JEDDAH — The General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) said that the real estate sector has dropped in 2016 by 6.1% compared to 2015 and a drop of 8.5% compared to 2014. The last quarter of 2016 also witnessed a drop of 3.5% compared to the third quarter of 2016. The Gastat has classified the real estate sector into three subcategories, the first is the housing units which dropped by 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. The second is the investment units which dropped by 12.3% and the third is agriculture land which dropped by 1.1%. In a statement received by Saudi Gazette, Gastat said the real estate index was based on the information provided by the Ministry of Justice. Essam Al-Zamil noted on his Twitter account that the prices are expected to drop even further particularly with the implementation of fees on empty lands which will be issued after three months as investors will be required to pay 2.5 of the actual value of the land. Media reports noted a drop in different Saudi cities in selling housing units and renting them. Hassan Al-Ahmadi told Al-Madinah daily that the prices of a villa in Obhur dropped from SR1.7 million to SR1.3 million at present. He noted that the current prices are reasonable. Yet he added that the Ministry of Housing is still not capable of meeting the current demand of locals.
