Focus on affordable housing sharpens in GCC countries: report

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are increasing their efforts to further ease the accessibility to affordable housing for low- and middle-income households, according to Orient Planet Research’s recent report.

The consultancy said the region’s growing population is among the key drivers for rising demand, with the young working citizens and residents taking interest to acquire homes within their income reach.

The GCC’s population is expected to reach 53 million in 2020, thereby putting even greater pressure on the low-end segment of the housing sector, it added.

“There is a clear significant shift in the focus towards affordable housing in the GCC.

Governments and private developers are increasingly recognizing the demand for affordable housing in the region and various policies and schemes have been established to achieve this goal," said Nidal Abou Zaki, managing director, Orient Planet Group.

Saudi Arabia has taken bold steps with plans to construct one million housing units on top of the existing ones in line with the Vision 2030 program.

In the UAE, housing policy has traditionally been focused on providing housing benefits and facilities to Emiratis with low income through the federal government and other entities set up within local governments.

Kuwait, for its part, has allocated more funds for the construction of an additional 45,000 housing units as part of its five-year plan (2015-2020), which aims to fix the housing problem in the next three to five years.  

Similarly, Oman has allocated OMR 90 million for its housing projects as stated in the general budget for FY 2019.

Meanwhile, Bahrain widely invests in various social housing schemes which provide more than 36,000 support services to citizens through houses and flats, housing loans, flats in subsidized rental, and residential plots.

The report citied industry experts insisting on the importance of reinforcing public-private partnerships, focusing on resolving lack of credit and mortgage facilities, initiating more social housing finance schemes, and protecting the rights of lenders in case the borrower defaults to incentivize banks to extend home loans to those in need.

The focus should also be on project management, proper framing of eligibility criteria, protection of housing standards, and partnerships with private agencies for efficient maintenance of public housing communities, it added.