Affordable housing will be the key focus at this year’s edition of Cityscape Jeddah set for June 7-9, Saudi Arabia’s Cityscape Exhibition Director Deep Marwaha has said.
According to the latest government statistics, around 80 per cent of the Saudi population which continues to grow at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent, is under the age of 39, where many of them are married couples in search of affordable housing to start their own families. This, Marwaha says, pushes demand for affordable residential units to cater for the surging housing needs.
In an exclusive interview with Alrroya.com, Marwaha said the kingdom has a distinct shortage of affordable housing for the low – middle income bracket of buyer, “as such, developers and investors understand that there are huge returns on meeting this demand through investment and development in this high growth area.”
Real estate event sees growth in 2010
The director was upbeat that this year’s event is set to surpass the 2009 fair, in terms of exhibitor numbers as well as participants who include international investors, developers, government and investment authorities, architects and designers involved in the design and construction of real estate.
“Cityscape Jeddah 2009 was a ground breaking event, bringing a world class real estate exhibition to the Kingdom to serve an industry that is currently flourishing. The event was a huge success with a large exhibition area that showcased the best and newly iconic developments to the largest gathering of real estate professionals ever experienced for such an event,” Marwaha said.
“However, this year is set to be even bigger with a larger exhibition, 100 plus exhibitors, additional networking functions and an expected boost on visitor numbers that will once again set a new standard for real estate events in the Kingdom,” he added.
Recently, the Saudi government backed an initiative that seeks to help the low and middle-income individuals to acquire their own homes through changes in municipal home construction legislation and the introduction of a new mortgage law.
“Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the GCC and is widely recognized as having the highest potential growth within real estate development in the region,” Marwaha said, adding “demand for residential property development, affordable and otherwise, is very high with an alarming shortage of home ownership properties, a young population and an impending mortgage law set to provide financing to those wishing to own their own homes.”
Risk of oversupply and undersupply minimal
As many projects in the kingdom near completion and the city’s infrastructure continues to develop due to increasing numbers of religious tourists each year, Marwaha says the government has put strategies in place to minimize the risk of oversupply and undersupply of units.
“There is always a danger of such a situation eventually arising but the Saudi government has had the advantage of witnessing such circumstances happening in other regions/markets and there will undoubtedly be caution from the respective authorities,” Marwaha says, adding “with a large, young population, and the current high demand for residential property, the likelihood of over-supply within residential property development will not be danger for a while.”
Supporting Cityscape’s vision for growth in the real estate industry, Cityscape Jeddah promises to firmly place the spotlight on one of the world’s most exciting emerging real estate markets – Saudi Arabia.
Consider also reading:
Cityscape Abu Dhabi
Your comments