JEDDAH — With Saudi Arabia's much-anticipated mortgage law expected to make residential loans a key part of banks and real state financiers' lending portfolios, the 4th Annual Jeddah Urban Development and Real Estate Investment Event-Cityscape Jeddah is set to become a perfect platform for a huge number of participants from local and international real estate investors toward providing affordable homes for citizens. The three-day event will open today under the patronage of Prince Mishal Bin Majid Bin Abdul Aziz at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events and will consist of a unique mix of activities, including a three-day exhibition, affordable residential housing summits, hotel investment and development and the Architecture Congress, currently in its second year. Highlighting the significance of this year's event, Dr. Abdullah Bin Mahfouz, Chairman of the National Exhibitions Company, said: “We are delighted that, in addition to discussing the impacts of the upcoming mortgage law — which I expect to be a landmark legislation that will be beneficial in allowing the Kingdom's real estate sector to grow and evolve into a powerful entity — to contribute in strengthening the already strong Saudi economy. “The Jeddah Urban Development and Real Estate Investment Event-Cityscape Jeddah 2013 is already witnessing huge participation from residential financing companies, reflecting the increased demand for home ownership across the Kingdom.” He added that the event, in light of the increased participation of finance companies, will provide access to over 200 profiled players in highlighting crucial measures that must be followed in keeping up with the Kingdom's increasing demand for home loans, as well as key global strategies into 2025 and market conditions expected to govern project financing and the home finance market of the future toward promoting increased home ownership. Commenting on the mortgage law's impact on home finance firms, Naveed Siddiqui, CEO of Capitals Group International (CGI), said: “As the technical partner responsible for building and launching of Bidaya, the new home finance firm, CGI has been following developments related to the mortgage law closely. “We believe that the mortgage law will have a positive impact on Bidaya as well as on the market overall. Any competition will be part of an overall framework, a bonafide industry that will contribute to the Kingdom's growth and increase home ownership.” He said that the mortgage law will lay down clear requirements for firms, which aim to provide home financing as well as framework, the rights and responsibilities of both financiers and home buyers. “In addition, the law provides for the creation of a dedicated liquidity facility capitalized at multibillion riyals, which will facilitate the growth of the sector by acquiring mortgage portfolios from financiers and help to create a secondary market for mortgage securities. Among other issues that will affect the home finance market, is the Kingdom's current inflation rate. According to a report issued this month by Jadwa Investment, the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) has stated that overall inflation has increase year-on-year from 3.9 percent in July 2012 to 4.2 percent in January 2013. Among the most significant aspects concerning inflation rate is that, despite the overall increase, the Kingdom's rent and housing related services sector has witnessed an accelerated drop in its inflation rate from 7.7 percent in August and 6.3 in December of last year to a current rate of 5.1 percent, the lowest since April 2007. The accelerated decrease is attributed to the additional entry of housing units into the Saudi real estate market, in line with the government's plans to increase housing units and allow the dream of home-ownership to become a reality. Commenting on the exhibition, Hussain Al-Harthy, Managing Director of the National Exhibitions Company, said that the three-day Jeddah Urban Development and Real Estate Investment Event Cityscape Jeddah 2013 will be one of the biggest and most interesting events that will serve as the best arena for the Saudi Arabian real estate industry to showcase projects and services and to highlight investment and development opportunities to the people of Jeddah and the international community. “We expect the three-day high powered exhibition and all new conference-summits to be the premier events in gathering real estate investment, banking and finance professionals to discuss potential areas of development in order to fully capitalize on the rapidly expanding housing demands in the Kingdom, in need of SR500-billion financing by 2020.” There is no doubt that the Jeddah Urban Development and Real Estate Investment Event-Cityscape Jeddah is one of the leading real estate events in the Kingdom, supporting the government's vision for growth of financing options in the real estate sector, highlighting iconic architecture and innovative development, and providing direct access to the region's biggest real estate market – Saudi Arabia. Event details are available at www.cityscapejeddah.com. — SG
