Government | Saturday 30 May, 2015 8:51 am |

The Housing Ministry plans to delay furnishing government-built homes, to focus on providing more units for citizens.
The aim is to reduce the waiting list for homes, buy more land and provide further loans to Saudis, according to a report in a local publication recently. Furnishing would be dealt with at a later stage, an official was quoted as saying.

The decision comes as the ministry is overseeing 185 projects consisting of 23,450 homes. There are now plans to build 74,500 units across the country under the new move. More than 100,000 units are expected to be completed by the year-end.

Abdullah Saad Al-Ahmari, head of the real estate valuation committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), welcomed the ministry’s decision and said it takes into account the demands of the market.

He said furnishing should ideally be the preserve of developers targeting high net-worth customers. “Some developers seek the help of interior designers to furnish the villas they build, buying expensive furniture to stand out from the competition. Such measures should not be adopted by the housing ministry, for the time being at least,” he said.
He said the ministry understands that people have different tastes and does not want to waste money on furniture they may not like.

The ministry has recently taken several measures to tackle the housing crisis in the country, including lowering the price of land. The government decided earlier this year that it would impose fees on large tracts of land, which experts said could slash real estate prices by up to 50 percent.

The Cabinet took the decision on the recommendation of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. It is aimed at reducing the hoarding of property by speculators and providing land for the country’s multibillion-riyal housing program.