Saudi Arabia to spend $1.3bn on new homes

Saudi Arabia will build more than 12,400 homes once the Real Estate Development Fund has sanctions new loans worth SR5bn ($1.3bn), Arab News reported.

The housing units will be constructed in different parts of the kingdom, the Jeddah based newspaper reported, citing Muhammad al-Abdani, director general of the fund.

The kingdom buoyed by high oil prices plans to spend as much as US$67bn on new homes for Saudi nationals across the Kingdom.

In the third quarter of last year, about 6,000 new homes were added to the Riyadh's residential market. Another 100,000 will be built in the city by 2015, according to Jones Lang LaSalle estimates.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and the Arab world’s biggest economy, is spending US$219bn this year on education, healthcare, social benefits and infrastructure. The government is also encouraging the private sector to invest in expanding the tourism and hospitality industry in the holy city of Makkah in a bid to create more jobs.

Saudi Arabia's economy is set to slow this year to an estimated 4.2 percent from about 6 percent in 2012, according to International Monetary Fund projections.