Eight land owners in Riyadh, Jeddah paid white land tax: official

Only eight land owners have paid the white land tax invoices for their plots of land in Riyadh and Jeddah, four in each city, Al-Hayat daily reported on Wednesday, citing Mohammed AlMudaiheem, supervisor for the white land tax scheme at the housing ministry.

Meanwhile, around five million square meters of land have been registered in Makkah, and that number is expected to double by the end of registration period, AlMudaiheem said.

Saudi Arabia’s housing ministry has so far issued 327 white land tax invoices for 118 million square meters of land in Riyadh, and 490 invoices for 160 million square meters in Jeddah.

In November 2015, the Kingdom’s cabinet approved a proposal to impose a 2.5 percent tax on all undeveloped residential and commercial plots in urban areas, in a move to solve the housing shortage problem.

Under the system, land owners are required to pay a fee of 2.5 percent of the white land's value or develop it within 12 months.

The new tax applies to undeveloped lands larger than 10,000 square meters.