hit by food price increases, residents now have to contend with rising rents in the city. Ibrahim Fahad from Shoala real estate agency told Saudi Gazette recently that rents have gone up by an average of 30 percent since last year. Two-room apartments that were available for SR12,000, and three-room apartments for SR16,000 a year, in an area like Azizia, have shot up to SR21,000 and SR30,000 respectively this year. There have been particularly steep increases for homes near schools, said Fahad. “The most expensive areas are Andalus and Al-Hamra where you will find a three-room apartment for SR40,000 a year,” he said. He added that the authorities have plans to introduce measures to rein in prices. He also expects that future real-estate developments will help to reduce prices. Abdul Khaleque, an expatriate, said many tenants cannot afford these new rent hikes because they do not earn enough or get housing allowances. Mohammed Aslam, an expatriate, complained that he used to pay SR12,000 a year for a two-bedroom apartment, but the landlord has now increased the rent to SR16,000. He said the building was old and far from schools. “When I protested he said I should leave,” said Aslam. “The increased rent has placed an extra burden on me. How can I afford to pay, on top of schools fees and other expenses?” Another expatriate, Ahmed Kazi, said that landlords were now dividing one apartment into two so that they can make more money. He said it was easy in the past to find a five-bedroom apartment for between SR18,000 and SR20,000 a year, but now landlords were partitioning the five-bedroom apartments into a three-bedroom and two-bedroom apartment. “Sometimes there is no kitchen or a very small wooden kitchen and the rent of each apartment is SR20,000 to SR23,000 a year,” he added. Razi Al-Ansari, another expatriate, said that people on low salaries cannot cope with the new increases. “People are now living hand-to-mouth and cannot save anything.” Saudi Gazette could not get any official from the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry to speak on the subject.
