The Minister of Housing, Majed Al-Hogail, confirmed that the ministry found that real estate prices in Riyadh had begun to exceed the purchasing power of the citizen.
This came within the Real Estate Future Forum, which was launched yesterday in Riyadh in its first edition, with the participation of more than 100 speakers from the public and private sectors and a group of economists and investors in the real estate sector.
And he indicated that the presence of empty white areas within the cities burdens the state in terms of infrastructure and others, pointing out that they found white lands within the scope of the population in the city of Riyadh.
In detail; Al-Hogail said: We found that prices began to exceed the purchasing power of citizens, and there are white lands whose area is less than the first phase, which is still not significantly developed. He explained: The white lands fees program started in 3 regions, then the rest of the regions were announced. Hail, Al-Qassim and Hafr Al-Batin remained. We will announce the white land fees in them soon.
In turn, the head of the white lands fees program, Engineer Abdul Hamid Al-Hammad, revealed that the lands that were billed within the program for imposing fees on white lands amounted to more than 500 million square meters, while the lands that were recycled through development, under development or transfer of ownership amounted to more than 100 million square metres, indicating that the system is basically linked with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to stimulate the real estate supply and raise productivity to provide housing products at the appropriate price and quality.
Al-Hammad confirmed that the remaining period of the regular registration period in the second phase of the fees for white lands in Riyadh is 114 days, indicating that failure to register during the period will result in a fine of up to 100% of the value of the fee.
It is noteworthy that the first phase of land fees is allocated to undeveloped lands with an area of 10,000 square meters or more, and the second phase includes developed lands for an area of 10,000 square meters or more, as well as the sum of dispersed lands for one owner, which in total amount to more than ten thousand square meters in one scheme, and in the third phase Fees will be imposed on developed lands with an area of five thousand square meters or more, as well as the total developed lands for one owner of an area of 10,000 square meters or more in one city.
The city of Riyadh topped the prices of residential real estate, reaching 82% during the third quarter of the year, compared to 18% for the rest of the cities. From the current year 2021.
They pointed out that the solutions lie in operating the tax system on white lands at its full capacity, explaining that immediately prices will calm down, extinguish their fires and restore balance to the market.