Current Status

On Track — Saudi Arabia’s home ownership rate reached 65.4 per cent in 2024, surpassing interim targets and advancing strongly toward the 70 per cent Vision 2030 goal. The Kingdom has added approximately 18.4 percentage points since the 2016 baseline, reflecting one of the most successful housing policy interventions in the region.

Key Metrics

Trend Analysis

The home ownership rate trajectory represents one of Vision 2030’s most impressive social outcome achievements. From a starting point of 47 per cent in 2016 — a figure that reflected decades of housing supply shortages, unaffordable mortgage products, and limited government support mechanisms — the rate has climbed by over 18 percentage points. The annual pace of improvement averaged approximately 2.3 percentage points per year, significantly exceeding the roughly 2.9 percentage points per year originally planned across the full 2016-2030 period.

The Sakani platform, launched in 2017 as the digital backbone of the Housing Programme, has been instrumental. It streamlined the allocation of housing products — including subsidised land plots, off-plan units, self-build loans, and mortgage subsidies — into a single digital marketplace. By 2024, over 1.3 million families had been served through the platform. Simultaneously, mortgage market development transformed Saudi Arabia’s housing finance landscape. The introduction of the Real Estate Development Fund’s mortgage guarantee programme, combined with regulatory reforms by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) that enabled longer-term fixed-rate mortgages, expanded the addressable market dramatically. Total outstanding mortgage loans grew from SAR 117 billion in 2016 to over SAR 700 billion by end-2024.

Supply-side interventions complemented demand stimulus. The government activated large tracts of undeveloped urban land through the White Land Tax, incentivising real estate development. Off-plan sales regulations were modernised, and partnerships with private developers created a pipeline of affordable housing units. The National Housing Company developed over 100,000 units across multiple cities. The geographic distribution of new ownership has been notably broad, with gains recorded in all 13 regions, though Riyadh, Jeddah, and the Eastern Province account for the largest absolute increases.

Methodology

The home ownership rate is measured by the General Authority for Statistics through the Household Income and Expenditure Survey and supplementary housing-specific surveys. The metric represents the percentage of Saudi households residing in owner-occupied dwellings, including those with outstanding mortgages. Households in employer-provided housing, rental accommodation, or informal housing are excluded from the numerator. The methodology aligns with international standards used by Eurostat and the OECD, enabling cross-country comparisons. Data is collected annually with preliminary estimates published quarterly based on mortgage origination data and Sakani allocations. The 2020 Census provided a comprehensive rebaseline that confirmed survey-based estimates.

Related Priorities

Home ownership connects to multiple Vision 2030 objectives. Stable housing is a foundation for the World Happiness Index improvement target, with international research consistently showing home ownership correlates with life satisfaction. The KPI supports wealth-building among Saudi families, contributing to reduced dependence on government transfers. It intersects with the Private Sector GDP Contribution target through the construction and real estate development activity it generates. The housing programme also supports Saudisation objectives, as the construction and property management sectors are major employment generators. Spatially, housing development in new cities like NEOM, The Red Sea, and ROSHN communities directly supports the Three Cities in Top 100 objective.

Outlook

Closing the remaining 4.6 percentage point gap to reach 70 per cent by 2030 requires maintaining annual improvement of approximately 0.8 percentage points — well below the historical pace of 2.3 points per year. This deceleration is expected and actually appropriate, as the remaining unhoused population faces more complex barriers including affordability constraints in premium urban markets and the challenge of serving lower-income households. The pipeline of solutions is robust: ROSHN is developing 200,000+ units across four giga-projects, the Real Estate Development Fund continues to expand its guarantee programme, and off-plan market maturation provides ongoing supply.

The principal risk is a potential cooling of mortgage market growth if interest rates remain elevated, though SAMA’s subsidised lending programmes partially mitigate this. The Vanderbilt Portfolio projects with high confidence that the 70 per cent target will be achieved on or before 2030, with a central-case estimate of 69 to 72 per cent by end-2030.