$152.7m contract signed for 400 houses in Riyadh

A project-financing contract has been concluded for a 400-unit housing project in Riyadh.

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An agreement has been signed with the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Riyadh to build 400 houses at a cost of $152.7m in the north and west of the capital.

The project-financing contract was signed by the National Commercial Bank, IBAR Development and Maskan Arabia, A project developer. A three-year development contract was also signed by Blominvest Saudi Arabia and Maskan Arabia.

Saad Azhari, vice-chairman of Blominvest Saudi Arabia, said it had arranged a real-estate loan of $77.3m for IBAR Development from NCB to build the project's residential villa component within three years.

Yasir Abusulayman, vice-president and head of NCB's corporate structured unit, said the funding comes in the wake of the increased demand for housing to meet public demand.

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It was also "driven by the bank's vision to support the real-estate sector, which is a crucial part of the Kingdom's development, second in importance only after the oil sector."

Abdulaziz Alsaghyir, chairman of IBAR Development, said: "The real-estate market has an annual demand for around 200,000 housing units and an expectation of 8% to10% growth in real-estate investment in the coming period."