Restatex Cityscape Riyadh held under the patronage of Housing Minister

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29 Aug 2017

It’s set to be a watershed year for the kingdom’s real estate market with promising government policies aimed at boosting the property sector, coupled with the launch of Restatex Cityscape Riyadh in September, which will be held under the patronage of His Excellency Majed Al-Hugail, Minister of Housing in Saudi Arabia.

Over the last year, the Minister of Housing and the government have ramped up efforts to address the real estate sector in the kingdom – one of the major tenets in the country’s Vision 2030 plans – with the Minister collaborating with developers to increase the supply to tackle the growing demand for affordable housing, and with it the rate of home ownership among citizens.

The government has also encouraged mortgage lending and introduced a white land tax to push more undeveloped urban land onto the market. Earlier this year, Craig Plumb, Regional Head of Research at real estate consultancy JLL, said: “That’s going to have quite a major impact on the market. Some owners are going to seek to redevelop their land to avoid paying tax on it. What that is going to do is encourage the supply of new properties. This policy is being aimed largely at increasing the supply of affordable housing.”

Committed to seeing the real estate industry grow and looking to spur investment in the country, the Minister will be supporting this year’s Restatex Cityscape Riyadh on the 27th – 30th September at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

“We’re honoured to have the support of the Minster of Housing and together, through the exhibition, we can play a role in transforming the country into a global investment capital and provide real estate opportunities within the country’s residential, commercial and hospitality sector,” said Hussain Farraj, CEO of Ramtan, co-organisers of Restatex Cityscape Riyadh.

“The broad bid to reshape and boost the kingdom’s real estate sector, under its National Transformation Program (NTP) and Vision 2030, has been met with overwhelming support and we will see this support realised at this year’s exhibition,” said Ahmed Zakaria, Exhibition Director at Restatex Cityscape Riyadh. “Under the NTP, the kingdom is looking to double the contribution that property makes to its GDP to 10% by 2020 and treble the percentage of residential units developed by approved real estate developers to 30%; Restatex Cityscape Riyadh aims to act as a platform to drive this vision of the government.”

“The real estate sector constitutes a fundamental part of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 and one of its initiatives is to increase the percentage of citizens owning their own homes from 47% to 52%,” said Nezar Awayda, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC), exhibitor and this year’s platinum sponsor.

JODC will offer visitors looking for luxury residential units in Jumeirah Towers and the Address Towers, in Makkah, special rates at this year’s show.

“As part of our development strategy, selling off plan reveals that there are potential buyers and investors who are looking to purchase at the entry price, and to promote this effectively we participate in dedicated real estate exhibitions, which play an important role in promoting the product,” he added.

Held in parallel to the exhibition, the Restatex Cityscape Riyadh Workshops will provide a market update, tackle the country’s most pressing real estate topics, and provide insight from government authorities and real estate experts from across the region.

Following the exhibition in Riyadh, Restatex Cityscape Jeddah will take place early next year, from the 6th until the 9th February at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.