A new mechanism for prioritizing the disbursement of real estate loans is to be introduced soon. A source at the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) said the mechanism will help determine who deserves loans from those who applied via electronic registration last year. “The mechanism is being studied now in cooperation with the Ministry of Housing. Several criteria will be selected, most prominent of which are the applicant's age, number of family members, monthly income and other criteria that aim to grant loans to those who really deserve them,” the source said. Under the previous system, applicants were granted real estate loans on the basis of “first come first serve”, so priority was given to earlier applications. However, when the way was opened for applicants to submit their applications over the Internet, 1.7 million male and female citizens applied within 36 hours. Under these conditions, the REDF decided that it was unjust to continue to process the applicants on the “first come first serve” basis. The source said: “Since the issuance of the generous Royal Orders last year which raised the capital of REDF to SR183 billion, the fund has approved 80,000 old applications and there are 500,000 applications remaining. The fund is keen to pay the loans immediately on the availability of the necessary budget for them.” He also pointed out that Royal Orders have exempted citizens from SR26 billion of loan payments over the past two years. The orders also exempted the families of 70,000 dead citizens from paying their loans. These amounts will be compensated to the fund by the Ministry of Finance, according to the Basic System of REDF. The source stressed that the fund aims to serve Saudi nationals through facilitating conditions. “The new cooperation with the banks will help citizens get an additional loan from a bank if the SR500,000 loan they have obtained from the REDF is insufficient for purchasing real estate.” He also confirmed that the REDF is preparing to sign an agreement with several local banks. __
