By Adnan Al-Shabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Real estate owners were giving away their properties without any returns to avoid taxes being imposed from Monday.

Tens of real estate agents rushed to three notaries in Jeddah on Sunday to sell properties before the new taxes took effect.

Two of the offices were located in Briman and Al-Hamdaniyah districts while the third was in south Jeddah.

Notaries had a workload increase of 300 percent on Sunday, compared to normal workdays.

The most common properties given up were apartments followed by white land, duplexes and apartment buildings.

Real estate owners wanted to sell their properties to real estate companies to avoid paying taxes.

The cheapest property sold was an apartment in east Jeddah, which was disposed of for SR280,000. Another apartment in the upmarket Al-Salama district was sold for SR750,000. Villas were offered for sale for SR1.5 million in Al-Noor district and Balubaid district in north Jeddah.

Many owners of apartment buildings in central and south Jeddah also wanted to dispose of their properties. Some real estate owners simply gave away their properties and ownership deeds because they did not want to pay any taxes, market sources said.