Saudi Arabia’s Housing Minister Shwaish bin Saud Dhwaihi has been relieved of his post as minister of housing, following a royal order, according to reports.
He will be replaced Essam bin Saad bin Saeed, Minister of State.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Housing was established by Royal Decree on March 25, 2011 by King Abdullah. In addition to managing Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate Development Fund, the Ministry has direct responsibility over the management of residential property in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is currently experiencing a housing crisis as the Kingdom’s youth population surges, and recently the Ministry has come under fire by some for ineffective management. Analysts have estimated that the existing shortfall of homes in Saudi Arabia is 500,000 units.
“It seems that allocating 250 billion Saudi riyals [$67.5 billion] to support housing projects and solve the housing crisis in Saudi Arabia has been ineffective and inadequate. The Housing Ministry still has no clear plan to resolve the crisis, despite all that has been written and said. While many promises have been made, all that the ministry has done to date does not suggest that the housing crisis will be solved anytime soon,” writes Abdallah Ben Rubeian in Al Monitor.
“Market reality has shown that every policy taken by the ministry has ended up raising land prices. If those policies continue without solving the demand reality, not 250 billion riyals, nor even more than that, nor tying people up with mortgages, will solve the problem.”
