The new residential real estate financing contracts for individuals hit an unprecedented number in March 2021 amounting to 32,440 contracts valued at SR17.5 billion with 56% annual growth, compared to 23,640 contracts, with %37 growth, valued at SR11.2 billion in the same period in 2020. According to the monthly bulletin issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the number of new housing financing contracts for individuals recorded a growth of 21% against February 2021, where it amounted to 26,860 contracts, while the financing operations amounted to SR14.1 billion last month, a 24% growth. The bulletin indicated that the growth in the first quarter of 2021 exceeded 48%, recording a total value of SR48 billion, provided by all real estate financiers including banks and financing companies, while the number of contracts has achieved a 26% growth by about 92,111 housing finance contracts compared to 73,313 contracts worth SR32.5 billion in the first quarter of last year. According to the bulletin, 97% of the contracts' value was concluded through commercial banks, while 3% of them were concluded through real estate financing companies during March 2021. The real estate financing for residential villas reached about 80% of the total financing, the apartments came in second place by around 16%, while financing the purchase of residential lands came in third place, at 4%.
