Saudi Arabia needs to build nearly 414,000 houses this year to meet the needs of its rapidly growing population, a report in Zawya.com said, citing a report in the Arabic language daily Al-Madina which based the information on official statistics from the Saudi Ministry of Housing.
The Kingdom must play catch up in order to meet soaring demand for homes. Housing applications submitted by Saudi citizens to the government showed that the demand for homes far outstripped supply in 15 key cities in Saudi Arabia, the report said. The deficit in housing supply is 413,944 units compared to the number of applications received by the Housing Ministry.
The largest shortage is in the capital, Riyadh, where demand outpaces supply by 61,146 units.
Jeddah also fell short of demand by 52,459 homes, Mecca by 24,096 units, and the eastern port of Dammam required about 22,189 homes to meet demand.
The survey, conducted by the ministry this year, showed that only the Southern Jazan province was not suffering from a housing supply gap.
