Khalid Al-Sulaiman
Okaz
Al-Madinah newspaper published a statement by the Minister of Housing in which he said that the real estate market is going to witness a huge shift once all of the ministry’s projects have materialized. The minister noted that there are a large number of projects and real estate loans that will control the increasing price of land and rent.
The truth is that I heard about statements and plans to stop the inflation in the price of land and rent before the establishment of the Housing Ministry and until this day those statements remain words without any action taken. On the contrary, real estate sharks have taken advantage of the situation to scare people with tales of decreasing real estate prices in order to convince as many people as possible to sell their property before it is too late.
It used to be, and it still is, the motto of real estate agents and agencies to say that the industry is static at times of selling and that the industry is active at times of buying. You only need to tell them whether you are a buyer or a seller to hear one of these statements or the other. It is noticeable that statements about a decrease in land and rent prices have been replaced by efforts to stop inflation. It is a sign of the failure to affect and control the real estate market which appears to be a bubble that has been made of steel.
The minister has not added anything new when it comes to implementing fees on vacant land located within urban areas. The topic, as usual, is being studied by experts and I believe that it will continue to be studied and will not result in a decrease in the influence of the real estate sharks who are responsible for the increase in land prices.
