RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is getting closer to its Vision 2030 home ownership goal, with the Kingdom’s Real Estate Development Fund on Monday depositing SR916 million ($244.1 million) in the accounts of affordable housing beneficiaries. According to the Saudi Press Agency, Mansour bin Madi, CEO of the fund, said the total amount deposited from June 2017 to June 2023 has now surpassed SR49.3 billion. Additionally, the fund approved over 115,000 requests out of the 148,000 submitted to get clearance on the various stages of house construction, which included people seeking to build their own homes. To streamline the process, the fund set up electronic channels to enable people to update the construction phases of their homes, ensuring the required engineering and technical standards are met. The Kingdom aims to increase the proportion of Saudi households that own a house from 47 percent in 2016 to 70 percent by 2030. The fund’s Sakani program is a significant initiative in collaboration with other government entities to provide affordable housing solutions to Saudi citizens. It aims to address the housing needs of the population by offering various housing options, financing programs and support services. The fund recently announced it had inked finance agreements worth SR13.7 billion ($3.64 billion) in the first quarter of 2023. According to the quarterly report of the Kingdom’s National Development Fund, the deals sought to offer housing benefits to 21,000 citizens in the three months to the end of March this year. The fund also deposited over SR2.7 billion into the accounts of Sakani beneficiaries during the same period, the report said. The housing industry in the Kingdom has been witnessing brighter prospects in recent times, with increasing activity in property buying and sectoral investments. In May, the housing market got a fresh stream of liquidity, with Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. announcing SR3.5 billion in sukuk issuances. The latest issuance of SRC, owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, marked the sixth tranche under its upsized SR20 billion sukuk program. The real estate finance company will keep boosting market liquidity and assisting lenders and investors, which will stabilize the Saudi mortgage market, said SRC CEO Fabrice Susini in May. “The positive response from investors to SRC’s latest sukuk issuance is a clear testament to the strength of the Kingdom’s housing market and economy,” added Susini.