Leading regional property developer, Al- Mazaya Holding, has announced the establishment of Al-Mazaya KSA, which will operate in the Kingdom as a Shariah-compliant real estate development company with a paid up capital of SR2.5 billion. Through the new company, Al-Mazaya plans to capture a sizeable share of the KSA's booming property market and reinforce its regional standing. The Kingdom's oil-fueled real estate boom has received a further boost through the legislative infrastructure reform, which created an investor-friendly climate to lure foreign direct investment to the region's largest real estate market. Other contributory factors, such as the increasing demand for residential units, the growing population, the rising income per capita and the phenomenal growth in religious tourism, have collectively led to additional foreign capital being injected into the Kingdom's vibrant real estate market. Speaking of Kingdom's real estate market, Eng. Khalid Esbaitah, Al-Mazaya's managing director and CEO, said: “The Kingdom's real estate market will boost its position following the launch of the GCC Common Market, and will attract GCC investors, particularly to Makkah, Dammam and Jeddah. The Saudi Arabian government has spent a substantial amount on infrastructure projects and has raised the value of investment in the low- and middle-income groups' projects to meet the shortage of affordable residential units, especially in the major cities.” “The modernization of the legislative system in the Kingdom, particularly since the launch of economic cities, and the offering of additional facilities, exceptional privileges and unprecedented incentives for investors, has raised the investment bar in the Kingdom to a new high,” he added. He also pointed to recent statistics, which show that up to 60 percent of the total population is in need of around 1.2 million residential units over the coming period, with this number likely to increase to around 2.9 million over the next twenty years. Esbaitah said Al-Mazaya Saudi Arabia has the capability to undergo rapid growth to become one of the leading real estate developers in the Kingdom. He said the company will raise capital to fund its expansion plans across the Kingdom. __
