Saudi banks deny halting mortgage loans

Talaat Hafez, secretary-general of the Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi Banks, has denied reports claiming that lenders have halted mortgage loans until they figure out the real estate market’s situation for 2018, Al Yaum reported.

Saudi banks are granting mortgages as normal, he told the newspaper.

Real estate loans are expected to grow by 3 percent in the first quarter of 2018, compared to Q4 this year, he added.

According to data compiled by Argaam, the total value of real estate loans in the third quarter of 2017 reached SAR 223.4 billion, of which SAR 115 billion were retail loans, and SAR 108.3 billion were corporate loans.