saying that private owners hope prices will rise. “Makkah is experiencing a great housing crisis mainly due to the reluctance of land owners to sell their plots. They are hoping that the market value of their land will increase.” He believes that the city's real estate merchants have a monopoly on 51 percent of the land in Makkah. He said a solution has to be found before the crisis worsens and threatens the plans to develop Makkah into a world class city. Fawaz Asiri, an investor in Al-Husseiniya District in Makkah, said rents are increasing because there is a scarcity of residential property, particularly in the urban areas. Other factors to be taken into consideration include the growing population and lack of legislation governing the relationship between landlords and tenants. Part of the solution could be for citizens to form companies where the motive is to provide homes for people instead of simply seeking to make money. Asiri said citizens can also learn from other countries and form cooperative organizations where they can secure essential commodities at 20 percent less than prevailing market prices. Providing easy loans to young people can also help them own property. Dr. Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah, said large tracts of land are lying unused is the problem. He cited as an example property in Al-Hamra, on the western side of Makkah, that has been untouched for more than 12 years. He said real estate merchants are waiting for the day when the price of a square meter of this land rises to between SR5,000 and SR6,000. He said there is widespread land and property speculation because of a lack of legislation to curb these practices. Other real estate investors said the crisis can be solved if a total of four million square meters of land is developed in the north and east of Makkah.
