Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The number of housing units in Saudi Arabia is approximately 5.46 million and 35.9 percent, or 1.96 million, of them are occupied by foreigners.

The number of houses occupied by Saudis is about 3.5 million (64.1 percent).

According to an analysis by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper of the housing distribution in the country based on data provided by the General Authority for Statistics for the year 2017, the average size of family per home is 5.9 people because the Kingdom's population is estimated to be about 32.6 million.

Makkah province hosts the largest proportion of expatriates in the Kingdom. About 41.7 percent of residents in the region are foreigners, followed by Qassim with 39.4 percent and Riyadh with 38.6 percent.

The region hosting the least number of foreign families is Jazan, which has an expat occupancy rate of about 20.6 percent, followed by Baha with 21.2 percent.

As for the geographical distribution of housing unit, 52.1 percent of them are in the Makkah and Riyadh provinces, which have a combined population of 2.84 million foreign residents. The Eastern Province accounts for 13.9 percent or 758,000 housing units occupied by foreign families.

According to the analysis, 40.1 percent of houses are owned by their occupants, while rented homes account for about 50.3 percent and about 9.4 percent of family housing are provided by employers.

Housing units in Saudi Arabia include villas and apartments as well as traditional homes. Villas represent about 14.5 percent of total housing with 797,000 units, while apartments constitute 52.8 percent with 2.88 million units.