Mortgage loans provided by banks and financial institutions have tripled in August, official data showed on Monday. These loans were given to cover up to 12,000 applications submitted for loans during this period. According to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s (SAMA) monthly statistical bulletin, the number of new residential mortgages given to individuals from all financial institutions, including commercial banks and finance companies, continued to increase during 2019 till August. The bulletin showed that 12.3 thousand contracts were registered during August 2019 worth SAR5.2 1 billion ($1.3 billion), an increase of 317 percent in the number of loans and 218 percent in the volume of financing on an annual basis. SAMA said the total number of loans provided during 2019 has amounted to 96.7 thousand worth SAR43.8 billion ($11.6 billion), compared to 27,000 contracts worth SAR16.8 billion ($4.4 billion) during the same period last year. These figures show an increase of more than 254 percent in the number of contracts and about 160 percent in the volume of funding compared to the same period in 2018. Residential villas accounted for the largest share of financing by SAR4.2 billion ($1.12 billion), or nearly 80 percent of total funding from banks and finance companies, the report showed. Residential apartments came in second place by 13 percent with a value of SAR668 million ($178 million), while financing for the purchase of residential land came in third place with seven percent with a value of SAR374 million (about $100 million). The report said nearly 93 percent of the value of mortgage loans given to individuals in the same month was concluded through commercial banks while about seven percent were concluded through mortgage companies in the Kingdom. It is noteworthy that the total number of residential mortgage loans provided to individuals by the end of 2018 amounted to about 50.4 thousand contracts with a total value of approximately SAR29.5 billion ($7.87 billion). While in 2017, the number reached about 30.8 contracts worth SAR21 billion ($5.6 billion), and 2016 saw the signing of about 22.2 thousand financing contracts worth SAR17 billion ($4.5 billion).