Business & Money | Sunday 23 October, 2016 4:22 am |

 The real estate market was left stunned when the General Authority for Statistics issued a report in which it claimed that 63 percent of Saudis own homes.

The report triggered an outcry from citizens in the Kingdom’s cities who aren’t homeowners and struggle to afford the average annual cost of renting a house, which currently stands at SR80,000.

“Many suspect that the survey included houses located in villages and deserted areas as the figures (in the report) do not reflect the reality of Saudis who still struggle to secure a home. The statistics also state that 34 percent of houses or 1.2 million houses are rented,” said a market source, who did not want to be identified by name.

According to the report, 2 percent of houses (64,000 units) are paid for by employers.

The statistics show that 3.4 million houses in the country are occupied by Saudi families. It said 63 percent of Saudis own a total of 2.2 million houses. «This means 21.3 million Saudis have homes,” said the source.

Real estate agents argue that there are discrepancies between figures provided by the General Authority for Statistics and the Ministry of Housing.

Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Property Pricing Committee Head Abdullah Al-Ahmary said there is a housing crisis in the country and the Ministry of Housing has been dealing with it for years.

“The report of the General Authority for Statistics does not reflect the reality of the Saudi people. If 63 percent of the houses are owned by Saudis, it means only 37 percent of Saudis do not own houses. This percentage is small and the ministry would have been able to easily find housing for all Saudis,” said Al-Ahmary.

He said 45 percent of Saudis own more than one property and this might have contributed to the flaw in the statistical analysis.

“If the reports of the General Authority of Statistics were true, the annual rent of a house would have never reached SR80,000. The average rate would have been SR30,000,” said Al-Ahmary.

Economist Abdulhameed Al-Amry said the Ministry of Housing previously reported that 47 percent of Saudi families own houses.

The ministry later revised the figure to 52 percent. «There seems to be some discrepancy between the figures of the ministry and the General Authority of Statistics. Moreover, the ministry did not explain why it had revised the figures upward,” said Al-Amry.