RIYADH - The residential mortgages for individuals provided by both banks and finance companies have jumped three times in the first quarter of 2019, compared with the same period last year, according to a report of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA). The number of residential mortgage financing contracts for individuals during this quarter reached 31,462 with a total value of approximately SR15 billion, achieving 221 percent growth in the number of contracts, and about 133 percent in the volume of financing compared with the same quarter of 2018, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The performance of real estate loans for individuals during the first quarter of 2019 has achieved a new upward trend. The total amount of financing in the first quarter is near to what has been offered in 2017. It is also equal to the number of contracts achieved in the first three quarters of 2018. The number of contracts in this quarter was almost three times higher than the number of contracts in the first quarter of 2018, and more than the double of the amount of funding for the same quarter of 2018. According to SAMA's report, the number of new residential mortgage contracts offered by commercial banks and finance companies reached 12,148 contracts during March 2019, registering a growth rate of 206 percent compared to March 2018. The total value of contracts reached SR5.5 billion, an increase of 114 percent compared to the same month. On the other hand, the number of contracts subsidized by the government through the housing support programs, provided by the Ministry of Housing and the Real Estate Development Fund, last March is 10,364 contracts with a total value of SR4.4 billion, compared with SR3.6 billion in February. The percentage of residential support programs is about 85 percent of the total number of contracts and about 79 percent of the value of the funds in March 2019. SAMA reported that, the real estate loans for individuals jumped in Feb. 2019, with more than three times than that of Feb. 2018. The number of contracts for individuals during that month was more than 210 percent compared to the same month last year. In February, 9736 new contracts signed with a value of more than SR4.6 billion, all submitted by banks and financing companies. The Ministry of Housing has recently launched a government program to provide housing options for citizens, including facilitating finance with the support of the government by providing support to citizens to bear profits on mortgages so as to contribute to raising the housing ownership rate to 70 percent by 2030. SAMA indicated in its previous reports that the total number of residential mortgage contracts for individuals in 2016 reached 22,259 contracts worth SR17.096 billion, and in 2017 about 30,833 contracts valued at SR21.025 billion. In 2018, the total number of contracts reached 50,496 worth SR29.5 billion.
