According to the Al-Watan newspaper, the Real Estate Development Fund provided 3,704 new housing loans, valued SR 1.02 billion, to build 4,445 residential units in 3,935 different villages and cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
These loans, which represent a first payment of the fund's budget for the current fiscal year, imply a 58% rise compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year. The Real Estate Development Fund, established in 1974 (1394 AH), was set up to meet the needs of the Kingdom's citizens by helping to raise the quality of life in society through the development of high quality housing.
In its first five years, the Fund fulfilled its major objective by solving the housing crisis of the time engendered by the Kingdom's extraordinary pace of development. From the beginning of its operations in 1975/76 (1395/96 AH) until the end of the 1992/93 (1413/14 AH) financial year, the Real Estate Development Fund had advanced 411,711 personal loans worth 107,947,000,000 Saudi Riyals which had resulted in the building of 489,404 living quarters. The Fund has also advanced 2,470 investment loans with a total value of 5,154,000,000 Saudi Riyals which contributed to the construction of 29,227 living quarters, 2,857 offices and 5,125 trade exhibitions. In 2000/2001, it advanced loans worth SR 1.9 billion.
