RIYADH — The Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) has announced signing a funding partnership agreement, the first of its kind, with the Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC) to refinance a real estate portfolio owned by the fund with a total value of SR10 billion.

The agreement was signed by REDF CEO Mansour bin Madi and SRC CEO Fabrice Susini in the presence of Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and Chairman of the Board of Directors of REDF Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Hogail.

The agreement aims at enhancing the financial sustainability of the fund, increasing the liquidity of the housing real estate financing market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reducing financing costs for Saudi households, and increasing the percentage of housing ownership among Saudi families to 70% by 2030, in a bid to realize the targets of the Housing Program, one of the Saudi Vision 2030 programs.

Mansour Bin Madi noted that the agreement is part of the fund's strategy that supports the future goals and plans of REDF to offer diversified housing finance options in the housing real estate financing market, with the aim of meeting the needs of "Sakani" beneficiaries, as part of the subsidized real estate loan program.

He also said that the funding partnership with SRC will enable the fund to realize its targets and enhance the sustainability of supporting Saudi families through designing new programs and initiatives that accord with the future stage of REDF after adopting its new bylaw, and to continue offering monthly housing subsidies for beneficiaries of the subsidized loan program to enable future generation to secure housing.

He also pointed out that REDF has offered more than 560,000 subsidized real estate loans between June 2017 and the third quarter of 2021 under the subsidized loan program.

For his part, Fabrice Susini said that the agreement seeks to increase supplies of real estate loans for housings within the company's vision to develop a secondary real estate market that serves the growth of the housing sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to enable Saudi families receive a proper housing in realization of targets of the Saudi Vision 2030.

He also expressed pride for signing the biggest partnership agreement with a value of SR10 billion to increase the opportunities of the growth of the real estate finance market in Saudi Arabia through innovating low-risk tools in partnership with financing institutions.

REDF offers loans with subsidized profits of up to 100 percent with a value of SR500,000 to meet the needs of Sakani beneficiaries, ranging from subsidized real estate loans to benefit from various options ranging between self-construction, buying ready housing units or those under construction, in partnership with more than 18 financing institutions.

The fund has also provided more than SR31 billion as monthly subsidies for more than 560,000 beneficiaries between June 2017 and the third quarter of 2021. — SPA