RIYADH: The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co., wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, is seeing its assets hitting SR20 billion ($5.3bn) after it completed a deal with Alinma Bank to acquire one of its real estate financing portfolios. SRC has acquired in excess of SR20 billion in refinancing assets, through partnerships with major banks and mortgage providers in the Kingdom, a statement showed. The deal signed with Alinma comes in line with SRC efforts to be an active supporter of the residential real estate sector through the expansion of its refinancing portfolio and by providing liquidity to create a stable secondary real estate market in the kingdom. “As part of our ongoing drive to support Vision 2030 goals, we continue our focus on enabling a best-in class secondary mortgage market with the necessary liquidity to accelerate the delivery of affordable home ownership objectives,” CEO of SRC, Fabrice Susini, said. “Signing this deal with Alinma Bank is a major milestone in our strategic efforts to onboard all the major real estate financing solutions providers in the Kingdom. It contributes significantly to accelerating the sector’s collective drive to deliver on the Vision’s 70 percent homeownership in the Kingdom,” he said. The Vision 2030 housing program witnessed a significant increase over the past 4 years from 47 percent to 60 percent, according to the Ministry of Housing Majid Al-Hogail. The increase exceeded the target of 52 percent by more than 8 percent driven by the combined efforts and partnerships within the private sector and the establishment of several government entities to cater specifically to the Saudi housing ecosystem, he said.